Melina R. Kibbe, MD

Biography

Melina R. Kibbe, MD, became president of UTHealth Houston and Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair in September 2025, bringing with her a distinguished career as a physician-scientist, educator, and national leader in academic medicine. Clinically, Kibbe has extensive experience in both open and endovascular surgery. She is board-certified in general and vascular surgery.

A native of Southern California, Kibbe graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in biological sciences in 1990 and earned her medical degree from the university’s Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994. She completed her internship, residency, and research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, followed by a vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University.

Kibbe’s research interests focus on developing novel drug-eluting therapies for patients with vascular disease, while simultaneously studying the mechanism of how these therapies impact the vasculature. She has been funded as principal investigator by the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Heart Association, and American Medical Association, among others, and has served as co-investigator, consultant, or mentor on other federally supported awards. She has also led national and site gene and cell-based clinical trials for patients with critical limb ischemia and has served as a consultant for clinical trials related to the care of patients with peripheral artery disease. She holds more than 10 patents or provisional patents. Her research was recognized by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2009.

Prior to joining UTHealth Houston, Kibbe served as dean of the School of Medicine, the James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science, and Chief Health Affairs Officer at the University of Virginia (UVA), and was also professor in the Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. Before her time at UVA, she was chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where she was the Colin G. Thomas, Jr. Distinguished Professor and held an adjunct professorship in Biomedical Engineering. She began her academic career at Northwestern University, serving as vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery and deputy director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology.