About the Dean

Melina Kibbe, MD Dean, UVA School of Medicine James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science Chief Health Affairs Officer, UVA Health

A nationally known researcher in the field of vascular surgery and the former Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Melina R. Kibbe, MD, began her five-year appointment as UVA School of Medicine’s Dean and Chief Health Affairs Officer in September 2021. She is James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science, Professor of Surgery and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, without term. Read about her first year as dean.

Prior to UNC, Dr. Kibbe was Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and Deputy Director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology at Northwestern University. Clinically, she has significant experience with both open and endovascular surgery, including the treatment of carotid stenosis, peripheral vascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms and vascular access. She is board certified in general and vascular surgery and is a Registered Vascular Technologist and a Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation.

Dr. Kibbe’s research interests focus on developing novel therapies for patients with vascular disease while simultaneously studying the mechanism of how these therapies impact the vascular wall. She has been funded as a principal investigator by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs, in addition to serving as co-investigator and/or consultant on several other NIH and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute awards. She is a strong advocate for sex inclusion in biomedical research. She holds more than 10 patents or provisional patents. Her research was recognized by President Obama with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2009.

A member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Dr. Kibbe is the Editor-in-Chief for JAMA Surgery and has served as president for the Association for Academic Surgery, the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, and the Association of Veterans Affairs Surgeons. She is co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of VesselTek BioMedical, LLC, which specializes in the development of medical devices to treat vascular disease.

Dr. Kibbe graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine; completed her internship, residency, and research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; and completed her vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.