A Message from the UTMB President and CEO, UTMB Health System; and the Interim Senior Vice President and Dean, John Sealy School of Medicine, and Chief Research Officer

Dear colleagues,

We are excited to announce that Matthew Hutter, MD, MPH, MBA, will join UTMB as Chair of the Department of Surgery in the John Sealy School of Medicine this September. Dr. Hutter is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the quality movement in surgery and in the field of metabolic and bariatric surgery.

He is currently a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, the inaugural Codman-Warshaw Endowed Chair, and founder and Director of the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He has served as the Director of the MGH Weight Center, the Section Chief in Metabolic and Bariatric, and created and led the Quality and Safety Program for the MGH Department of Surgery.

Dr. Hutter earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and he completed his General Surgery residency at the MGH. He served as the “Super Chief” Resident at MGH and was one of the first Advanced Laparoscopic and Bariatric Fellows at MGH. He received a Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Business Management.

Dr. Hutter is devoted to educating and training the next generation of surgical leaders and serves as the Program Director for the Advanced Laparoscopic/Foregut/Bariatric Surgery Fellowship at the MGH. He teaches students and professionals at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Harvard Business School. 

Dr. Hutter has held national leadership roles, including President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and membership on the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Board of Governors. He is the longest serving Surgeon Champion of the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) since the original AHRQ-funded pilot program. He has served as the architect and steward of the national data collection program for bariatric surgery, now known as the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), since its inception.

His overall academic focus is on the development, implementation, and responsible use of data collection systems in surgery, with a focus on assessing and improving the quality of surgical care. We are confident the expertise and vision he brings to UTMB will lead our Department of Surgery to new levels of excellence across all our mission areas.

We also extend our gratitude to Dr. Steven Wolf for his service as interim Chair of the Department of Surgery, a role he will continue to fulfill until Dr. Hutter’s arrival in September.