Craig Kent
Craig Kent
Craig Kent, MD, has spent the last 30 years focused on advancing leadership in health systems. His career reflects a consistent effort to expand patient access, enhance care delivery, and deliver lifesaving interventions to patients with complex health conditions. Through a combination of clinical work, institutional leadership, and academic service, Dr. Kent has contributed to the long-term improvement of healthcare at both the organizational and national levels.
Dr. Craig Kent has held senior roles in some of the country’s most respected academic medical centers. His leadership began as Division Chief in Vascular Surgery at both Columbia University and Cornell, where he was also responsible for the Vascular Service line at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. His work unified operations and fostered collaboration between departments to support growth in vascular care and surgical training.
Dr. Kent went on to become Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He later served as Dean of the College of Medicine, Vice President of Health Sciences, and co-leader of the Health System at Ohio State University. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President of Health Affairs and CEO of the University of Virginia Health. Each of these roles enabled him to guide institutional planning, workforce development, and healthcare access initiatives.
In addition to his institutional leadership, Dr. Kent has held national roles including President of the Society for Vascular Surgery, President of the Society of Surgical Chairs, and Chair of the American Board of Surgery. His contributions to the field were recognized with his induction into the National Academy of Medicine.
The National Institutes of Health have continuously funded Craig Kent for more than 30 years. He has served as chair of several NIH study sections, including Surgery and Bioengineering. His work has explored the cellular biology of vascular disease and examined how health systems can improve outcomes and quality metrics.
His academic output includes 360 peer-reviewed publications and 65 books and book chapters. These works encompass a diverse range of topics, including surgical leadership, vascular disease, healthcare system performance, and clinical education. His research has been published in prestigious journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In editorial capacities, Dr. Kent has served as editor or associate editor for publications such as Annals of Vascular Surgery, Contemporary Surgery, and Haimovici’s Vascular Surgery. He has also contributed to the editorial boards of multiple peer-reviewed journals in surgery and vascular medicine.
Dr. Kent has frequently been invited to speak at medical centers worldwide. He has given keynote presentations and served as a Visiting Professor at more than 120 academic institutions globally. His talks reflect both his personal experience in healthcare leadership and his dedication to medical education.
As CEO of the University of Virginia Health System, Craig Kent, MD, oversaw an integrated academic health organization that includes six hospitals, a school of medicine, a school of nursing, and two physician groups. During his leadership, which spanned over five years, the system experienced significant growth. Annual revenue increased from $2.5 billion to $4.7 billion, while both patient access and clinical service delivery nearly doubled. UVA Health also achieved its best performance on quality metrics in ten years.
Despite the national challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortages, staff satisfaction across the organization increased by more than 15 percent. Over 500 new physicians and faculty members joined UVA Health, and the leadership team was expanded with new talent across departments.
Craig Kent led efforts to expand UVA Health’s reach across the state. The system acquired three hospitals and a physician group in Northern Virginia, became a minority owner in a five-hospital system in Eastern Virginia, and purchased a multi-specialty group practice. Research activity also grew, with the School of Medicine increasing its funding by $60 million. Dr. Kent also led the creation of the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, a facility planned to open in 2026 with a focus on translational research.
Philanthropic support at UVA Health also saw major growth. Under Dr. Kent’s leadership, philanthropic contributions tripled, and over $650 million was raised as part of a billion-dollar capital campaign.
At Ohio State, Dr. Kent led the College of Medicine and the physician group of over 1200 doctors. Reporting directly to the university president, he played a key role in overseeing the system as a whole. His work there led to increased NIH support, the recruitment of more than 400 new faculty members, new compensation structures, and $200 million in annual fundraising. The college and health system also underwent major clinical and facility expansion during his time in leadership.
Earlier, at the University of Wisconsin, he oversaw the Department of Surgery during a period of rapid development. The department doubled in size and procedure volume, and its NIH ranking rose from 26th to 5th nationwide. At Columbia and Cornell, Dr. Kent led the combined vascular surgery programs following the merger of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals. Under his leadership, the service line became one of the largest and best-funded academic vascular programs in the country.
Craig Kent, MD, has held academic positions at several of the nation's leading medical schools. He was an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and has served as Professor of Surgery at Cornell, Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, The Ohio State University, and the University of Virginia.
His academic and clinical work has earned him numerous honors. He was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha at UCSF School of Medicine and received the Fred and Ester Nusz Annual Achievement Award for excellence as chief resident. He earned the Harold Bengloff Award from Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital for his teaching and the E. J. Wylie Traveling Fellowship from the Society of Vascular Surgery for his research achievements. Craig Kent has also been recognized with multiple Top Doctor and Best Doctor awards for his clinical practice.
Dr. Kent received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nevada, Reno. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco. His postdoctoral training includes a surgical internship and residency at UCSF; a vascular surgery research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was awarded a National Research Service Award; and an endovascular fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He also completed the Leadership Development for Physicians in Academic Centers program at the Harvard School of Public Health.
He has held active medical licenses in Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Virginia.
Dr. Kent maintains active memberships in several organizations. These include the American College of Surgeons, American Heart Association, Society for Vascular Surgery, American Surgical Association, Society of Surgical Chairs, International Surgical Group, American Board of Surgery, Blue Ridge Academic Health Group (BRAHG), and the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.