Health Care 2023: DR. K. CRAIG KENT

A vascular surgeon, Kent joined UVA Health in February 2020, just before COVID-19 hit, having served previously as dean of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

He is responsible for a health system that employs about 16,000 people and includes U.Va. Medical Center, a children’s hospital and schools of nursing and medicine, as well as a network of outpatient clinics across Culpeper and Northern Virginia. In July, UVA Health announced a strategic partnership with Riverside Health System, acquiring a 5% stake in the Eastern Virginia system.

This year, U.S. News & World Report ranked U.Va. Medical Center the No. 3 hospital in Virginia and rated U.Va. Children’s the top children’s hospital in the state.

Kent earned his medical degree and completed his surgical residency at the University of California, San Francisco. He previously served as surgery department chair at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He was also vascular surgery chief at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Columbia University’s College of Physician Surgeons.

A former chair of the American Board of Surgery, Kent has researched molecular mechanisms underlying vascular disease with a goal of developing new treatments.