About Melina Kibbe, MD

Since 2021, Melina Kibbe, MD, a pioneering physician leader, has served as the Dean of the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine (SOM), the James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science, and Chief Health Affairs Officer at UVA Health. Dr. Kibbe leads the School of Medicine in translating discoveries into revolutionary therapies that will improve human health, promoting high-caliber educational programs for our medical and graduate students, supporting our physicians to deliver outstanding care to the patients we serve, and developing critical partnerships within our community.

She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the highly respected Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery. Under her leadership, JAMA Surgery has grown to become the world’s leading surgical publication.

Dr. Kibbe is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine, one of medicine’s highest accolades. She has garnered 24 honors for teaching excellence throughout her career in recognition of her passion and dedication to education.

In addition, Dr. Kibbe co-founded and was the Chief Medical Officer for VesselTek BioMedical, LLC, an early stage biotech company that specialized in developing medical devices to treat vascular disease.

Dr. Kibbe still maintains an active, albeit small vascular surgery clinical practice, treating patients who require the creation of hemodialysis access for kidney failure.  And, she continues to investigate and develop novel drug-eluting therapies for patients with vascular disease through her extramurally funded basic and translational research laboratory. 

In addition to the philanthropic work she spearheads with UVA, Dr. Kibbe regularly donates to many organizations.

Dr. Kibbe’s Accomplishments at UVA

Dr. Kibbe’s track record as a leader is evident in her work as the Dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. As the first woman appointed to a full term as Dean at UVA, she oversees a school that includes over 1,450 faculty members, 607 medical students, 359 graduate students, and more than 2,000 staff. With Dr. Kibbe as Dean, the SOM has $274 million in research dollars and $1.7 billion in endowments and reserves. The school includes 29 departments (20 clinical and nine research), seven large Centers, 17 robust research Cores, and numerous small Centers.  

Over the last few years since serving as Dean, Dr. Kibbe has hired 16 nationally or internationally known and accomplished leaders to chair different clinical and research departments.  Under her leadership, the school also hired 550 new faculty members, comprised of clinicians and researchers. This growth has allowed the school to focus on improving patient access through the hiring of more physicians as well as a medical center-wide initiative to improve efficiencies, staff training, and throughput. The surgical volume, emergency room visits, hospital discharges, and outpatient encounters have all seen record increases over these past few years. Under Dr. Kibbe’s leadership, the SOM has established new destination clinical programs and strategically grew existing programs such as transplantation, the cancer program, and primary care, among others. 

The UVA SOM has been attracting outstanding students to SOM. The incoming medical student class boasts an impressive incoming GPA of 3.85 and an MCAT score of 94th percentile. Dr. Kibbe and her team of educators were instrumental in successfully receiving full re-accreditation of the medical school for eight years by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), growing the size of the graduate student program by 60% over the past three years, and successfully launching a new degree-granting program in computational biology. Through concerted philanthropic efforts, SOM ranks in the top 85th percent of the country for providing scholarship funds and in the lowest 25th percent for graduating medical students indebted.

Dr. Kibbe’s leadership also helped increase the average fundraising for the SOM from $40 to $50 million annually to an average of $125 million per year.

Dr. Kibbe’s Medical Career

Before arriving at UVA, Dr. Kibbe was Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC), the Colin G. Thomas, Jr. Distinguished Professor, and held an adjunct professorship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She was the first woman to serve as the Chair of the Department of Surgery and a key member of the UNC Health senior leadership team.

During her five-year tenure with UNC, the department expanded, surgical volume rose significantly, and research grants and publications grew, with federal funds increasing seven-fold and the number of annual peer-reviewed publications tripling. In addition, Dr. Kibbe was responsible for establishing new residency training programs and expanding philanthropy. These advancements in clinical and academic performance placed the department on an incredible trajectory before her departure. 

Prior to joining UNC, Dr. Kibbe was part of the faculty at Northwestern University, where she also served as the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and as Deputy Director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology.  At Northwestern University, she cared for patients with vascular disease at both Northwestern Medicine and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.  She established her basic science and translational research laboratory and received extramural support from many different agencies. She was also known as a consummate educator to medical students and residents, having received numerous departmental and school-wide teaching awards.  Prior to leaving Northwestern University, she received the Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize, an award given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research that emphasizes translational approaches, teaching and mentoring, and leadership.

Dr. Kibbe’s Clinical Work

Dr. Kibbe has significant experience with both open and endovascular surgery. She has cared for patients with carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms, mesenteric artery disease, and chronic kidney disease, among others.  She is board-certified in general and vascular surgery and is certified by the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) as a Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT) and Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation.  She has also served as the national Principal Investigator (PI) or site PI for many gene and cell-based clinical trials for patients with critical limb ischemia and as a consultant for many clinical trials for patients with peripheral artery disease.

Dr. Kibbe’s Research

Dr. 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 continuously funded as a Principal Investigator (PI) since 2005 by the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, American Heart Association, Veterans Affairs, and American Medical Association, among others.  She has also served as a co-investigator, consultant, or mentor on many other federally supported awards. 

Dr. Kibbe 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. 

Dr. Kibbe is a National Leader in Surgery

In addition to her position as Editor-in-Chief for JAMA Surgery, Dr. Kibbe has served as president of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, the Association of VA Surgeons, and Surgical Biology Club II. She is currently the Secretary for the American Surgical Association, Chair of the American College of Surgeons Scholarship Committee, and an active member of several other societies.  

Melina Kibbe, MD, has strongly advocated sex inclusion in biomedical research.  She was interviewed by Leslie Stahl for 60 Minutes on this topic and later appeared on the Colbert Report. Her publications on sex bias in surgical research gained much media attention nationally and internationally and resulted in policy development with the National Institutes of Health, the Government Accountability Organization (GAO), and the FDA. In addition, a bill was introduced into the House, “Research for All Act of 2015”.

Her bibliography includes over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters. She has authored or co-authored over 240 nationally and internationally presented abstracts.  She has received numerous awards, including the Society of Vascular Surgery Women’s Leadership Award, AMWA Gender Equity Award, AMSA Women Leaders in Medicine Award, Northwestern University Tripartite Award, Association of VA Surgeons Presidential Citation, University of Chicago Distinguished Service Award and the Virginia Business 2023 Women in Leadership award. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. 

Dr. Kibbe’s Education

Dr. Kibbe graduated from the University of Chicago College of Biological Sciences in 1990 and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994.  Dr. Kibbe will be honored with the 2025 Professional Achievement Alumni Award from the University of Chicago in May.

Her internship, residency, and research fellowship were at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from 1994-2002, and her vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine was from 2002-2003. 

Dr. Kibbe completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine in 2012 and Management Skills for Innovative University Leaders at the Kellogg School of Management Business for Scientists and Engineers Program in 2009.

Her Early Life

Born and raised in La Jolla, California, her family moved to LaVerne, California at the age of 5.  Growing up in Southern California shaped who she is today.  When she was a freshman in high school, Dr. Kibbe was diagnosed with scoliosis and underwent surgery to have a Harrington rod implanted. It was this experience that led her to pursue a career as a doctor and surgeon, as no one else in her family was in medicine.