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Paul N. Uhlig, MD, MPA

Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Vice President, University Hospital, Cincinnati, OH

Paul Uhlig is a cardiothoracic surgeon. He is a nationally recognized authority on healthcare culture and social architecture, healthcare teamwork, care process innovation, and patient safety. His professional interest concerns the use of social science to study and reconfigure clinical care processes.

Dr. Uhlig is Vice President for Clinical Quality and Innovation at the University Hospital in Cincinnati, OH and associate professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.  Prior to coming to Cincinnati, Dr. Uhlig was a member of the Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, and, from 1999-2004, was associate professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School.

In October 2002, Dr. Uhlig and the cardiac surgery team he led from Dartmouth, from Concord Hospital, Concord, NH, received the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Award for System Innovation given by the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. This award was for developing the Concord Collaborative Care Model, a method of collaborative practice based on human factors science, with active involvement of patients and families in all aspects of care and decision making. 

Prior to joining the Dartmouth faculty, Dr. Uhlig practiced cardiothoracic surgery in Wichita, KS, where he was the founding president of the Central Plains Regional Health Care Foundation. In February 2000, Dr. Uhlig and Pat Hanrahan of Wichita received the Mary M. Gates award of the United Way of America for their work replicating Project Access, a community-centered program of care for the uninsured.

Dr. Uhlig received his M.D. degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where he received the Thomas G. Orr award as outstanding student in surgery. He completed his residency training in general surgery and general thoracic surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in cardiothoracic surgery at Indiana University. He was also a research fellow in cardiovascular physiology at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.  For the academic year 1996-1997, Dr. Uhlig was the Thoracic Surgery Foundation Alley-Sheridan Scholar-in-Residence in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he studied healthcare policy.

Besides being a member of The Center's board of directors, Dr. Uhlig is chair of the education committee of the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education and past chair of the health policy committee of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.  He was lead author of the Society's recommendations for Medicare reform presented before the National Bipartisan Committee on the Future of Medicare.