Frederick C. Morin, M.D., dean of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and John R. Brumsted, M.D., president and CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care, have announced the appointment of Mitchell Norotsky, M.D., associate professor and interim chair of surgery, as chair and health care service leader of the Department of Surgery. Norotsky, a cardiothoracic surgeon, has served as interim chair of surgery since March 2014.

Norotsky, who joined UVM/Fletcher Allen in 1997, served as president of the Fletcher Allen Medical Staff and was associate vice president of operations for the UVM Medical Group from 2007 to 2011. He serves on the Board of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UVM/Fletcher Allen, and has also served on the Board of Directors for Vermont Managed Care.

Norotsky’s areas of clinical expertise include coronary artery bypass grafting, valvular heart surgery, pulmonary and mediastinal tumor surgery. He is also a clinical researcher with more than a dozen publications, and is currently an investigator for several clinical trials focused on surgical patient outcomes. He is a member of the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group, the New England Surgical Society and the national Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

“Dr. Norotsky is an exemplary teacher and sought-after mentor of medical students and residents in addition to his role as a busy cardiothoracic surgeon and clinical researcher,” says Dean Morin. “We are pleased to have such an outstanding academic clinician to serve in this important role.”

Norotsky earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and is an alumnus of the UVM College of Medicine. He completed his residency in general surgery at the former Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, where he earned the Resident Teaching Award three years in a row. Following a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital, he was on the medical staff at St. Vincent’s Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital in New York before coming to Vermont.