CEO, University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group; Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry; Senior Vice President, University of Rochester Medical Center; Professor of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care – Department of Surgery
Michael F. Rotondo, MD, FACS, is the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group (URMFG). A seasoned healthcare executive with an accomplished surgical career in academic acute care surgery, he leads an academic, multidisciplinary physician practice composed of 2,100 faculty in 22 core specialty areas and more than 135 sub-specialties. Collectively, this group performs more than 4 million ambulatory visits and procedures annually in central and western New York, and serves as upstate New York's major tertiary and quaternary care center.
Beginning with his 2013 appointment as CEO, Rotondo conceived and led a bold, collaborative initiative to transform a loose organization of nearly two dozen clinical departments within the University of Rochester Medical Center's School of Medicine and Dentistry into a fully unified group practice. Under his leadership, a robust faculty-driven self-governance structure was formed, which today drives major policy and process decisions within the clinical enterprise. He also successfully advocated for a more disciplined fiscal management approach, emphasized physician wellbeing, implemented a new mission-balanced faculty compensation plan, and created expectations for critical performance standards to better reflect consistent, patient-centric practices. These new approaches, paired with threefold increases in clinical volumes and revenues, have yielded a high-functioning care delivery system, anchored by eight hospitals and 300+ ambulatory locations in a 150-mile radius.
Rotondo's tenure has also seen an unwavering commitment to health equity. He helped stand up a structure and process aimed at achieving excellence in anti-racist, equitable and inclusive healthcare delivery, informed by cutting-edge science and digital innovation.
Eight years ago, he founded the UR Health Lab – a technology-oriented incubator where new ideas in digital health are explored by over 30 transdisciplinary investigators committed to innovation in healthcare delivery. The UR Health lab also functions as a venture lab for select strategically aligned tech companies. Another clinical transformation—the Think Digital First initiative—will ensure the group practice's continued success by introducing state-of-the-art virtual tools that align with the patient journey, including online scheduling, online appointments, and digital tools to increase patient engagement in their care.
Prior to joining URMFG, the Rochester native served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery, The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, and Director of the Center of Excellence for Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Vidant Medical Centre in Greenville, North Carolina. While there, surgical volumes grew by double digits, and the array of complex surgical care for underserved areas of the state was expanded. Rotondo was also tapped to lead ECU Physicians, bringing the practice to profitability within one year.
A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, Rotondo finished his general surgical training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and became the first fellow in Traumatology and Surgical Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania. He accepted his first academic post at Penn, quickly climbing the ranks to Associate Professor, Vice Chief of the Division and Trauma Medical Director at its academic Level One Trauma Center. During that time, he and his colleagues published the seminal work on Damage Control Surgery, which rapidly became the standard of care around the world, producing significantly improved patient outcomes. He has been a visiting professor and an invited speaker across the globe, a member of numerous Editorial Review Boards, and an author of more than 250 peer-reviewed and invited publications.
Rotondo's trauma research has heavily influenced guidelines to eliminate preventable deaths after traumatic injuries and to provide a more consistent standard of care nationwide. He is one of the few trauma surgeons in the country to have achieved acclaim in both urban and rural trauma care.
In addition to these notable accomplishments, Rotondo played a part in building and sustaining a national network of professional associations, holding increasingly progressive leadership roles throughout his career. He served as the Chair of the Committee on Trauma and Trauma Medical Director for the American College of Surgeons, during which he helped establish new standards for trauma centers and trauma systems.
In 2011, he was asked by the Defense Health Board to lead a combined military-civilian consultation team into the theater of operations in Afghanistan to evaluate the Joint Theater Trauma System during Operation Enduring Freedom. This report was used by then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to assess the effectiveness of medical command and the system of care for wounded warriors across all echelons. Don Berwick's National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine report on zero preventable mortality after trauma heavily referenced that report. He was also named president of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the oldest and most prestigious academic trauma surgery society. After his tenure as president, the organization tapped him to lead the search for the current editors of both the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and the Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open Journal. He has also served as president of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and president of the Halsted Society.