Vineet Chopra Named Chair of Medicine

(October 2021) Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc, has been named chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, effective Oct. 18, 2021.

Chopra comes to CU from the University of Michigan School of Medicine, where he joined the faculty in 2008. He became Michigan’s inaugural Chief of Hospital Medicine four and a half years ago, leading and building the first new division created in the department in more than 50 years. 

In that role, he was responsible for overseeing a division that includes more than 130 full-time faculty and provides clinical care services in academic and community settings. He also helped launch and refine innovative care delivery programs, including a direct care hospitalist service at the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, a 40-bed adult short-stay observation unit at University Hospital, and two offsite inpatient programs located in community hospitals.

Chopra is a successful and productive researcher who has been continuously funded since 2012. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals, including JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal, and the Lancet. Chopra recently was selected to serve as Deputy Editor for the Annals of Internal Medicine, becoming the first hospitalist to serve in the role.

In a study published this spring in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety, he and his colleagues reported on how the Michigan Appropriateness Guide for Intravenous Catheters (MAGIC), a tool he created, led to reduced complications and improved outcomes for patients in over 50 Michigan hospitals. MAGIC is currently in use in hundreds of U.S. hospitals. 

“As a leader, I focus on service, collaboration, accessibility, and transparency,” says Chopra. “I believe the best leaders are enablers and achieve success by helping those they lead reach their full potential. As an immigrant, I uniquely understand the value that diversity of views, people, ideas, and culture bring to guiding decisions and strategy.

“I also recognize that ideal leaders must not be ‘top down’ but, rather, must lead from within – which is why I am proud to still serve as a rank-and-file hospitalist. I look forward to bringing my unique blend of clinical, scholarly, and mentoring expertise to CU and the Department of Medicine. I am thrilled about the possibilities that are ahead and hope to take the research, programmatic, and clinical standing of the department to new heights.”