Barrett Kitch, MD, MPH, was named Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Emerson Hospital. In this role, Dr. Kitch is responsible for the oversight and functions of Emerson’s Departments of Quality and Patient Safety, Care Management and Adult and Pediatric Hospitalist Services, effective immediately. In addition, Emerson’s medical and surgical Department Chairs and Service Chiefs report to Dr. Kitch.
“I am very excited to have Dr. Kitch on board at Emerson,” said Christine Schuster, RN, MBA, President and CEO of Emerson. “As a senior physician executive with impressive department and program leadership experience, he is the leader Emerson needs to move our quality and growth strategies forward and enhance our reputation as the trusted community hospital serving the greater Concord area and beyond.”
Most recently, and since 2009, Dr. Kitch served as Vice Chair of Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) in Salem, Mass.
He was also the Program Director of NSMC’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Previously, he was an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care while also serving as a Senior Research Scientist in the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Kitch has been a leading figure at Partners for his collaborative approach to quality and patient safety. He co-chairs the Partners Critical Care Collaborative and the Sepsis Work Group, and twice received the Partners-wide Nesson Award for physician leadership.
“I am honored to serve as Chief Medical Officer at Emerson Hospital,” said Barrett Kitch, MD, MPH. “Among health system leaders throughout Massachusetts, Emerson is praised for its exceptional patient care and quality programs. I look forward to working closely with Emerson physicians, clinical teams and administration to expand these programs and continue to be the hospital of choice for hundreds of thousands of people throughout our service area.”
Dr. Kitch graduated from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill with an undergraduate degree in political science and from the UNC School of Medicine. He received his Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his internship and residency at Mass General and a Harvard Combined Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship. Dr. Kitch is board-certified in critical care medicine.
He and his wife Ann, along with their three children, live in Belmont.
