Melina Kibbe, MD

Melina Kibbe, MD became president of UTHealth Houston and assumed the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair in September 2025. Before this appointment, she served as a medical school dean and chief health affairs officer at a public academic institution. She is nationally recognized for her contributions to vascular surgery and previously served as chair of the Department of Surgery at a major university. Earlier in her career, she held senior research leadership roles within academic surgery and a multidisciplinary biomedical research institute. She earned her medical degree from the University of Chicago, completed her internship, residency, and research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and later completed a vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University. Her clinical background includes both open and endovascular procedures. She is board-certified in general and vascular surgery and holds RVT and RPVI certifications.

Her research focuses on developing drug-eluting therapies for patients with vascular disease and understanding how these treatments affect the vasculature. She has served as a principal investigator on research funded by several federal and national organizations. She has also contributed as a co-investigator, consultant, or mentor on many additional projects. She has taken leadership roles in gene- and cell-based clinical trials for patients with critical limb ischemia and has advised on trials related to peripheral artery disease. Her work has resulted in more than ten patents or provisional patents. In 2009, her research efforts were recognized with a national early-career award for scientists and engineers.