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Matthew Nielsen, MD, MS, FACS, will assume the role of Interim Chair of the Department of Urology, effective January 1, 2020.


Matthew Nielsen, MD, will assume the role of Interim Chair of the Department of Urology, effective January 1, 2020. Nielsen joined the faculty at UNC in 2009 as a urologic oncologist and health services researcher after completing medical school and residency training at Johns Hopkins. He has served the Department as the Physician Service Leader, Director of Urologic Oncology (2013-2018) and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs. He is an Associate Director of the UNC Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement and is a member of the adjunct faculty in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Outside of UNC, he is a Clinical Investigator in the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and Chair of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Committee for the American Urological Association.

Dr. Raj Pruthi, who served as Chair since the department was established in 2013, has been appointed Chair of Urology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. David Zvara, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Chief Operating Officer of UNC Faculty Physicians, served as Interim Chair in the transition. The department is grateful to Dr. David Zvara for his service as Interim Chair since September, and wishes Dr. Pruthi the best in his new position at UCSF.

“I am honored by the opportunity to lead this outstanding department and excited by the opportunities for our faculty to contribute to the mission and vision of UNC Health Care and the School of Medicine,” said Nielsen.