Sutter Health Welcomes First Chief Medical Officer, Medical Education and Science

SACRAMENTO, Calif.-Further elevating its work to increase its talent pathway for diverse physicians and advanced practice clinicians and address equitable access to healthcare, Sutter Health proudly welcomes Lindsay Mazotti, M.D., as Sutter's first chief medical officer of medical education and science. In her role, Dr. Mazotti will serve as the senior academic physician executive responsible for the oversight, further growth and development of graduate medical education and research across the organization.

The aging population has strained the nation's systems of care, and the demand for services continues to grow. Every day, 10,000 people newly enroll in Medicare, the federal health insurance program for those 65 and older. The long-feared national physician shortage is also here. Sutter Health is meeting this challenge head-on by employing innovative solutions and new leadership to strengthen the future of care in both urban and rural settings.

"We have invested in accredited programs and are projected to train more than 18,000 residents over the next 20 years. We also have an annual research budget of more than $50 million," said Conrad Vial, M.D., Sutter Health Network president. "By combining clinical career pathways with world-class research and community-based medicine, we are improving patient access to care, our patients' whole health and equitable care delivery. Dr. Mazotti embracing this new physician leadership role is one more key element that further ignites the positive momentum at Sutter Health."

Reporting to Dr. Vial, Dr. Mazotti will serve as the clinical dyad partner to Leon Clark, Sutter Health's chief academic affairs officer. Together, and in alignment with Sutter's clinical service lines and centers of excellence, they will:

• Lead and oversee the expansion of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency and fellowship programs
• Build diversity, equity and inclusion across Sutter's academic functions, and lead faculty development
• Develop and grow Sutter's clinical and translational research programs
• Partner with academic, federal, industry and community organizations and agencies to further grow and advance these focus areas

"I look forward to creating a greater sense of community," said Dr. Mazotti. "We have an opportunity at Sutter to create a stronger educational mission and build a community of learners who work with a shared identity. When you bring great people together who are passionate about the same work, amazing things happen."

A Distinguished Career

Dr. Mazotti is a hospital medicine physician and medical education leader, coming to Sutter from dual educational leadership roles at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, Calif., and Kaiser Permanente East Bay Medical Center in Oakland, Calif. She received her degree in human biology from Stanford University and completed her medical degree and residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She joined The Permanente Medical Group in 2010 after several years on faculty at UCSF.

Starting in 2016 as a founding faculty member and then as assistant dean for clinical education, she was instrumental in shaping KPSOM's vision and design. With extensive experience in longitudinal integrated clerkships, Dr. Mazotti pioneered an innovative model, making KPSOM one of the first U.S. institutions with all students participating in a LIC. Her responsibilities at KPSOM encompassed creating and overseeing over 200 clinical rotations, curriculum development, competency-based assessment, and establishing relationships with affiliate universities and community partners.

Simultaneously, as the assistant physician-in-chief for education and development at Kaiser Permanente East Bay Medical Center since 2016, Dr. Mazotti held executive responsibility for the medical education continuum. This included pathway programs, undergraduate and graduate medical education, continuing medical education and leadership development.

Dr. Mazotti is also member of the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators and participated in Drexel's Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program, and the Harvard Macy program. Her research interests include LICs, medical student assessment and the alignment between GME outcomes, systems-based practice and health systems science, most recently as a co-primary investigator on several grants for the American Medical Association's Change Medical Education initiative.

She joined Sutter Health April 15, 2024.