Dr. Rajabrata Sarkar Appointed Director of Faculty Group Practice Operations at the University of Maryland School of Medicine

In New Position, Dr. Sarkar Will Oversee Broad Range of Operational Practices in Clinical Affairs and Patient Care

University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, along with Anthony F. Lehman, MD, MSPH, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at UMSOM, announced today that Rajabrata (Raj) Sarkar, MD, a leading vascular surgeon at UMSOM who is the Barbara Baur Dunlap Professor in Surgery, has been appointed Director of Faculty Group Practice Operations for the UMSOM.

Dr. Sarkar, who served as Interim Chair for the Department of Surgery prior to the appointment of new Department Chair Christine L. Lau, MD, MBA, also serves as Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery in the Department, as well as Chief of Vascular Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center.  In his new role, he will report to Dr. Lehman and work closely with William E. Tucker, MBA, CPA, Associate Dean for Practice Plan Affairs at UMSOM, and Chief Corporate Officer for University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. (FPI), and he will continue as Professor in the Department of Surgery and Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery.

As the new Director of Faculty Group Practice Operations, Dr. Sarkar will oversee a range of operational areas for UMSOM’s clinical practices, including adoption of new faculty incentive models, support of the patient access center and general support for consolidating and standardizing UMSOM’s business practices, including assisting practices with metrics associated with UMMC Physician Services Contracts (PSC).

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Sarkar join our team in the Office of Clinical Affairs,” said Dr. Lehman.  “He is an energetic and strategic leader who will contribute substantially to our clinical practice enterprise.”

Working with Mr. Tucker, Dr. Sarkar will help FPI become more externally/ patient focused, and promote the use of the FPI Ambulatory Surgery Center and offices at Waterloo Crossing in Columbia, MD, as well as provide support for other UMSOM satellite clinical practices.

“Dr. Sarkar has long been active and enthusiastic supporter of FPI and our practices,” Mr. Tucker said.  “I look forward to working with him in his new capacity as we position ourselves for success in a rapidly changing environment.”

Dr. Sarkar is an expert in treating blood vessel disorders and a nationally known researcher in blood vessel growth and development.  He joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine as Professor of Surgery and Head of the Division of Vascular Surgery from the University of California, San Francisco, where he was an Associate Professor of Surgery and a vascular surgeon since 1999. He received his MD degree and his Ph.D. Degree in Physiology from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed his surgical training at UCLA and was trained in vascular surgery at the University of Michigan. His research has been previously supported by an NIH Mentored Career Development Award and the Wylie Scholar Award. Dr. Sarkar’s current research focuses on molecular therapy for restenosis and ischemia-reperfusion, and is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.

“It is an honor to be appointed to this new and important position, as we work to promote the the faculty of the School of Medicine as the premier clinicians in the region,” Dr. Sarkar said.  “Our goal is ensuring that Departments focus on patient-centered means to increase patient access and deliver the best clinical care in area hospitals and ambulatory settings.”

Dr. Sarkar was named a "Top Doctor" in the specialty of Vascular Surgery by Baltimore magazine in 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Under his leadership the Division of Vascular Surgery grew from 5 faculty in 2009 to 13 today while the University of Maryland Medical Center rose from #7 in statewide vascular market share (2009) to number one for the past four years. This clinical growth enabled Dr. Sarkar to expand the vascular surgery fellowship training program to the largest on the East Coast. More recently the Division of Vascular Surgery opened one of the first academic office-based vascular laboratories to allow efficient and patient-centered outpatient angiography and interventions.

“As we continue to focus on providing patient-centered care in all of our clinical settings, Dr. Sarkar will play a critical role in enhancing and standardizing our practices, and helping us achieve the highest levels of operational excellence in patient care,” said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor.  “We are grateful to Dr. Sarkar for taking on this additional responsibility, for which he is ideally suited.”

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 45 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research.  With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has more than $540 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 student trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and an economic impact more than $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine, with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu