Rachel Kelz, MD, MSCE is the William Maul Measey Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, and the Director of the Center for Surgery and Health Economics. Within Penn Medicine, Dr. Kelz serves as the co-Director of the Endocrine Disease Team and the Director of the Core for Precision Resource Utilization.
Dr. Kelz uses advanced statistical methods including AI to address problems at the intersection of clinical operations, surgical outcomes, and education with attention to health equity. She has received private and public grant support for her work and published more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Dr. Kelz has edited two books on surgical quality and safety.
Dr. Kelz has received the Gordon P. Buzby Award for leadership, the Mentorship Award from the Department of Surgery, and the Christian R. and the Mary F. Lindback Award for distinguished teaching from the Provost’s office at the University. The Lindback award is the most prominent educational award given by the University. Most recently, Dr. Kelz was awarded the Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Award for her contributions to the field of health services research and the FOCUS Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine.
Dr. Kelz holds a BS in Mathematics from Union College in Schenectady, NY, an MD from Yale University, and both an Executive MBA from the Wharton School and a MS in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.
