David Dietz, MD

About

David W. Dietz, MD is a board-certified colorectal surgeon, surgical educator, clinical researcher, and national leader in the treatment of patients with cancer of the rectum as well as those with problems involving complex reoperative abdominal and pelvic surgery. His previous position was Vice Chairman and Fellowship Director in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic where he held the Thomas C. and Sandra S. Sullivan Family Endowed Chair in Colorectal Surgery. Dr. Dietz was recruited to University Hospitals in August 2016 as the Vice President of System Surgery Quality and Experience and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Quality in the Department of Surgery. He was subsequently appointed as Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery and currently holds the Elizabeth King Family Chair in the Department of Surgery. He is a professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Dr. Dietz is one of the most experienced reoperative colorectal surgeons in the country and one of only a handful of surgeons in the world who performs continent ileostomy surgery. He draws patients with complex colorectal surgery problems to Cleveland from all corners of the United States. He has been named “One of America’s Top Doctors” and “One of America’s Top Doctors for Cancer” by Castle Connolly annually since 2014.

Dr. Dietz has a strong clinical research record and has published more than ninety manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, written fifteen book chapters, and has given over 100 presentations at national and international meetings. He has received research funding from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the Barnes-Jewish Research Foundation and the American Cancer Society and has also been an institutional principle investigator on two NIH-funded rectal cancer trials. In his role as a national leader in the surgical treatment of rectal cancer, Dr. Dietz sits on the American College of Surgeons’ Cancer Care Standards Committee, the Alliance Cancer Care Standards Colorectal Subcommittee and the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer.

Dr. Dietz’s most fulfilling achievement to date has been his work as a founding member and leader of the Consortium for Optimizing the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Cancer (OSTRiCh). Recognizing that outcomes for rectal cancer patients in the U.S. were disparate and grossly inferior to those achieved in European countries, Dr. Dietz and his colleagues established OSTRiCh in 2011 as a national organization dedicated to transforming the delivery of rectal cancer care in this country. Over the past 9 years, he has worked to grow the consortium from the initial group of 17 hospitals to well over 300 and has led efforts to raise awareness of the inferior quality of rectal cancer care in the U.S., to educate health care providers in the modern multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer patients, and has established several quality improvement registries housed on the OSTRiCh consortium website.

In 2015, Dr. Dietz and his colleagues realized their goal of transforming the way that rectal cancer care is delivered in the U.S. by partnering with the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer (CoC) to establish the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer. Dr. Dietz was instrumental in this process as one of the primary designers of the program and author of the NAPRC Standards Manual and currently serves on the CoC’s NAPRC Executive Committee.

Dr. Dietz is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Delivery Science (MHCDS) at Dartmouth. The MHCDS curriculum is unique in that it is cross-functional and rigorous in its approach to preparing leaders to improve health care delivery in their organizations and beyond. The 18-month program focuses Dartmouth’s leading insight into value-based health care and world-class business education on improving health care delivery. The coursework in areas such as strategy, operations, finance, health policy, economics, data analytics and leadership is not limited to general business management techniques but speaks directly to the unique culture and challenges of health care.

Dr. Dietz is married to Jill R. Dietz MD, who is a national leader in breast cancer surgery, current President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, and Chair of the National Accreditation Program for Breast Cancer Standards Committee.