Director, Dartmouth Health Heart and Vascular Center
Richard J. Powell, MD, was appointed the Director of the Dartmouth Health Heart and Vascular Center in March, 2023. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Powell served as Section Chief of Vascular Surgery at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Professor of Surgery and Radiology at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Dr. Powell completed his medical degree at Medical College of Wisconsin in 1986. His residency in General Surgery was completed at New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ, in 1992, followed by a fellowship in Vascular Surgery at DHMC from 1992-94. He was an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Yale Medical School from 1994-97, when he returned to DHMC to direct the Vascular Surgery Basic Science Program. He was named Section Chief of Vascular Surgery in 2007.
Rick's research interests focus on the economics of vascular care delivery and minimally invasive treatment of vascular disease.
He has led efforts within the Section of Vascular Surgery to use process improvement techniques in the development of care pathways for complex vascular surgery procedures. This has resulted in streamlined approaches to patient care and incorporation of evidence-based algorithms that also factor cost into implant selection. This work has resulted in improved patient satisfaction, maintenance of high-quality outcomes and substantial reductions in cost. This has also become a central theme of the section and has been incorporated into the section's academic portfolio as well as resident and fellow educational programs.
He has published numerous studies on the use of gene therapy and stem cells in the treatment of patients with peripheral vascular disease. He has been or is currently the National or International Principle Investigator on multiple Gene Therapy and Stem Cell Therapy clinical trials, including the first in human use of HGF gene therapy to treat patients with critical limb ischemia. He has had NIH funding continuously since 1997 and has served as a member on multiple NIH study sections. He has chaired the Research Council and Clinical Research Committee for the Society of Vascular Surgery.
Rick enjoys cycling and cross country skiing and lives with his family in Etna, NH.