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Russell M. Howerton, MD, FACS, is President for Wake Forest Health Network and Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations.

Howerton provides leadership for quality of service and clinical and operational excellence across the healthcare system and has oversight of the non-faculty physician network and medical group practices.

His clinical leadership and operational purview include quality in service and clinical excellence in collaboration with the clinical chairs, the Chief Nursing Officer, and administrative co-management partners.

Prior to being named President of the Wake Forest Health Network and Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations, Howerton had served as System Chief Medical Officer since 2009 and as Associate Chief of Professional Services since 2004.

Howerton, a professor of surgery in general surgery, serves in leadership roles on numerous boards and was re-appointed chair of the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Applicants District 5 for 2010.

Howerton earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in surgical endoscopy/laparoscopy at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as senior registrar in the Hepatobiliary Surgical Unit of Hammersmith Hospital at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School of the University of London.

Howerton was appointed as a member of the PCORI Board of Governors by the Comptroller General of the United States in September 2016.

In September 2022, Howerton was reappointed to a second term, until September 2028, and appointed as Chairperson of the Board.