Chief Medical Officer, UVA Health
Reid Adams, MD
Reid Adams, MD, has been a part of the UVA community since 1979, beginning his journey as an undergraduate student and Echol’s Scholar. He attended the UVA School of Medicine and joined the UVA Department of Surgery as a general surgery resident. Following his residency, he spent a year of fellowship in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and transplantation at the University of Toronto. He was invited to join the UVA faculty in 1995 following completion of his fellowship.
In April 2020, during the start of the COVID pandemic, Adams took on the role of interim chief medical officer (CMO) for University Medical Center while continuing to serve in his role as the chair of surgery and the endowed S. Hurts Watts Professor of Surgery. He served in both roles until June 2022, when he stepped down as the chair and continued in his role as CMO. In March 2026, Adams assumed the role of chief medical officer for all of UVA Health.
As CMO, Adams oversees UVA Health’s medical staff and works to ensure high-quality patient care and service. In addition, he partners with health system leadership to develop systemwide clinical initiatives, conduct workforce planning, and integrate patient care across all four UVA Health hospitals and while advancing destination clinical programs in Charlottesville, Culpeper, and Northern Virginia through our statewide network of outpatient clinics.
Adam has served in various roles at UVA: Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology; Physician Lead, Oncology Service Line; and Director of the Cancer Center of Excellence, and Regional CMO, UVA.
Adams has served in several national presidential roles, including the Society of Clinical Surgery and Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association. He was a director for the American Board of Surgery and has served in many other leadership roles in national organizations.
As a patient-care provider at UVA Health, he established the Liver, Pancreatic, and Biliary Surgery program and the Gastrointestinal Oncology program, under which a pancreatic cancer screening program for high-risk patients and new treatment options for pancreatic cancer were developed.