Paul William Helgerson, MD
Hospital Medicine
Bio & Overview
Paul Helgerson, MD, is a hospitalist and serves as vice chair of the Department of Medicine for Inpatient Affairs. He is also the associate chief medical officer of the University Medical Center.
He treats a broad range of inpatient medical conditions and, in his leadership roles, oversees many aspects of the inpatient operations of the hospital.
In addition to his clinical and leadership duties, Helgerson has academic interest in examining quality of care for hospital operations, timeliness of care, and patient safety.
Helgerson is originally from Reston and attended Duke University. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and completed his residency at Stanford University, where he was chief resident. Helgerson continued his medical training with a fellowship at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
In his free time, he enjoys running, ice hockey, and spending time outdoors with his wife and two adult children.
Academic Information
- Department
- Medicine
- Academic Role
- Professor
- Division
- General Medicine-Hospitalist
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- Georgetown University School of Medicine
- Residency
- Stanford Hospital and Clinics
- Fellowships
- UCSF Medical Center - General Internal Medicine
- Certification
- American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine)
Highlights
Dr. Paul Helgerson Video Profile
I'm Paul Helgerson. I'm a hospitalist at UVA. A hospitalist is a physician that specializes in inpatient medicine. So, that's the comprehensive care of a patient that's been admitted to the hospital for a variety of medical reasons. Our expertise really lies in, not just the technical aspects of one's medical treatment, but also things like the transition back home, quality and safety in an inpatient environment. The patients that we deal with typically have more than one problem. They're often complex because they have a mix of chronic medical problems, and things that happen more suddenly that brought them into the hospital. There's a lot that we focus on that's beyond the strictly nuts and bolts of the medical that really relates to the whole person, figuring out what it's going to take for them to be able to thrive at home once they get out of the hospital. And I like being able to attend to all of those different dimensions at the same time. We have very specific systems that we've put in place in the interdisciplinary team to make sure that patients, when they show up to UVA for inpatient care, not only have specialty expertise that UVA draws people in for, but also within the system that is going to make sure that they have the most effective treatment.
Awards
- 2019-2020 Best Doctors in America® List