Samuel R.G. Finlayson, MD, MPH

Languages Spoken: English, Mandarin

Dr. Finlayson's clinical specialty is minimally invasive abdominal surgery. His primary areas of clinical practice are colon surgery, including colon cancer, colon polyps, diverticulitis, and other conditions of the colon; abdominal wall hernias, including ventral, incisional, inguinal and femoral hernias; and gallbladder and gallstone disease.

Samuel R. G. Finlayson, MD, MPH, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah. He has a national reputation as a health services researcher focused on surgical access, quality, and outcomes. His interests include variation in use and outcomes of surgery, surgical care process innovation, surgeon workforce, and access to high quality surgical care in rural versus urban settings in the United States, and in low income and resource poor countries. His clinical practice is in minimally invasive abdominal surgery, with a particular interest in benign and malignant diseases of the colon, abdominal wall hernias, and biliary disease.

Dr. Finlayson was appointed Chair of the Department of Surgery in June, 2013, following two years as the Kessler Director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint health services research initiative of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Prior to that, Dr. Finlayson spent a decade at Dartmouth Medical School where he served as Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, and Director of the Surgical Residency Program. A graduate of Harvard College, Dr. Finlayson received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and his Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He was trained in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed a fellowship in health services research at Dartmouth.