BayCare Names New Chief Academic Officer

BayCare has named Shelby Kutty, MD, Ph.D., MHCM, as its vice president and chief academic officer, effective Jan. 6. 

Under the direction of Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan, BayCare’s chief physician executive, Dr. Kutty will oversee the academic integrity and quality of educational programs, and provide visionary leadership to drive academic excellence, innovation and continuous improvement. 

BayCare has deepened its commitment to training West Central Florida’s next generation of physicians and to leading medical research, and BayCare leadership has announced plans to expand academic offerings to enhance medical and surgical specialties across the health care system spanning 16 hospitals. 

Dr. Kutty, a leading authority in multimodal cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance, comes to BayCare from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, where he served as the Helen B. Taussig Professor, director of pediatric and congenital cardiology, co-director of the pediatric and congenital Heart Center and chair of the Cardiovascular Analytic Intelligence Initiative. He also held an appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

“This is an exciting time at BayCare as we are focused on increasing residency positions to more than 650 by 2029 and expanding our academic footprint. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Shelby Kutty as our new vice president and chief academic officer to help lead our vision into a reality,” Dr. Viswanathan said. “Dr. Kutty’s experience in academic medicine and research will be a game changer for BayCare. He is a results-driven leader and someone who we are confident can help us meet and exceed expectations in reaching our goals ahead.” 

Dr. Kutty’s academic interests have included patient outcomes, myocardial function and predictive modeling. He has made significant contributions in the areas of therapeutic ultrasound, imaging technologies for right heart function and systems of cardiovascular care. More recently, he has been working on artificial intelligence algorithms for precision phenotyping and clinical trial design, and in the deployment and evaluation of those models in patient care settings. His research programs have received consistent funding from the National Institutes of Health, foundations and industry. Dr. Kutty has co-authored more than 440 peer-reviewed journal publications and more than 380 peer-reviewed abstracts. He has delivered over 250 invited lectures worldwide. 

“I was drawn to BayCare Health System by its nationally recognized health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care,” Dr. Kutty said. “I’m eager to contribute to the remarkable ongoing work in the education and research space. I look forward to leading new innovations and fostering academic partnerships, with the goal of promoting mentorship, discovery and evidence-based care.” 

Before joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Kutty was a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine, where he also served as vice chair for pediatrics and assistant dean for research and development. 

Dr. Kutty earned his medical degree from Calicut University in India, a master’s degree in health care management from Harvard University and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam and University of Nebraska Medical Center. He is an elected Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the Royal College of Physicians London, the American Society of Echocardiography and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

BayCare offers a variety of postgraduate residency programs that train professionals to provide exceptional care to hospitalized and ambulatory patients. Learn more: Residency Programs at BayCare