Sean Overton, MD, MBA, appointed as Senior Vice Chair for Clinical Operations & Performance
As our clinical enterprise continues to grow in scope and complexity, strong and strategic operational leadership has never been more essential. Today, we are pleased to share an update that reflects our department’s ongoing commitment to excellence in patient care, performance, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Read the official memorandum below.
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sean Overton, MD, MBA, as Senior Vice Chair for Clinical Operations & Performance for the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the University of Utah, effective March 2, 2026.
Dr. Overton received his Doctor of Medicine from Saint Louis University, followed by residency training at the University of Utah. He then completed a Critical Care fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. In addition to his clinical training, he earned an MBA from the University of Colorado Denver, further strengthening his expertise in healthcare leadership, operations, and performance management.
Over more than 14 years at the University of Utah, Dr. Overton has been a deeply committed member of our department and institution. He has consistently demonstrated exceptional clinical leadership, operational insight, and a deep commitment to advancing patient care and departmental excellence in clinical operations. Through his tenure, the department has achieved sustained improvements in clinical scheduling, staffing reliability, and perioperative coordination.
In this new role, Dr. Overton will provide strategic leadership and oversight of clinical operations and performance across the department. This position is vitally important as our health system’s clinical enterprise continues to grow in size, complexity, and scope. The Senior Vice Chair for Clinical Operations & Performance will play an important role in aligning operational efficiency, quality and safety outcomes, workforce sustainability, and financial stewardship with our mission of delivering outstanding patient care.
This role will serve as a central point of coordination for multiple critical aspects of our clinical operations, including clinical scheduling and staffing optimization; operational performance metrics and analytics; financial oversight related to clinical operations; quality, safety, and performance improvement initiatives; clinical integration across sites and service lines; and support and alignment of APC, APP, and physician practice models.
Dr. Overton will work in close partnership with the Chair, Executive Vice Chair, Vice Chairs, Division Chiefs, and Site Medical Directors, APC and APP Directors and Leaders; administrative operations teams including scheduling, coordinators, analytics, finance; hospital and health system perioperative leadership; quality, safety, and performance improvement teams; and Graduate Medical Education leadership.
These teams are fundamental to the success of our clinical mission. Their collaboration ensures seamless operations, high-quality patient outcomes, and a strong educational and professional environment for trainees, clinicians, and staff. Equally important, this integrated operational foundation is essential to advancing our academic missions – by protecting time and resources for education and scholarship, enabling reliable clinical learning environments, and supporting the research and innovation that define an academic department. Dr. Overton’s experience and leadership will help strengthen these partnerships and will ensure that operational excellence directly supports and amplifies our clinical, education, and research missions across the department.
We extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Overton for his many years of dedicated service to the University of Utah and for his continued commitment to advancing our departmental missions and goals. Please join me in congratulating him as he assumes this leadership role.
Sincerely,
Grace Lim
Grace Lim MD, MSc, MBA
K.C. Wong Professor and Chair
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
University of Utah