Chief Medical Digital Health Officer, UPMC Health Plan

Dr. Andrew Watson is a fourth-generation surgeon and the eighth surgeon in his family.  He earned his Master’s degree at the University of Oxford studying 17^th Century Baroque Architecture and attended medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

He did his surgical training and fellowship at UPMC.  He is an actively practicing colorectal surgeon specializing in minimally invasive inflammatory bowel diseases and complex re-operative abdominal surgery.  He is the primary colorectal surgeon in the IBD medical home at UPMC.   He is a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Colorectal Surgery.  He teaches and trains surgical residents and fellows at UPMC.

He actively uses and helps to develop telemedicine at UPMC with a focus on remote patient monitoring, he has personally done over 800 virtual consults including pre-operative, post-operative, tele-rounding, intra-operative, and remote patient monitoring.  He is widely published and actively involved in the academic and research landscape of telemedicine.

He blends his career working for all UPMC business units to practice and help envision the transformation of healthcare, with a focus on digital care.   He spends the majority of his time at the UPMC Health Plan as a senior medical director of digital health and UPMC Enterprises as a senior medical advisor.  He past-President of the American Telemedicine Association and past chair of the healthcare IT committee of the American College of Surgeons.  He is an advisor to the American Board of Telehealth.  Follow him on Twitter @arwMD.