Dr. Lockett is a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery where he works in the Surgical Oncology Division. He serves as the MUSC Health's Chief Quality Officer for Charleston, where he leads MUSC Health - Charleston in continued efforts to provide the safest and highest quality care for patients by building a culture and systems that foster excellence.
His academic interest lies in improving the quality, safety, and value of surgical care and addressing the surgical aspects of the opioid crisis. He is the principal investigator and surgeon lead for the South Carolina Surgical Quality Collaborative where he guides Continuous Quality Improvement work in eighteen hospitals across the state. He serves a similar role in the VA as the chief surgical consultant for Veterans Integrated Service Network 7 (Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) where he provides guidance to seven surgical programs in the region. He works with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement on surgical projects and served as a member of the VA's General Surgery Advisory Board.
His primary areas of surgical expertise include the management of breast cancer and breast diseases. He has multiple peer-reviewed publications in both surgical oncology and general surgery. Dr. Lockett has a strong interest in surgical quality, safety, and value; surgical education, continuous quality improvement; system design, and pain management. He served as the surgical residency program director at East Tennessee State University before joining MUSC and the VA. He is the recipient of multiple teaching awards and has been an invited speaker at regional and national meetings.
He is a member of MUSC's Surgical Leadership Council, Quality Committee, and Clinical Council. Within the VA, Dr. Lockett chairs or participates in multiple local, regional, and national committees including: the Academic Partnership Council, Quality Executive Committee, Patient Care Improvement Conference, Clinical Executive Board; National, VISN, and local surgical work groups; VISN Healthcare Delivery Council, Peer Review Committee, Invasive Procedures Committee, and the Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning national work group.
