Mark Lockett, M.D. Selected as New Chief Quality Officer for MUSC Health – Charleston Division

We are thrilled to announce Mark Lockett, M.D., has been selected as MUSC Health’s new Chief Quality Officer for Charleston.  Dr. Lockett assumes the role May 15, 2024. In his new role, he will lead 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.

Dr. Lockett has an impressive background in improving quality, patient safety, and patient satisfaction. He has been involved in continuous quality improvement efforts throughout his career. He is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Acute Care Services and Medical Director for Quality and Patient Safety at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center (RHJVAMC), a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services 5-star rated hospital in quality and patient satisfaction where he also chairs the hospital’s Quality Executive Committee

In addition to his role leading quality and patient safety at the RHJVAMC, Dr. Lockett leads surgical quality improvement efforts for VA Region 7, where he provides guidance to seven surgical programs across SC, GA, and AL.  He serves as the Surgeon Lead for the South Carolina Surgical Quality Collaborative, where he guides continuous quality improvement work in eighteen hospitals across the state. Additionally, he works with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement on surgical projects and served as a member o.f the VA’s General Surgery Advisory Board.

Before assuming his role as Deputy Chief of Staff at the RHJVA Medical Center, he was the Medical Center’s Chief of Surgery.  He led the transformation from an under performing program in terms of quality to one of the highest-quality surgery programs in the VA system with outcomes consistently better than national norms. He also helped build systems that foster a surgery program that consistently has an average length of stay 1.5 days less than the national average while maintaining low readmission rates.  He led ORs that consistently ranked in the top five out of 126 VA facilities for productivity and efficiency. As a result of his efforts, in 2018 he received the Charleston area Federal Manager of the Year Award.

In the Department of Surgery, he is a professor of surgical oncology.  He is a member of MUSC’s Surgical Leadership Council, Quality Committee, and Clinical Council, and leader of the MUSC Department of Surgery Quality Resident pathway.