After nearly a decade leading the West Virginia University Department of Pediatrics, Charles Mullett, M.D., PhD, has announced he will step down from his role to focus on patient care and research.
Dr. Mullet calls leading the Department of Pediatrics the “opportunity of a lifetime,” citing recruitment of new faculty and APPs and the expansion of offered services among the highlights.
“We’ve more than doubled the size of our department,” he said. “Our pediatric telemedicine clinic innovation has transformed how we deliver care around the state and earned national recognition.”
A national search for a new chair is underway, and Mullett will remain in his role until a successor is announced, then continue to serve as faculty within the department.
“We’ve been fortunate to draw on Dr. Mullett’s leadership, vision and dedication to both his patients and providers,” Clay Marsh, M.D., WVU Health Sciences chancellor and executive dean, said. “We will continue building on this momentum as we envision the next phase of WVU Pediatrics.”
Mullett has led numerous initiatives since beginning his role, first as an interim in 2016 and then as the permanent chair in 2018. During his tenure as chair, he served on a leadership team which oversaw the construction and expansion of WVU Medicine Children’s, a 155-bed pediatric hospital – one of only 25 pediatric hospitals in the United States attached to a larger academic medical center.
Under his tenure as chair, the medical student and residency training programs continued to thrive, and two new subspecialty fellowships were added to the department. The Department has also launched an NIH-funded clinical trials program bringing cutting-edge pharmaceutical treatments to the infants and kids WVU Medicine Children’s serves.
A 1993 alumnus of the WVU School of Medicine, he’s served much of his career advocating for the growing needs of West Virginia’s pediatric population.
“I find the clinical care in the PICU deeply rewarding and impactful—it remains the most meaningful part of my professional work,” Mullett said. “Over my career here since 1999, we've grown the PICU from six beds to 23, and will soon expand to 27. I'm proud to have been a fundamental part of that.
As I transition from this chair role, I'm excited to return to my research roots in computerized clinical decision support. Recent advances in artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, present a real opportunity to enhance patient care while supporting doctors and their workflows. I look forward to exploring how these technologies can be thoughtfully integrated to benefit patients, families and healthcare teams alike.”
Mullett is board-certified in pediatric critical care. He completed a pediatric critical care fellowship at the University of Utah and residency training in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University. He earned a doctorate in medical informatics from the University of Utah while simultaneously pursuing his critical care training. He also has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Duke.
For more information on WVU’s Department of Pediatrics, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/pediatrics.
-WVU-
ct 6/11/25
CONTACT:
Cassie Thomas
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Medicine
