Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics
Chief Medical and Quality Officer (UNC Health)
Education:
Fellowship:
Pediatric Anesthesiology fellowship (UNC – Chapel Hill)
Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesiology (Texas Children’s Hospital – Houston, TX).
Residency: UNC – Chapel Hill (Chief Resident)
Medical School: Louisiana State University School of Medicine (New Orleans, LA)
Departmental/UNC School of Medicine/Institutional Leadership:
UNC Health Chief Medical and Quality Officer
Committees (National/State/Local)
Member – Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology (SPA) Board of Directors
National Leadership:
Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology (SPA) 2025-2026 President
American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) – Vice Chair of the Advanced Exam Committee / Applied Examiner
UNC Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics Peggy McNaull, MD, has roots at UNC spanning her residency and fellowship years and on faculty, as well as serving in multiple significant leadership positions across UNC Hospitals and UNC School of Medicine. Following a distinguished career at UNC, Dr. McNaull was named the Frederic A. Berry Professor and Chair of the University of Virginia Department of Anesthesiology and Professor of Pediatrics in late 2020. In late 2024, she returned to UNC to serve as UNC Health system’s new Chief Medical and Quality Officer (CMO).
From 2009 to 2018, Dr. McNaull served as UNC Anesthesiology’s Division Chief for Pediatric Anesthesiology. She was also named the department’s first Vice Chair for Patient Safety and Quality Improvement. In 2018, Dr. McNaull was appointed the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Quality and Safety for UNC Hospitals. In this role, she was integral to scaling flagship programs across North Carolina through UNC Health’s system-wide care redesign effort.
Dr. McNaull began her career in healthcare in nursing, practicing as an RN in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. She continued to serve as an RN while earning her MD from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. At UNC, Dr. McNaull completed both her residency (Chief Resident) and Pediatric Anesthesiology fellowship. She additionally completed a Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesiology fellowship program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, TX.
Dr. McNaull is a national leader in pediatric anesthesiology. She is a Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology (SPA) Board of Directors member and is the SPA 2025-2026 President. She recently co-chaired a task force charged with re-envisioning the future of the Pediatric Anesthesiology ACGME program. Dr. McNaull is very involved in the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), where she serves as an Applied Examiner. She has participated in written exam development since 2009 as a question writer and editor and was recently selected by the Board of Directors to serve as the Vice Chair of the Advanced Exam Committee.
