We are pleased to share an important leadership update for UNC Health Faculty Physicians.
Effective Thursday, February 19, Dr. Amir Barzin will assume the role of Interim President of UNC Health Faculty Physicians (FP). Dr. Barzin is a trusted leader and physician whose deep commitment to our mission, our patients, and our teams has been evident throughout his service across the UNC Health system.
In this interim role, Dr. Barzin will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for UNC Faculty Physicians while continuing to advance key organizational priorities already underway. He will also continue serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UNC Physicians, ensuring stability and continuity across both portfolios during this transition.
During his career as faculty of the Department of Family Medicine, Amir served in various leadership roles including the Family Medicine Inpatient Service Line Director, Medical Director of The Family Medicine Center at Chapel Hill, and helped develop and initially lead the UNC Urgent Care at The Family Medicine Center. His leadership responsibilities shifted to UNC Health through serving as the inaugural Medical Director for UNC Health Virtual Care Services, bringing clinical care in both the inpatient and outpatient settings to patients in all 100 counties of North Carolina. Additionally, he was the inaugural Medical Director of UNC Healthlink (now Nurse Connect) providing state-wide nursing support for patients and the UNC Health Outpatient Access Center which has accelerated UNC Health’s commitment to improving access to patients seeking care at UNC Health.
A trusted leader during the pandemic, he supported various divisions of the COVID response for both UNC Health and UNC-Chapel Hill including establishing and being the Director and Lead Physician of the Carolina Together Testing Program which was charged with providing a roadmap to safely bring students back to campus. He also was a Co-PI on the CORVASEQ grant which developed a state-wide surveillance network for COVID variants with private and public institutions and the NCDHHS. Over the course of his career, he secured more than $25 million in grant funding to support clinical and research initiatives.
Since April 2025, he has served as the COO for UNC Physicians. In this role, he oversees the work in access, analytics shared at the physician enterprise level, physician recruitment, network development, front-end operations for UNC FP, virtual care, and is a key contributor to enterprise-wide strategy development.
While at UNC, Barzin has received various teaching awards and clinical care awards including the Robert Cefalo UNCH Housestaff Award, the Hyman Battle Distinguished Excellence in Teaching Award, the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award, UNC School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award, and the UNC HBH Friend of Nursing Award.
We are confident in Dr. Barzin’s ability to guide Faculty Physicians through this period with steady leadership, collaboration, and a clear focus on operational excellence. We thank our clinical department chairs for their steady leadership during this transition time.
Please join us in thanking Dr. Barzin for stepping into this expanded role in service to our teams and the patients and communities we are privileged to care for every day.
- Matt and Samatha
Matt Ewend, MD is Chief Clinical Officer, UNC Health, President, UNC Health Physicians
Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH is Executive Dean UNC School of Medicine, and Chief Academic Officer, UNC Health