Mutter joins health agency
Chattanooga cardiologist Mitchell Mutter, M.D., a former chief of staff for Erlanger Health System, will join the Tennessee Department of Health as medical director for special projects this week. Mutter’s duties will include liaison services with the Board of Medical Examiners, the Board of Nursing and the Board of Pharmacy.
“Mitchell Mutter is one of our state’s most respected physicians and brings the passion and commitment needed to drive improvements affecting the health and well-being of all Tennesseans,” Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner said. “While he will work with several boards and outside associations, areas of special emphasis for him will be the recently enacted Tennessee Prescription Safety Act and the TDH Controlled Substance Monitoring Database Oversight Committee.”
Erlanger President Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, praised Dr. Mutter as “one of Erlanger’s strongest advocates, as well as one of Chattanooga’s most respected physicians.”
Mutter received his medical degree from UT-Memphis. The former UT football player did his internship and residency training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and later served as chief of cardiology at Eisenhower Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Ga. He was named the Tennessee Medical Association’s outstanding physician in 2007 and also received the Medical Staff Meritorious Service Award from the Tennessee Hospital Association in 2007. Recently he received the 2012 Distinguished Physicians Award from Erlanger Baroness Foundation.
Mutter is a former president of the Hamilton County Medical Society, the Tennessee Heart Association and the Hamilton County Medical Foundation, and is the current president of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners. He also founded the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, an effort he established after his first trip to that country in 1988 to provide medical services and develop a grassroots nutrition program.