University Hospitals Appoints Dr. Michael Dingeldein as Chief of Pediatric Surgery for UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Michael Dingeldein, MD, FACS, FAAP, FCCM, has been appointed Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery for University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Dr. Dingeldein has served as the Interim Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery since June 2024, and prior he served as the Medical Director of Children’s Surgery for UH Rainbow.

“Dr. Dingeldein is highly respected as a talented surgeon, a collaborative colleague, and a passionate advocate for children,” says Jana Bazzoli, MBA, MSA, FACHE, Interim President, UH MacDonald and Rainbow Babies & Children’s hospitals. “I am confident he will be outstanding in this new leadership role as chief of pediatric surgery.”

Dr. Dingeldein graduated from The Ohio State University School of Medicine and completed his general surgery residency at Rush University / Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He furthered his training with fellowships in pediatric surgical critical care at Lurie Children's Hospital and pediatric surgery at Oklahoma Children's Hospital.

He has been the Director of Trauma for UH Rainbow for over a decade. UH Rainbow is Cleveland’s only American College of Surgeons (ACS) verified Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center. In addition, Dr. Dingeldein serves as the Surgical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Extracorporeal Life Support. In 2018 he was a UH Anton Fellow and in 2022, UH recognized him as a Distinguished Surgeon and Senior Attending Surgeon. Dr. Dingeldein is also an Associate Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Dingeldein’s clinical interests include thoracic disease, neonatal congenital anomalies, surgical critical care, trauma, ECMO, and surgical oncology. His research focuses on ECMO, pediatric disaster management, and implementing Pediatric Readiness for non-trauma centers. He is the co-lead of the EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center’s Trauma Domain and the APSR Pediatric Disaster Center of Excellence, Region V for Kids’, Trauma Domain. He also serves on the executive board of the Pediatric Trauma Society, is chair of the Trauma Committee of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, and serves on the Central Committee of the ACS Committee on Trauma.