The University Medical Center has elected a new chief of staff.

Dr. John Hughes, an associate professor of surgery and a vascular surgeon, will be responsible for overseeing the medical center and representing the hospital and its physicians. Hughes will be in charge of approximately 650 doctors, according to the UMC Web site.

In addition to representing the hospital medical team, he will deal with issues of quality and safety, Hughes said.

He has been working at the UMC for 10 years and has served both as a clinical surgeon and as an educator for resident doctors.

Chiefs of staff are elected following a nomination by either the nomination committee or by a petition with signatures from 10 percent of the staff. Following nominations, ballots are sent to active medical staff who vote for a new chief of staff, said Diane Leach, UMC medical staff coordinator.

The chief of staff is also responsible for seeing that the medical staff complies with hospital rules as well as presiding over issues of governance and relations within the hospital.

While Hughes said he does not foresee any major changes of direction for UMC during his two-year term, which began Jan. 1, the hospital will continue to expand its intensive-care unit.