‘It’s Magical in the Classroom Here’: Dr. Paul Matherne Retires From Darden

After more than a decade helping Darden students navigate the intersection of business, medicine and leadership, Dr. Paul Matherne is retiring from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, capping a career that has spanned pediatric cardiology, medical research, hospital leadership and the classroom.

His journey with Darden began in 2008, when he arrived as an Executive MBA student.

“Failure,” he says candidly when asked why he sought out an MBA. At the time he was running a lab doing medical research, but securing and keeping NIH funding was a constant obstacle.

Encouraged by a mentor, he pursued the Executive MBA at Darden, graduating in 2010 — a decision that transformed not only his career, but also the way he approached problems, leadership and teaching.

Darden students all wore bowties for Dr. Matherne’s last class as a tribute to his signature look.

“I think the most important thing that the MBA did was help me think differently about everything,” he says.

That shift in perspective proved pivotal for Matherne’s next career phase. “Getting the MBA has allowed me to do so many things that I was not going to be able to do before,” he says. He left the Darden classroom more equipped for his subsequent transition from clinical practice and research into administrative leadership, serving in roles including chief medical officer of UVA’s Children’s Hospital and later as interim chief medical officer of the UVA Health System during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In medicine,” he says, “You learn that you’ve got to be fast and you’ve got to be right.” But in leadership roles like running a hospital, he learned it’s best to take a different approach. “It’s about looking at lots of options to solve problems…and not locking in on an answer right away.” That flexibility allows teams to participate constructively in decision-making.

“If you have smart people, if you wait with a little guidance, they’re going to get where they need to get,” he says.

Parallel to his advancing career in the UVA Health system, Matherne cultivated a teaching career at Darden, crediting mentors like Casey Lichtendahl, Mary Margaret Frank, Mark Lipson, Robert Carraway and others who helped him learn and perfect the case method.

“I’ve never given a straight-up lecture since I got my MBA,” he says. “The case method is just so amazing.”

Known for his energy and accessibility, Matherne frequently hosted students outside the classroom, from bourbon tastings to gumbo-making lessons. He notes that the broad range of students at Darden has always kept life in and out of the classroom interesting. “I’ve had ballet dancers and opera singers and professional baseball players…you get such a wide variety, and they ask good questions. They’re very thoughtful and they’re very comfortable with ambiguity, compared to those in medicine.”

Since 2012, he has helped shape Darden’s healthcare curriculum including developing six electives covering health care and the nonprofit sector such as Challenges in Healthcare Systems, Solutions and Innovations in Healthcare, and Changing the World: Understanding Nonprofits. Along the way he published 38 business cases and served as the Darden faculty advisor for the joint MD MBA degree.

Professor Paul Matherne with a group of Darden students on a Darden Worldwide Course in Morocco.

The global courses he led reflected the curiosity and openness that the Darden community knew him for. He led five Darden Worldwide Courses to Uganda and Morocco, which made a lasting imprint on him. “I love Morocco,” he says. “Morocco invented multiculturalism. It’s not Europe. It’s not the Middle East. It’s not Africa. It’s Morocco.” He even got a tattoo on his right forearm after leading one of the courses that reads “salam alaykum,” or “peace be upon you,” an Arabic greeting.

As Paul steps into retirement, he does so with the same enthusiasm that has defined his career. He looks forward to traveling with his wife, spending time with their six grandchildren, fly fishing and even tackling home improvement projects for his children.

Still, leaving the classroom won’t be easy.

“There are times I have just wanted to pinch myself,” he says. “It’s magical in the classroom here. It’s really special.”