Dr. David Mezan Kitchell practices hospital medicine at Ochsner Health. Dr. Kitchell graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland–College Park before earning his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia in 2011, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center’s Moses/Weiler Campus in the Bronx, New York. 

Board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Kitchell has practiced hospital medicine since 2014 and has been on staff at Ochsner Health since 2015. From 2017 to 2023, he served as unit-based medical director of the Cardiac Medical Unit, leading initiatives to optimize quality, safety, and multidisciplinary care for patients with acute cardiac conditions. 

In 2024, Dr. Kitchell was appointed Internal Medicine Clerkship Director, where he focuses on advancing clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills among medical students and residents. His academic interests center on case-based learning, bedside teaching, and curriculum innovation in hospital medicine. 

Outside of medicine, Dr. Kitchell and his wife, also an Ochsner physician, serve as foster parents for at-risk dogs through the Take Paws Rescue organization in New Orleans.