Selwyn M. Vickers, dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Medicine and senior vice president for medicine, has been named president of the American Surgical Association. Founded in 1880, the American Surgical Association is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious surgical organization. Dr. Vickers is the third Black surgeon to lead the association.
“One aspect of my career that I value most is caring for patients,” Dr. Vickers said. “This recognition of leadership in the surgical profession symbolizes my personal commitment to excellent patient care. To be honored by my colleagues in this way is as exciting as any accomplishment in my academic career to date.”
A world-renowned surgeon, pancreatic cancer researcher, and pioneer in health disparities research, Dr. Vickers is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. He has served as president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and the Southern Surgical Association.
Dr. Vickers earned bachelor’s and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He completed two postgraduate research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and at the John Radcliffe Hospital of Oxford University in England.
In 1994, Dr. Vickers joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an assistant professor in the department of surgery. In 2006, he left Alabama to become the Jay Phillips Professor and chair of the department of surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. In 2013, Dr. Vickers returned to UAB to serve as dean of the School of Medicine.
