Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Gary L. Timmerman, MD, FACS, MAMSE, is the current Chair of the ACS Surgeons as Leaders Course. He serves as professor and chair of the surgery department at the University of South Dakota Sanford Medical school. For over 15 years, he has served as his hospital’s Level II trauma director, a surgeon physician advisor, been on numerous hospital boards and committees, and is the past hospital chief-of-staff and past South Dakota state trauma director. He was recently appointed the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) medical director for the Sanford Healthcare Enterprise. He previously worked in private practice in his hometown of Watertown, SD, for nearly ten years. Dr. Timmerman received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and completed a general surgery residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.
Dr. Timmerman volunteers extensively with the ACS, having served as President of the South Dakota Chapter, Governor of both the South Dakota Chapter and the Association of Surgical Education, member and Chair of the Committee on Young Surgeons, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Board of Governors, and on the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery. He is also the past chair of the Health Policy and Advocacy Group (HPAG) and a member of the Board of Regents. With the assistance of his medical center and the ACS, he helped lead the creation of a new general surgery residency program in South Dakota to train rural and community general surgeons.
Melina R. Kibbe, MD, FACS, FAHA, is the current Co-Chair of the ACS Surgeons as Leaders Course. Dr. Kibbe became president of UTHealth Houston and the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair in September 2025. Prior to this appointment, she served as the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine’s dean and chief health affairs officer. Dr. Kibbe is a nationally renowned researcher in the field of vascular surgery and former chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Prior to UNC, Dr. Kibbe was vice chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and deputy director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology at Northwestern University. She graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, completed her internship, residency, and research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and completed her vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Clinically, Dr. Kibbe has significant experience with both open and endovascular surgery, including the treatment of carotid stenosis, peripheral vascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and vascular access. She is board certified in general and vascular surgery. Dr. Kibbe’s research interests focus on developing and evaluating novel therapies for patients with vascular disease. She co-founded and served as the chief medical officer for VesselTek BioMedical, LLC, a company that specialized in the development of medical devices to treat vascular disease. She has been continuously funded for her research since 2005, and her work was recognized by President Obama in 2009 with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
A member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Dr. Kibbe is the editor-in-chief for JAMA Surgery and has served as president for the Association for Academic Surgery, the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, the Association of Veterans Affairs Surgeons, and the Surgical Biology Club II. Her bibliography includes over 300 peer-reviewed publications and more than 250 nationally and internationally presented abstracts. She has received numerous awards, including the Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) Lifeline Research Award, SVS Women’s Leadership Award, American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Gender Equity Award, AMWA Women Leaders in Medicine Award, Northwestern University Tripartite Award, Thomas Sheen Award from the New Jersey Chapter of ACS, Presidential Citation from the Association of VA Surgeons, and the University of Chicago Distinguished Service Award. She also received the Virginia Business 2023 Women in Leadership Award and has earned 24 awards for teaching excellence as a faculty member.
James W. Fleshman Jr., MD, FACS, FASCRS is Chief of Surgery and Sparkman Endowed Professor and Chairman of the department of surgery at Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor University Medical Center. Dr. Fleshman specializes in the treatment of colorectal diseases. He is board certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Fleshman graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, before completing a residency and fellowship in General Surgery at The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. He is also fellowship trained in Colon and Rectal Surgery from the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Fleshman has developed an international reputation in the laparoscopic treatment of colorectal cancer, the training of surgeons in the laparoscopic resection of colorectal problems and the development of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the use of laparoscopic techniques in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Prior to moving to Dallas as the Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, Dr. Fleshman served as the Chief of the Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Professor of Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Fleshman has also served as President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, President of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and President of the ASCRS Research Foundation. He is currently a Regent of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and serves as Chair of the Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care for the ACS Board of Regents.
Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS, is the chief academic officer and executive vice president of Advocate Health, chief executive officer and chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, and executive vice president for health affairs at Wake Forest University. As chief academic officer, Freischlag oversees research and discovery for the entire Advocate Health system, including all educational and research programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Atrium Health Cabarrus College of Health Sciences and Atrium Health Carolinas College of Health Sciences.
As CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Freischlag has the overall responsibility for the health system’s clinical, academic and innovation enterprises and its annual operating budget of more than $5 billion. Ranked among the nation’s top medical centers, Wake Forest Baptist includes a growing, multi-hospital health system and physician network, the state-of-the-art and highly competitive Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and the school’s technology transfer and commercialization arm, Wake Forest Innovations. Freischlag served as the dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine from 2018 until February 2023 and previously was vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis.
Freischlag has helped to drive change in academic medicine with a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion. For more than 15 years, she has led education and training programs at top medical schools in her role as professor and chair of surgery and vascular surgery departments. Freischlag also has more than 30 years of experience leading patient-care services as chief of surgery or vascular surgery at nationally ranked hospitals. She served as professor, chair of the surgery department and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She led initiatives to expand research, add specialty clinical services, improve patient-centered care and patient safety, redesign the surgical training program and enhance academic career paths for faculty.
Her national leadership includes serving as a former governor and secretary of the Board of Governors and a regent and past chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. She is the past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation, and past president of the Association of VA Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Chairs. Freischlag was the editor of JAMA Surgery for ten years (2005-2014) and is currently a member of the JAMA Oversight Committee and the editorial boards of the Annals of Vascular Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, British Journal of Surgery, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
She has published more than 300 manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters, primarily addressing the treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome, abdominal aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease and peripheral vascular disease utilizing outcome data and clinical trials; additionally, she has published on burnout and work-life balance.
Freischlag is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome which can require a specialized surgical procedure. She continues to evaluate and treat thoracic outlet syndrome patients and evaluates their results in a registry. Freischlag has received numerous teaching and achievement awards, including the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Vascular Surgery, an achievement award from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Trailblazer Award from the Society of University Surgeons. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015 and inducted into the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2021.
She mentors students, residents and young faculty and is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from her expertise in vascular diseases, teamwork and patient safety, leadership and work-life balance to women succeeding in health professions. Freischlag has dedicated her career to serving as a role model for her students, a respected colleague across health professions, a strong community leader, and a national voice for improving health and health care.
Freischlag served as the 2021–2022 Past President of the American College of Surgeons. Currently, she serves as chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges and on the National Institute of Health Clinical Center Research Hospital Board, Aga Khan University Board of Trustees and chair of the Health Services Committee, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Board of Visitors, and the University of Illinois Health Advisory Council.
Andrea A. Hayes Dixon, MD, FACS, PhD(H), FAAP, became the first black woman dean of Howard University’s College of Medicine in 2022. With the distinction of becoming dean, Dr. Hayes Dixon adds to an already extensive list of groundbreaking accomplishments. In 2004, Hayes Dixon became the first African American woman in the nation to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon. In 2006, she became the first surgeon in the world to perform a high-risk life-saving procedure in teens with rare forms of abdominal cancer. Just last year, she became the first woman chair of the Department of Surgery at Howard University. Prior to joining Howard University, Dr. Hayes Dixon served as the surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Children’s Hospital, where she also served as a professor of pediatric surgery and surgical oncology. She leads a basic science laboratory, which focuses on rare sarcomas and maintains clinical research efforts. Dr. Hayes Dixon specializes in refractory and resistant tumors in children, specifically soft tissue sarcomas in children. Patients from around the world request her services because of the rare diseases she investigates. She previously served as the section chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Hayes Dixon obtained her bachelor’s degree in religion from Dartmouth, followed by her Doctor of Medicine from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. She completed a residency program at the University of California Davis, East Bay, and a molecular biology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Hayes Dixon then completed a pediatric surgical oncology fellowship at the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and a pediatric surgery fellowship at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. She also participated in a special fellowship in melanoma and sarcoma at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Hayes Dixon has earned membership into the American Surgical Association and has served as chair of the cancer committee for the American Pediatric Surgical Association. She has also been selected to the pediatric disease query PDQ, a national committee that vets every publication on pediatric cancer and summarizes it on the NIH website. She is a past President of The Society of Black Academic Surgeons and is a member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. Additionally, she was appointed by President Trump to the National Cancer Advisory Board.
Matthew M. Hutter, MD, MBA, MPH, FACS, is the President, CEO and Thomas W. Langfitt Chair at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He also remains as a senior advisor with the consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal in their Healthcare Industry Group, Health System Practice. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon by training and specializes in working with healthcare systems, primarily in restructuring, process improvement and strategy. With more than 20 years of leadership experience in a variety of healthcare institutions, Dr. Kaiser was most recently the president and CEO of the Temple University Health System. He was responsible for the acquisition of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and spearheaded the development of several nationally recognized programs, including the #1 lung transplant program in the country. During his time at Temple, he also served as the inaugural Lewis Katz Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.
Immediately prior to joining Temple, Dr. Kaiser served as president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the largest of the health-related institutions of the University of Texas, where he was responsible for six schools and a 950-member multi-specialty physician practice. Prior to that he spent 17-years at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the John Rhea Barton Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the Penn Health System. Other positions he has held include faculty appointments at Washington University, St. Louis, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Cornell University.
Dr. Kaiser is board-certified in both surgery and thoracic surgery. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and medical degree from Tulane University, completing his residency and a fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his residency in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Joel Cooper, Robert Ginsberg, and F. Griffith Pearson, where he participated in both the first and second successful lung transplants done one year apart.
Currently Dr. Kaiser is an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He also is the current Treasurer for the American College of Surgeons Board of Regents. Dr. Kaiser has served in a number of leadership capacities for other professional societies and associations, including his time as a director of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. In 2005, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Kaiser’s clinical interests include lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma, and mediastinal tumors. He has authored 21 books and more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and currently serves on the editorial board of the Annals of Surgery and is an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS is the President, CEO and Thomas W. Langfitt Chair at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He also remains as a senior advisor with the consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal in their Healthcare Industry Group, Health System Practice. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon by training and specializes in working with healthcare systems, primarily in restructuring, process improvement and strategy. With more than 20 years of leadership experience in a variety of healthcare institutions, Dr. Kaiser was most recently the president and CEO of the Temple University Health System. He was responsible for the acquisition of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and spearheaded the development of several nationally recognized programs, including the #1 lung transplant program in the country. During his time at Temple, he also served as the inaugural Lewis Katz Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.
Immediately prior to joining Temple, Dr. Kaiser served as president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the largest of the health-related institutions of the University of Texas, where he was responsible for six schools and a 950-member multi-specialty physician practice. Prior to that he spent 17-years at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the John Rhea Barton Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the Penn Health System. Other positions he has held include faculty appointments at Washington University, St. Louis, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Cornell University.
Dr. Kaiser is board-certified in both surgery and thoracic surgery. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and medical degree from Tulane University, completing his residency and a fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his residency in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Joel Cooper, Robert Ginsberg, and F. Griffith Pearson, where he participated in both the first and second successful lung transplants done one year apart.
Currently Dr. Kaiser is an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He also is the current Treasurer for the American College of Surgeons Board of Regents. Dr. Kaiser has served in a number of leadership capacities for other professional societies and associations, including his time as a director of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. In 2005, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Kaiser’s clinical interests include lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma, and mediastinal tumors. He has authored 21 books and more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and currently serves on the editorial board of the Annals of Surgery and is an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, FRCSI(Hon), FRCS(Hon), FRSCEd(Hon), FWACS(Hon), is a surgeon with expertise in surgical education, simulation, professionalism, and leadership. He is a pioneer in the development of technological surgical advancements and a world leader in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery. The son of two physicians, Dr. Pellegrini spent his childhood years in rural Argentina. He attended the University of Rosario Medical School and remained there for surgical training until 1975, when he emigrated to the US and completed a second surgical residency at the University of Chicago. In 1979, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco. He remained there until 1993, when he moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, to become chair of the Department of Surgery. In his 23 years as department chair, he assumed many leadership roles in the highest decision-making bodies across UW Medicine and chaired many committees overseeing a vast array of initiatives, including continuous professionalism improvement, diversity, and multidisciplinary practices.
In 2015, Dr. Pellegrini was appointed as the first chief medical officer of UW Medicine and as vice-president for medical affairs, University of Washington to provide senior leadership for clinical practice standards across all UW Medicine sites of practice, a position he held until December 2018. As he retired from UW Medicine, Dr. Pellegrini decided to apply his experience of more than 4 decades as a mentor, teacher, advisor and trusted colleague to help healthcare providers develop to their full potential, with particular emphasis on leadership skills. He sought additional training at SeattleCoach and became an executive coach focusing on coaching/mentoring healthcare executives.
Dr. Pellegrini is a Past-President of the ACS and the American Surgical Association. He was Chair of the Board of The Joint Commission from 2022–2024. He is a Founding Member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators and a member of the Academy Steering Committee. He participates in the highest leadership roles in regional, national, and international surgical societies, and his bibliography lists more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, editorials, and books.
Kenneth W. Sharp, MD, FACS, MAMSE, a Florida native, graduated from the University of Florida in 1973. His medical school education was at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, graduating in 1977. He did his surgical training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, including a year in surgical research at the Loch Raven Veterans Hospital and six months at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England. He served as the Halsted Chief in 1983-1984.
Dr. Sharp joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1984 as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and is currently Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences for Faculty Promotion and Development. Dr. Sharp has published a number of eclectic book chapters and papers spanning the broad field of general surgery including minimally invasive surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, trauma, surgical education and oncology topics. He has served to represent general surgery in numerous surgical organizations. He has served as President of the Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (2001) and President of the Southeastern Surgical Congress 2004 (and served as the Secretary Director of the Southeastern Surgical Congress from 2004-2015). He received the Distinguished Service Award from the SESC in 2017. He served as First Vice President of The Southern Surgical Association from 2010-2011 and President in 2022-23. He was awarded Honorary Fellowship in the Southern Surgical Association in 2021.
His national representation has included service as a Director of the American Board of Surgery (2006-2012) where he was Chair of the Gastrointestinal Surgery Advisory Council for four years. He has been an active member of the Halsted Society serving on the Halsted Society Board of Directors and as President of the Halsted Society 2017-2018. He has served in numerous positions for the American College of Surgeons – as a Governor of the American College of Surgeons where he served as the Chair of the Committee on Physician Competency and Health and as the Chair of the Nominating Committee of the Governors. He has served as a representative and Vice Chair to the Advisory Council for General Surgery and to the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery of the American College of Surgeons. He has been on the Program Committee since 2013 and served as Vice Chair of the Program Committee 2015-2017. He is currently Chair of the Program Committee. He is a Director and Board Member of the American College of Surgeons Foundation serving as the Secretary of the Foundation from 2014–2017 and continues as an active fundraiser and Regent Liaison to the Foundation. In 2018 he was elected as a Regent in the American College of Surgeons and served on the Communications Committee, as Chair of the Member Services Liaison Committee and chaired the Nominating Committee. He was elected as a member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2021. Most recently, he was awarded Honorary Fellowship in the Society of Black Academic Surgeons in 2025. He is married to Jane Evans Sharp from Dyersburg, Tennessee, and has two daughters: Sarah and Katie.
Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, FACS, MAMSE, is a trailblazer in the field of minimally invasive surgery, foregut surgery and surgical education. He was one of the first academic surgeons performing laparoscopic surgery, which has defined his subsequent career. He has published more than 200 manuscripts, edited 17 textbooks and authored more than 100 book chapters.
Dr. Soper is currently the chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona’s Phoenix College of Medicine. He is also the physician executive director of general surgery at Banner, University Medical Center Phoenix. Prior to this, Dr. Soper was the program director for the general surgery residency at Northwestern, chair of the Department of Surgery at Northwestern University, and surgeon-in-chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
His research efforts have revolved around the applications of minimally invasive surgery for gastrointestinal disease, gallstones and benign esophageal disorders, as well as ultrasound and motility of the gastrointestinal tract. More recently, he has been involved in the early clinical experience with Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery, including per-oral esophageal myotomy for achalasia.
Dr. Soper earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa School of Medicine. He completed a residency in General Surgery, including a year of laboratory investigation, at the University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also spent two years as a NIH-funded fellow at the Digestive Disease Center of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Since 1991, Dr. Soper has consistently been named in "The Best Doctors in America.” He is a member of numerous professional societies and is past president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the International Society of Digestive Surgery, the Central Surgical Association and the St. Louis Surgical Society. Dr. Soper was elected as a Founding Member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2018.
Beth H. Sutton, MD, FACS, practices as a general surgeon in private practice in Wichita Falls, TX. Dr. Sutton has extensive experience working as a self-employed general surgeon in a mid-size community in which the hospital has a Level II trauma center and an active acute care surgery service. She has served on almost every hospital committee and the hospital board and is a past president of the medical staff. She has been Secretary and President of the Texas Surgical Society and President of the North Texas Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Sutton earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Baylor University and her Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed a surgical internship at St. Paul Hospital, Dallas, Texas, followed by a residency in general surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, Texas.
Dr. Sutton served as President of the American College of Surgeons from 2024 to 2025. She was elected Chair of the ACS Board of Regents in 2019 and has also held other leadership roles within the ACS.
Kyla P. Terhune, MD, MBA, FACS, is the Senior Vice President for the Division of Education at the American College of Surgeons. Prior to this position, she served as the Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the Senior Vice President for Educational Affairs and ACGME/NRMP Designated Institutional Official at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She has served previously as Program Director of the General Surgery Residency at Vanderbilt, an Associate Chief of Staff at Vanderbilt University Hospital, and Chief of General Surgery at the VA Medical Center in Nashville.
She is a Past President of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, was a founding officer of the National Association of DIOs (NADIO), a past Director on the Board of the ACGME, and has served on finance and audit committees for the NBME. A sought-after speaker and an innovative leader, she has received distinguished awards at the local and national level, including the inaugural David Leach Award from the ACGME in 2010, the Philip J. Wolfson Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) and the Five Pillar Leader Award from VUMC, both in 2021.
Dr. Terhune grew up in Batesville, Arkansas, received her A.B. degree in molecular biology from Princeton University, her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and her Master of Business Administration from the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University. She completed her residency in General Surgery and fellowship in Critical Care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Prior to medical school, she taught science and coached basketball and tennis at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware.
Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Surgeons and a clinical professor at the University of Chicago. She was previously director of the Division of Member Services at the American College of Surgeons, and before joining the College, Dr. Turner was in full-time academic practice on the University of Maryland School of Medicine faculty, where she was the surgery residency program director. Roles in national professional organizations or institutions include member of the Boards of Directors of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and OceanFirst Bank (OCFC), member of CEO Council of The Joint Commission, Specialty Society CEO Coalition member, and the 2025 president of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. Dr. Turner has served as past chair of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons Foundation Fund, the American College of Surgeons’ Delegation to the AMA House of Delegates, AMA Council on Medical Education, and Surgical Section of the NMA, past president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and past member of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Board of Directors.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University, Dr. Turner continued her training as an intern and resident in surgery at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. Her fellowship training in minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery was completed at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Weill-Cornell University School of Medicine, and Columbia University School of Medicine in New York City. Her MBA was completed at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dr. Turner is board-certified in surgery, is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and is a member of the American Surgical Association, American Medical Association, National Medical Association, Southern Surgical Association, Southeastern Surgical Congress, Society of University Surgeons, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, Association of Women Surgeons, Latino Surgical Society, and an honorary member of EAST, the Excelsior Surgical Society, and Asociación Colombiana de Cirugía.
