Success in Academic Surgery: Basic Science

Melina Kibbe, MD is the current AAS President. She is an Associate Professor of Surgery, the Edward G. Elcock Professor of Surgical Research, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Surgery at Northwestern University; co-Chief of the Vascular Surgery service at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, and Director of the Vascular Laboratory at the VA. Dr. Kibbe also serves as Deputy Director for the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University. Her research interests focus on nitric oxide vascular biology and developing novel and innovative nitric oxide-based therapies for patients with vascular disease. She has received funds from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Medical Association, and various intramural sources. Her bibliography includes over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters, with an emphasis on nitric oxide vascular biology and nitric oxide-based therapies.

Scott LeMaire, MD is the immediate Past President of the AAS. He is a Professor of Surgery and of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and the Director of Research in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1992 and completed residency training in cardiothoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in 1999. His research program focuses on organ protection during aortic surgery, genetic aspects of thoracic aortic disease, and molecular mechanisms of aortic degeneration. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education for his research studying the pathobiology of thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissection.