Maier Selected ASA President-Elect

Ronald V. Maier, MD was selected President–Elect of the American Surgical Association (ASA) at their 136th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, April 2016.

The ASA was founded in 1880 and is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious surgical organization. Its members include the nation’s most prominent surgeons from the country’s leading academic medical institutions, many of whom are Chairs of the Departments of Surgery at these institutions. Membership also includes leading surgeons from around the world, making it much more than an American association. Its primary mission is to be the premier organization for surgical science and scholarship and to provide a national forum for presenting the developing state of the art and science of general and sub–specialty surgery and the elevation of the standards of the medical/surgical profession.

Regarding his selection, Doug Wood, MD, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Surgery and Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, said, “The ASA is the oldest and most elite of our surgical societies, and sets the standard for scholarship in surgery. As many of you know, Dr. Carlos Pellegrini was President of the ASA in 2005-2006 and few institutions can claim two ASA presidents amongst their faculty.

This has been an amazing year for Ron as he has also served as a very active Vice-President of the American College of Surgeons, essentially serving in the presidential role since October 2015. And, Ron has had an extremely successful couple of years in terms of honors and awards, recently receiving the Dr. Rodman E. Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award for outstanding contributions in the frontiers of medical science, as well as the UW Medicine Award for Excellence in Mentoring Women.”

Dr. Maier is the surgeon–in–chief of Harborview Medical Center and Professor and Vice–Chair of Surgery at the University of Washington. He is the Jane and Donald D. Trunkey Professor of Trauma Surgery.

Dr. Maier earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his MD from Duke University. He first came to the University of Washington to complete his general surgery residency. After a postdoctoral fellowship in immunopathology at the Scripps Research Foundation in La Jolla, CA, he returned to the University of Washington as an attending in surgeon. He is an expert in trauma care, emergency general surgery and surgical critical care. He conducts research on clinical approaches to improve survival after severe injuries and following severe life–threatening surgical illness. He is also an expert in care and research of patients in the ICU with multiple organ failure and critical illness. Dr. Maier is listed in “The Best Doctors in America,” he is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is board certified in surgery and surgical critical care. He is past–president of the Society of University Surgeon, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Surgical Infection Society, the Shock Society and the Halsted Society. In addition, he has served as chair of the American Board of Surgeons, Vice President of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the NIH Study Section for Surgery, Anesthesiology and Trauma.