Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS

Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, is the Director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, overseeing the College’s quality improvement programs. His work primarily focuses on surgical quality of care, including quality measurement, process improvement, value-based care, and achieving high reliability in surgical care.

Dr. Ko has served in advisory roles for national and international efforts dedicated to achieving higher quality and safety, including the World Health Organization, Institute of Medicine, National Quality Forum, and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. He has received millions of dollars in grant funding to study quality of care from sources including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Veterans Administration.

Clinically, Dr. Ko is a double board-certified surgeon with a practice currently focusing on patients with colorectal cancer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is the Robert and Kelly Day Professor of Surgery. He also is a professor of health services at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Dr. Ko earned his BA (biology), MS (biological/medical ethics), and MD degrees from The University of Chicago. He also received an MS degree (health services/outcomes research) from UCLA during his time as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellow. He completed his general surgery residency at the UCLA Medical Center and obtained specialty training at the Lahey Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts, in colon and rectal surgery.

He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts and written more than 20 book chapters.

See articles and papers Dr. Ko has authored and co-authored in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.