Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH, FACS, a renowned vascular surgeon, in October was elected the new Chair of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Board of Regents. His election to a one-year term was announced following the conclusion of the virtual ACS Clinical Congress 2021. Dr. Sidawy is professor and the Lewis B. Saltz Chair of the department of surgery, George Washington University, Washington, DC. He assumed this position in 2010 after completing a 14-year tenure as the chief of surgery at the Washington, DC, Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
In his role as Chair, Dr. Sidawy will work closely with the ACS Executive Director and will chair the Regents’ Finance and Executive Committees. The College’s 24-member Board of Regents formulates policy and ultimately is responsible for managing the affairs of the College. The board’s diversity and variety of experiences and interests among its members enable the Regents to represent views related to myriad issues in contemporary surgery.
A Fellow of the College since 1987, Dr. Sidawy has been a member of the ACS Board of Regents since 2015. He previously served six years on the ACS Board of Governors, was President of the ACS Metropolitan Washington Chapter, and Chair of the ACS Committee on Chapter Activities. He is an inaugural member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators (AMSE) and now serves on its Steering Committee.
Furthermore, Dr. Sidawy has contributed his health policy expertise while serving on the ACS Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee and the Surgical Quality Alliance, a collaborative of more than 20 surgical and anesthesia specialty societies united to define the principles of surgical quality measures, collaborate in the development of meaningful tools for quality improvement, and provide a forum for shared and coordinated efforts among the specialties to monitor and respond to federal and private sector initiatives.
Dr. Sidawy has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, more than 55 book chapters, numerous abstracts, and has made several national and international presentations. His work spans the clinical, research, and educational fields. In addition, Dr. Sidawy served a 7.5-year term as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, at the time the premier journal in the specialty, ranking first among its peers in the U.S. and across the world.
He has held numerous leadership positions with vascular surgery societies and organizations, including serving as president of the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, the Eastern Vascular Society, and the Chesapeake Vascular Society.
