Henri R. Ford, MD, MHA, FACS, a world-renowned pediatric surgeon and prolific physician-scientist, was installed for a 1-year term as the 104th President of the ACS during the Clinical Congress 2023 Convocation in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Ford is the dean and chief academic officer of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, where he has focused on developing the next generation of surgeon leaders, increased research funding, and worked to make Miller School one of the most diverse medical schools in the US.
For his presidential year, Dr. Ford has chosen the theme “Achieving Our Best Together: #Inclusive Excellence.”
“The past 3 decades have not only reinforced the concept that we achieve our best together but have also demonstrated convincingly and unequivocally that inclusive excellence is essential to accelerate progress and heal all patients with skill and trust,” Dr. Ford said. “It is our pledge to carry the mantle in the struggle for health equity and to never waver from our core values as surgeons. This is our duty, this is our purpose, this is our calling.” (See the Presidential Address recap.)
Background and Career Highlights
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dr. Ford moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, when he was 13 years old. He excelled in high school and received a full scholarship to Princeton University in New Jersey. He graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1980 with a bachelor of arts degree in public and international affairs, then earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Ford completed his surgical internship and residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and he also completed a research fellowship in immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a clinical fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, both in Pennsylvania.
Following this training, Dr. Ford became the Benjamin R. Fisher Chair in Pediatric Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and surgeon-in-chief at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In 2005, he was appointed vice president and chief of surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in California and professor of surgery at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine. He was later promoted to vice dean of medical education at Keck. During this time, Dr. Ford also received a master of health administration degree from USC.
Dr. Ford is an internationally recognized authority on necrotizing enterocolitis. He is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, invited articles, abstracts, and presentations. He has a strong reputation for mentoring physicians and physician-scientists, and he regularly returns to Haiti to teach, lead operating teams, and assist in developing surgical systems. In 2015, he performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins in Haiti alongside surgeons he helped train.
ACS Service
Dr. Ford has been an ACS Fellow since 1996 and has a long history of service to the organization. He served on the ACS Board of Regents from 2012 to 2021, participating on the Antiracism Committee, Honors Committee, and Research and Optimal Patient Care Committee, among others. He has served as a liaison for the ACS Advisory Council for Pediatric Surgery, was a member and Chair of the ACS Ethics Committee, and is a Past-Chair of the Nominating Committee and Past-Vice-Chair of the ACS Board of Governors. He also chaired the Program Committee, which is tasked with creating the Clinical Congress educational program each year.
In addition, Dr. Ford was the 2022 recipient of the ACS Owen H. Wangensteen Scientific Forum Award. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the ACS Health Outreach Program for Equity in Global Surgery (formerly Operation Giving Back), the College’s surgical volunteerism initiative that serves the US as well as countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Honors and Awards
In 2022, Dr. Ford was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine. In addition, he chairs the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), leading 157 medical school deans in North America. He also is a recipient of the AAMC’s Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award. In 2021, Dr. Ford received the Arnold Salzberg Mentorship Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Excellence in Education Award from the National Medical Fellowship.
His other notable positions include serving on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and the Board of Directors of the AAMC. In addition, he is past president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and the first Black president of the Surgical Infection Society, the American Pediatric Surgical Association, and the Association for Academic Surgery, which established the Henri Ford Junior Faculty Research Award in his honor.
Dr. Ford’s introductory video that was played during Convocation is available to view at facs.org/henriford.
Vice-Presidents
The First Vice-President, Tyler G. Hughes, MD, FACS, and Second Vice-President, Deborah A. Kuhls, MD, FACS, also were installed.
Dr. Hughes is dean of University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina, where he previously served as clinical professor of surgery and director of medical education. A Fellow of the College since 1986, he has served in several ACS leadership positions, including as ACS Secretary from 2019 to 2022. He presently is Editor of the ACS Communities. Dr. Hughes was instrumental in establishing the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery, which he also chaired.
Dr. Kuhls is assistant dean for research and professor of surgery at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Kuhls is a trauma surgeon who is board-certified in general surgery and critical care. For the ACS, she has served as the President of the Nevada Chapter and Chair of the Committee on Trauma Injury Prevention and Control Committee. In recent years, Dr. Kuhls has played an important role in developing the ACS’s recommendations for responding to firearm violence.
