CHICAGO: Today, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced that it will present this year’s Distinguished Service Award (DSA)—the College’s highest honor—to Mark A. Malangoni, MD, FACS, a recently retired general surgeon from Lyndhurst, Ohio.
Dr. Malangoni will be honored on the evening of Sunday, October 16, during the Convocation ceremony that precedes the opening of the ACS Clinical Congress 2022 in San Diego, California. The Clinical Congress is one of the largest educational meetings of surgeons in the world.
The ACS Board of Regents’ Honors Committee selected Dr. Malangoni for his distinguished service as an international leader in surgery through his long-term commitment to the College and his steadfast dedication to his patients, the profession, and the many students he’s mentored over the years.
“I consider this award to be the greatest honor of my career,” said Dr. Malangoni. “It is humbling to join the previous award recipients, all of whom have been inspirational to me.”
Service to the American College of Surgeons
The DSA recognizes Dr. Malangoni’s “various membership roles with the Young Surgeons, the Board of Governors, the Committee on Trauma, the Advisory Council for General Surgery, and the Board of Regents as well as his foresight in recognizing future issues that would impact maintenance of certification and surgical training in general surgery,” according to the award citation.
An ACS Fellow since 1983, Dr. Malangoni has served on the ACS Board of Regents (2008-2017), chaired both the ACS Board of Governors (2005-2006) and Advisory Council for General Surgery (2003-2007), and has served on multiple other committees of the College. He is also a past President of the ACS Ohio Chapter (1998-1999) and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio cChapter in 2005.
“Since my induction into Fellowship of the College more than 35 years ago, ACS has provided opportunities to work with a multitude of talented surgeons, as well as the wonderfully resourceful American College of Surgeons’ staff,” said Dr. Malangoni. “Over the years, I have been fortunate to have developed many friendships with surgeons nationally and internationally, friendships that I will always treasure.”
Lewis Flint, MD, FACS, who served with Dr. Malangoni at the University of Louisville School of Medicine for nearly a decade, said, “In every stage of his career, Dr. Malangoni made surgeons better by instilling in them the philosophy that how the patient fares is the most important thing in all of surgery.”
Career accomplishments
Dr. Malangoni is a past president of the Central Surgical Association, the Surgical Infection Society, and the Cleveland Surgical Society. Dr. Malangoni served as vice-president of the American Surgical Association and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He is a senior director and past chair of the American Board of Surgery and has held leadership roles for the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He also served as vice-chair of the Residency Review Committee for Surgery for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Malangoni was the associate executive director of the American Board of Surgery 2011–2019.
Dr. Malangoni is a former adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and concurrently served for more than 20 years as a professor of surgery at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and chair of the department of surgery and surgeon-in-chief at MetroHealth Medical Center, both in Cleveland.
Dr. Malangoni has authored or coauthored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and 50 book chapters. He is a member or former member of the editorial boards for the American Journal of Surgery, Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Surgery, Surgical Infections, and World Journal of Emergency Surgery.
Through his tireless leadership at ACS, other organizations, and numerous peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Malangoni has exponentially expanded the international reputation and reach of the ACS.
