The Section of Surgical Sciences

Dai H. Chung, M.D., professor of surgery in the department of pediatric surgery at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has been elected president of the Society of University Surgeons. He has held leadership roles on the Society’s Executive Council since 2002.
 

“I am truly honored to represent Vanderbilt in this role,” Chung said. “As president, my objective will be to reinvigorate and capture the interest of promising, young surgeons to pursue careers in academic surgery, to further advance surgical sciences. Our research leads to vitally important scientific breakthroughs that can dramatically improve the lives of surgical patients.”
 

The Society of University Surgeons was established in 1938 with the mission of advancing the art and science of surgery by encouraging its members to pursue original investigations, both in the clinic and in the laboratory, by developing methods of graduate teaching of surgery, and by facilitating the exchange of ideas. In recent years, the Society has successfully brought together surgical leaders from around the world to share knowledge and expertise as a means of globalizing academic surgery.
 

Chung is only the third Vanderbilt University faculty member elected president of the Society of University Surgeons. Presidents serve a one-year term. R. Daniel Beauchamp, M.D., John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery and chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences, was elected in 1999, preceded by H. William Scott, M.D., then professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Vanderbilt, who was elected in 1960.
 

Chung joined Vanderbilt University in September 2009. Previously, he served as the James C. Thompson, MD Distinguished Chair in Surgery, professor of surgery and pediatrics, and chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Children’s Hospital in Galveston, Texas.
 

He earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he completed an internship and residency in surgery. Chung also completed a NIH research fellowship at Shriners Burns Hospital in Galveston and a fellowship in Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Medical Center at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.