Funded Lectures
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Department
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Section of
Surgical Sciences
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John L. Sawyers, M.D.
 Dr.
John L. Sawyers, Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery,
Emeritus, was Chairman of the Department of Surgery and
Director of the Section of Surgical Sciences for eleven
years (1982-1993).
Dr. Sawyers was born July 26, 1925, in Centerville, Iowa,
a small town of approximately 8,000 people. He received his
B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1946 and his M.D.
from Johns Hopkins University in 1949. After interning for a
year under the direction of Drs. Alfred Blalock and H.
William Scott, Jr., Dr. Sawyers entered the surgical
residency program at Vanderbilt. Shortly after his entry
into the Vanderbilt program, he was recalled to active duty
in the U.S. Navy and served during the Korean War. In 1953
at Dr. Scott’s invitation he resumed his residency at
Vanderbilt, which he completed in 1958.
Dr. Sawyers joined the Vanderbilt faculty as an
instructor in 1958. He also practiced with Dr. J. Lynwood
Herrington in the Edwards-Eve Clinic in Nashville. He then
accepted the position as Surgeon-in-Chief of the Nashville
General Hospital when it was integrated with the Vanderbilt
University surgical residency program. In 1969 he was
promoted to professor of surgery at Vanderbilt and became
vice-chairman of the Department of Surgery in 1973. He
became Surgeon-in-Chief of Saint Thomas Hospital when it was
integrated with the Vanderbilt surgical residency program in
1977. In 1983 Dr. Sawyers succeeded Dr. Scott as director of
the Section of Surgical Sciences and chairman of the
Department of Surgery.
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