Newswise — CHICAGO: J. Wayne Meredith, MD, FACS, MCCM, an esteemed trauma, thoracic, and critical care surgeon from Winston-Salem, N.C., was installed this evening for a one-year term as the 101st President of the American College Surgeons (ACS). The installation occurred during the Convocation ceremony that is a highlight of the virtual ACS Clinical Congress 2020, one of the largest educational meetings of surgeons in the world.
Dr. Meredith is the Richard T. Myers Professor and Chairman, department of surgery, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, and chair of surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine since 1997. Dr. Meredith joined the faculty of Wake Forest University Health Sciences in 1987. In his years of service at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Dr. Meredith has taken on leadership roles: he served as director of surgical sciences through June 2014 and was appointed chief of clinical chairs of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in July 2019.
In addition to serving as the Richard T. Myers Professor and Chair, he has served 10 years as residency program director, department of surgery, Wake Forest School of Medicine. Along with serving as medical director of The Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma, Dr. Meredith holds a cross-appointment at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, as well as a joint appointment as professor of pediatrics, department of pediatrics. He is chairman of the medical executive committee, a member of Wake Forest’s graduate medical education committee (1999–present), the risk and insurance management advisory council (2002–present), the faculty executive council (2002–present), the cancer center oversight committee (2004–present), the health system management council (2011–present), and chairs the medical executive committee (2011–present). He has served on the boards of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
During his ACS presidential address, entitled “Lessons Learned on the Way to this Podium,” Dr. Meredith told more than 2,000 newly initiated Fellows of the American College of Surgeons numerous words of advice on having a successful and rewarding career in surgery.
A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) since 1990, Dr. Meredith has devoted much of his expertise and energy to ACS trauma-related activities. He served as the Medical Director of ACS Trauma Programs (2006–2010) and Chair of the Committee on Trauma (COT) (2002–2006). He has chaired the COT’s National Trauma Data Bank Ad Hoc Committee (1997–2002), the Trauma Registry Subcommittee (1994–2002), and continues to serve on the Verification, Review, and Consultation Committee (1996–present). In addition, he has been a liaison member of the Program Committee (2002–2006), a member of the national faculty for Advanced Trauma Life Support® (2002–present), and the ACS COT representative to the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Trauma, Burns, and Critical Care Advisory Council (2005–2006).
Dr. Meredith is an ACS Governor at-Large (2017−present) and serves on the Board of Governors Surgical Training Workgroup. He previously served on the Health Policy Advisory Council (2018).
Furthermore, Dr. Meredith has played a significant role in state-level ACS activities since joining the North Carolina Chapter of the ACS in 1991. He has served as a member of the chapter’s Board of Directors (1994–present), as a member (1991–present) and Chair (1991–1997) of the North Carolina COT, and North Carolina Chapter President (2005).
The College honored Dr. Meredith for his contributions to the ACS with the 2014 Distinguished Service Award (DSA), the College’s highest honor. The Board of Regents of the ACS presented the DSA to Dr. Meredith in appreciation of “his continuous and devoted service as a Fellow” and “in recognition of his distinctive scientific contributions in cardiovascular physiology during resuscitation, trauma registries, and trauma systems.”
In addition to his previously noted service in leadership roles in ACS Trauma Programs, Dr. Meredith has been active in the field in various capacities both nationally and globally. He has been named a visiting professor or named lecturer at more than 20 institutions around the world, from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Quito, Ecuador. He serves on the editorial board of several journals, and is the author or coauthor of more than 170 scientific publications, more than 20 book chapters, and one textbook, Trauma: Contemporary Principles and Therapy.
Dr. Meredith’s research interests include thoracic trauma, the biomechanics of crash injury, injury severity measures, and trauma systems development. Over the course of his distinguished career, he has been awarded 10 grants for various trauma research studies. He is the principal investigator for a National Institutes of Health grant for Integrative Training in Trauma and Regenerative Medicine, as well as a joint project with Wake Forest School of Medicine and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that established a Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network Center of Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
Dr. Meredith has held leadership roles in many other professional organizations including president of many surgical professional societies: the Southeastern Surgical Congress, the Eastern Association for the Surgery on Trauma, the Halsted Society, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the Southern Surgical Association. He has held multiple other leadership positions, including service as director of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.
Dr Meredith lives in Winston Salem with Gayle, his spouse of 46 years and constant source of inspiration and love. They have two wonderful children Russell and Amanda, aged 37 and 32.
Other ACS officers installed this evening include:
First Vice-President-Elect H. Randolph Bailey, MD, FACS, FASCRS, a respected colon and rectal surgeon who practices at the University of Texas (UT)/McGovern Medical School, Houston. Dr. Bailey is professor of surgery and emeritus program director of the UT colon and rectal surgery residency training program. He is chief, division of colon and rectal surgery, Memorial Hermann Hospital Texas Medical Center, and deputy chief of surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital.
Second Vice-President-Elect Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, is director, interdisciplinary breast program; chief, division of breast surgery; and medical director, International Center for the Study of Breast Cancer Subtypes; Weill Cornell Medicine-New York Presbyterian Hospital Network, N.Y. She also is an adjunct professor of breast surgery at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
“FACS” designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
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About J. Wayne Meredith, MD, FACS, MCCM
Dr. Meredith graduated from Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., with a bachelor of arts degree in physics. He earned his medical degree and completed his surgical training in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at what is now Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C. He completed his trauma/critical care fellowship as visiting assistant professor of surgery/trauma under the supervision of the late Donald D. Trunkey, MD, FACS, at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital, Portland.
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.
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