Barbara Lee Bass, MD, FACS, the John F. and Carolyn Bookout Distinguished Endowed Chair and chair, department of surgery at the Houston Methodist Hospital (Houston, Texas) was the sixth nationally recognized Visiting Professor of Surgery during Surgical Academic Week March 13-17, 2017.
Dr. Bass is highly respected for her outstanding clinical and academic contributions to the field of general surgery and her commitment to teaching the next generation of surgeons. She is the executive director of the Houston Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE), a state of the art education and research facility developed to safely train practicing health care professional in new technologies and procedures. She is professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, and a senior member of the Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute.
Leadership positions include terms as Chair of the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, Regent of the American College of Surgeons, and President of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and the Society of Surgical Chairs and other officer positions in numerous professional organizations. Honors include the Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Surgeons, the highest honor bestowed for contributions to improve the surgical profession, and the Nina Starr Braunwald Award given for her contributions to advance the careers of women in surgery, and the US Army Commendation medal for her work at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Dr. Bass is President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons.
On March 16, 2017 Dr. Bass spoke on “The Passion of Surgery: Breaking the Surgical Glass Ceiling.”