Dr. Edil named Surgery Chair for College of Medicine

Barish H. Edil, M.D., F.A.C.S., has been appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He will hold the John A. Schilling Chair in Surgery. Before joining us he served as Professor of Surgery and chief of the Department of Surgery's Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Colorado at Denver School of Medicine.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Edil holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and then began his graduate medical education with his residency in General Surgery followed by his research fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. After completing his residency training in General Surgery he continued his career as the Assistant Chief of Service at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine receiving a certificate in surgical oncology. In addition, he completed his post-doctoral training in cancer immunology at The Johns Hopkins University. After completion of his training, he remained at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor for the Department of Surgery and the Department of Oncology. While on the faculty, he developed the techniques and performed the first laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy ("Whipple") operation in the history of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In addition, he ran the first neo-adjuvant pancreatic cancer vaccine trial. He later joined the University of Colorado as the Division Chief of Surgical Oncology. While there Dr. Edil was instrumental in pursuing a memorandum of understanding between the CU School of Medicine and the Zhejiang University College of Medicine, one of China's premier medical institutions, for the transfer of knowledge and sharing of experiences and cutting-edge techniques for pancreas surgery residents and fellows thus promoting the globalization of state-of-the-art healthcare. In addition, while at the University of Colorado, Dr. Edil's team discovered a new cancer vaccine, which is currently being developed for clinical trials.

Dr. Edil has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in leading surgery textbooks. He has been an invited lecturer in the field of surgery, most notably in the areas of laparoscopic Whipple surgery, minimally invasive surgical oncology and cancer immunology. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is active in a number of national societies and review groups/study sections.