Dr. Valentine Nfonsam will serve as the next Department Head for Surgery

We are pleased to announce that Valentine N. Nfonsam, MD, MS. FACS, FASCRS, has agreed to serve as the next Department Head for Surgery at LSU Health New Orleans. Dr. Nfonsam, whom we expect to begin in the fall, will also serve as the Surgical Quality Officer for University Medical Center. He is currently Professor of Surgery and Clinical Translational Sciences at University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. For almost three years, he has been the Interim Division Chief of Surgical Oncology, a large and productive section that has grown significantly under his leadership. He is dedicated to resident education and served as Program Director for the Surgery Residency for nine years prior to leading the Surgical Oncology Division.

Dr. Nfonsam received his MD from University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his surgery residency at UT Southwestern, Dallas and Northshore/ Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York. He did a research fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, and a clinical fellowship in Colorectal Surgery at University of South Florida prior to joining the faculty at University of Arizona, Tucson.

Dr. Nfonsam is a member of many national and international societies including the American Surgical Association (ASA), American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), Western Surgical Association (WSA) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS). He holds leadership positions within several organizations including the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) and the Society of Surgery in the Alimentary Tract (SSAT) Board of trustees. He served for two years as President of the American College of Surgery (ACS) Arizona Chapter and he is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the ACS, a Councilor of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and a member of the ACS Health Policy Advisory Group.

Dr. Nfonsam has had funding from local and national grants to support his research. He has more than 80 peer review publications and been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings. He has been recognized for excellence as a clinician and excellence as a mentor. He has served as a site investigator for numerous cancer clinical trials, and he has a strong interest in creating an academic environment that fosters inquiry and research. He is also committed to surgical quality improvement and to improving diversity in the healthcare workforce. He follows Dr. Robert Batson who will step down after holding the position of Department Head for more than 10 years. We will nominate Dr. Nfonsam to hold the Isidore Cohn Jr. MD Endowed Chair in Surgery. We are excited about the future of the Department of Surgery and about recruiting such an outstanding leader. We welcome Dr. Nfonsam to LSU and look forward to seeing him on campus in the coming months.