Francis J. Podbielski, MD, FICS
PRESIDENT
United States Section
of the
International College Of Surgeons

Dr. Podbielski is a native of Blue Island, Illinois. After graduating from Marist High School he attended the University of Chicago for six years, earning a B.A. degree with honors in Biology, and an M.S. degree in Human Biology. He graduated from Northwestern University Medical School and completed general surgery training at the Columbus Hospital in Chicago, and cardiothoracic surgical training at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been certified and re-certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Most recently he served as the founding Director of the B.I. Deaconess – Plymouth Hospital (a Harvard teaching affiliate) Lung Cancer Program. He has held teaching appointments with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and currently is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He served as the Research Director of the Presence-St. Joseph Hospital (Chicago) general surgery training program for 20 years and has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals; he currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. Dr. Podbielski is in private practice in the south/southwestern suburbs of Chicago and is the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center.

Dr. Podbielski is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the International College of Surgeons. He has served on the Board of Regents of the American College of Chest Physicians and is currently the President-elect of the U.S. Section of the International College of Surgeons. He is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Southeastern Surgical Congress, the New England Surgical Society, and the Chicago Surgical Society.

An active volunteer both personally and professionally, Dr. Podbielski served several terms on the Chicago Area Council – Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors as the Vice-President of Development. He is currently a Board member of the International Museum of Surgical Science, a Past Grand Knight of Blue Island Knights of Columbus Council #1366, and a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He has served for over 15 years as the Vice-President of the M.I.M.A. Foundation and has participated on an annual basis with the group as a volunteer surgeon to rural Bolivia.

Dr. Podbielski and his wife Anna Montes enjoy their shared Scouting activities, dining adventures, and traveling the world.