On April 27, 2018, Andrew Klein, MD, MBA, FICS was formally recognized as the 66th President of the United States Section of the International College of Surgeons (ICS-US) for the term commencing January 1, 2019. Prior to his election to President, Dr. Klein has served in the following leadership roles within the section; Treasurer, Secretary, Chair of the Board of Regents, Regent, and Vice President. He is currently completing his term as President-Elect. Dr. Klein has also served on numerous standing committees such as the CME Committee, the Membership Committee and the Honors Committee, just to name a few.
Dr. Klein addressed the members of the US Section at his induction and spoke of his goals for his presidency. Among several topics, he is particularly focused on advancing the humanitarian outreach efforts of the section and his desire to develop a robust and informative Continuing Medical Education program next year at our 81st Annual Surgical Update to be held May 2-5, 2019 and the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, PA.
Dr. Andrew Klein is the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplant Medicine, Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Director of Comprehensive Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Johns Hopkins University. He completed residency training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, was a Harvard research fellow in transplantation immunology at The Massachusetts General Hospital, served as a Surgical Registrar at The John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University and was a liver transplant fellow at UCLA.
Dr. Klein was appointed Professor of Surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2000, at UCLA in 2005 and at Cedars-Sinai in 2008. His accomplishments in the fields of both medicine and business were recognized by Johns Hopkins, who bestowed upon him the Distinguished Alumnus Award. His scientific research has been supported by institutional, intramural (NIH), and industry funding. In 1991 he received the Johns Hopkins Clinician Scientist Award. Dr. Klein has authored or co-authored more than 150 original manuscripts and 29 chapters and has lectured extensively in North America, Asia, and Europe.
For nearly 3 decades, Dr. Klein has played a leadership role in local and national policy making focused on organ donation, allocation, and transplantation. In 2002, Dr. Klein received his M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and in recognition of his outstanding performance he was honored with the Student of the Year Award. He has a keen interest in the relationship between civility and tangible benefits in healthcare. He has championed the value of service excellence and civil culture in the workplace, the selection and training of employees, and the consequences of uncivil behavior on coworkers and patients.
Dr. Klein and his wife, Julia, are avid SCUBA divers which allows Dr. Klein to pursue his passion for underwater photography. When work permits, they are likely to be found hanging out with their cows, sheep and chickens on their farm in Pennsylvania.
The International College of Surgeons (ICS) is a world federation of general surgeons and surgical specialists. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1935 by Dr. Max Thorek, ICS has over 60 organized national Sections around the world with approximately 6,000 members in over 100 countries. Membership is available to qualified surgeons in all specialties as well as to Anesthesiologists, Pathologists and Radiologists.
With almost 2,000 members, the United States Section is the largest national chapter. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, members of the US Section speak over 40 languages and are dedicated to the global advancement of surgical excellence as well as humanitarian service to those in need.
ICS collaborates with many like-minded organizations to achieve its goals. ICS is actually the only non-governmental organization representing surgery that has an official relationship with the World Health Organization. Our representatives formally participate in the World Health Assembly held annually in Geneva.
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