CHICAGO—L. D. Britt, MD, MPH, FACS, was appointed to a three-year term as Chair of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Board of the Regents during the College's recent annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco, CA (October 12-16).  A general and critical care surgeon, who has been a Fellow of the College since 1989, Dr. Britt is the Brickhouse Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk.  He is the first African-American in the country to have an endowed chair in surgery. 

A graduate of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Britt is currently a director of the American Board of Surgery.  He is also a member of several national and international organizations, including Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, Society of University Surgeons, Southern Surgical Association, Societe' Internationale de Chirugie, and the American Surgical Association.  He has served on the National Institutes of Health SOH Study Review Panel and has had many national and international leadership positions, including being the current President of the Halsted Society, President of the Society of Surgical Chairs, past Chairman of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Surgery, Secretary of the Southern Surgical Association, and the Executive Director of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. 

Dr. Britt is currently associate editor of the American Journal of Surgery, and serves on the editorial boards of several other prominent surgery and critical care journals, including the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Annals of Surgery, Archives of Surgery, Journal of Trauma, and Shock.  Throughout his distinguished career he has led or participated in several research endeavors for which he has received publicly and privately funded grants. His numerous research interests address topics such as health care disparities, and various aspects of critical surgical care including hemorrhagic and septic shock.

In addition to being a member of the Executive and Finance Committees of the Board
of Regents of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Britt also sits on the executive board of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and is a former member of the Examination Committee of the American Board of Surgery.  Dr. Britt was also a member of the Executive Council of the American College of Surgeons National Committee on Trauma and was the Chair of all the regional committees of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, which includes all 50 states and the international community.  The past Vice-President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Dr. Britt is now the Recorder/Program Chair for the organization.  He is the immediate past President of the Southeastern Surgical Congress, President of the Halsted Society, and was also appointed to the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Program National Advisory Committee.

Dr. Britt is well known as an outstanding educator and role model and has been recognized with many national and institutional awards for his excellence in teaching.  He has also been recognized for his dedicated community service and for his work related to combat trauma care. 

The 22-member Board of Regents has the ultimate responsibility for managing the affairs of the College.  In his role as Chair of the Board of Regents, Dr. Britt will work closely with Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, Executive Director of the College, in the conduct of the business of the College.  The Board's diversity and the variety of experiences and interests among its members enable the Regents to represent views related to myriad issues in contemporary surgery. 

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient.  The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery.  Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America, and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients.  The College has more than 73,000 members, and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
Web site: http://www.facs.org