About Dr. Turner
Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, is a general surgeon with minimally invasive expertise and the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). She began her role on January 1, 2022. Prior to that, she served as Director of the ACS Division of Member Services from 2011 to 2021. Membership grew every year under her leadership, and she pioneered transformative changes that continue to serve the evolving needs of surgeons of all specialties, in all practice settings, and in all career stages, in the US and internationally.
Before joining the ACS Executive Leadership Team, Dr. Turner spent 8 years in academic practice on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, where she was the surgery residency program director and medical director of the surgical acute care unit. Dr. Turner is currently on the faculty in the department of surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, IL.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Dr. Turner earned a doctor of medicine degree at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her surgical training as an intern and resident was at Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC, where she spent 2 years at the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute conducting bench research.
Her fellowship training in minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery was completed at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Weill-Cornell University School of Medicine, and Columbia University School of Medicine in New York City. She earned a master of business administration degree at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, graduating with the highest honors.
Dr. Turner has published and presented widely on minimally invasive surgical techniques, leadership, innovation, quality improvement, surgical outcomes, and graduate surgical education. She has received numerous awards, honors, and multiple grants for her research as a surgeon investigator throughout her career. Dr. Turner is committed to assuring that there are no artificial barriers to surgeons leading full and productive lives, both personally and professionally.
