Fiemu Nwariaku, MD, MBA, FACS Named President-Elect of Society of Black Academic Surgeons

Fiemu Nwariaku, MD, MBA, FACS, Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, and Helen Lowe Bamberger Colby Presidential Endowed Chair in Health Sciences at the University of Utah, was named President-Elect of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) at the recently concluded annual meeting in Milwaukee, WI. An accomplished surgeon, scientist, and global surgery leader, Nwariaku will formally become the 32nd President of SBAS at the conclusion of the annual meeting in September 2026 and will serve a one-year term. The mission of SBAS is to achieve health justice, advance science, cultivate professional success, and promote leadership for Black and underrepresented surgeons in academia. Its past presidents are giants in the world of academic surgery, and Dr. Nwariaku will add to its legacy.

Nwariaku is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Society of University Surgeons, and American Surgical Association, and past president of the Association for Academic Surgery. Before coming to the U of U in July 2022, he spent 26 years at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he held several leadership positions, including Malcolm O. Perry Professor of Surgery, Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Surgery, the founding Vice Chair for Research, and the founding Associate Dean for Global Health. His vision for the future at the U of U is to be the top Department of Surgery in the West, delivering the highest quality of surgical care, providing value, and driving surgical innovation through research and education. He will deliver the SBAS Presidential address at the annual meeting in Memphis, TN, in September 2027.