Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
June 20, 2001
CHARLESTON, SC -- Fred Crawford, M.D., has been elected vice president and president-elect of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS). The position places him in line to assume the AATS presidency in one year.
Crawford is professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
AATS is an international organization of 1,143 whose members consist of the world's foremost cardiothoracic surgeons, representing 34 countries throughout the world. The organization promotes and fosters education and research in the field of cardiothoracic surgery.
A native of Holly Hill, SC, Crawford graduated first in his medical school class from Duke University where he went on to receive postgraduate training. While serving his cardiothoracic surgery residency at Duke he noticed a steady stream of people coming from South Carolina to Duke University Medical Center. When he returned to South Carolina as an MUSC faculty member in 1979, his goal was to develop a full service heart surgery program so people would not have to go out of state. Under his leadership the MUSC heart surgery service has become nationally known. Crawford has been listed by Good Housekeeping Magazine as among "The Country's Best Heart Doctors" and has been named in the 1998 edition of "The Best Doctors in America"
Crawford serves as chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgeons, the national credentialing board for certification of thoracic surgeons and chairs the Joint Council of Thoracic Surgery Education of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. At MUSC, he directs both the general surgery and cardiothoracic surgical residency programs.
A member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Crawford is author or editor of 18 books or book chapters. He has had 218 papers published in peer-reviewed professional journals.
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