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    Melissa L. Kirkwood, MD

    Chief of Vascular Surgery, Professor
    University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas
    Vascular Surgery
    Dallas, Texas, United States

    Dr. Kirkwood is the Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, Medical director of the Clinical Heart & Vascular Center & Director of the Vascular Lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She holds the G. Patrick Clagett Professorship in Vascular Surgery. Dr. Kirkwood graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her general surgery training at the University of Chicago Medical Center & Vascular Surgery Fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She has completed several leadership programs including: The Harvard T. H Chan School of Public Health advanced leadership development program for physicians in academic medicine and Drexel University’s ELAM program (Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine).
    Dr. Kirkwood specializes in all aspects of vascular surgery: peripheral artery disease & limb salvage with both advanced endovascular & open techniques, carotid artery disease & open and endovascular aortic surgery. Her research centers on patient & operator radiation exposure during complex endovascular procedures. She has published extensively and is an international expert in the field. Dr. Kirkwood has won the UTSW Pitch Competition for medical devices & the commercialization milestone award for her patented radiation face shield that decreases operator eye & brain dose during endovascular procedures.
    Dr. Kirkwood is past Chair of the Leadership Committee for the Society of Vascular Surgery where she implemented and led the inaugural SVS leadership development program for vascular surgeons. She has served as the Counselor at Large for the Southern Association of Vascular Surgery and is a current member of the SVS program committee and the UT Southwestern promotion and tenure committee. She is board certified in both general and vascular surgery by the American Board of Surgery and serves as an examiner for the Vascular Surgery Board. Dr. Kirkwood has annually been named by D Magazine as “Best Doctors in Dallas” consistently since 2016.

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