FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine Names World-Renowned Cancer Surgeon as Chair of Surgery

MIAMI – May 22, 2019 – Dr. Michael J. Zinner has been named professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (HWCOM).

Zinner, a world-renowned cancer surgeon, medical educator, and researcher, is CEO and executive medical director of the Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida.

“It is an immense honor and privilege for our college of medicine to have a world-recognized leader in surgery take the helm of educating our students in this key aspect of medical practice,” said Dr. Robert Sackstein, HWCOM dean and senior vice president for Health Affairs. “Personally, I worked with Dr. Zinner for over two decades at Harvard Medical School, and our partnership there allowed us to gain a greater understanding of cancer biology and yielded new therapeutic options for people affected by gastrointestinal cancers. In addition, we joined in training the next generation of surgeons at Harvard and now have the opportunity to do so at FIU.”

Prior to joining the Miami Cancer Institute, Zinner was clinical director and surgeon-in-chief at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in Boston, the Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, the Crowley Family Distinguished Chair in the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and founder of Harvard’s Center for Surgery and Public Health.

“I have always placed tremendous value in the teaching and mentoring of future generations of medical students, researchers and academics as they embark on their careers,” Zinner said. “The future of medicine is wide open for those trained on the treatment options and scientific breakthroughs that will impact our world for years to come. I look forward to being a part of their journey, and to Baptist Health’s continued collaboration with FIU as we partner to shape the landscape of surgical education here in South Florida.”

An expert in pancreatic-hepatobiliary diseases, Zinner is the editor for Maingot’s Abdominal Operations, a textbook and atlas of gastrointestinal surgery used worldwide that is in its fourth edition.

Zinner, a Miami native, received his medical degree from the University of Florida and performed his surgical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

About Miami Cancer Institute
Miami Cancer Institute is a next-generation cancer treatment destination known for its leading clinical care and research, compassionate patient experience and state-of-the-art technology – including the first proton therapy center in South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the only radiation oncology program in the world with each of the latest radiation therapies in one place. The Institute offers an impressive roster of established community oncologists and renowned cancer experts, clinical researchers and genomic scientists recruited from the nation’s top cancer centers. As Florida’s only member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance, Miami Cancer Institute is part of a deep and functional collaboration that affords patients access to innovative treatments right here at home and ensures that the standards of care developed by our multidisciplinary disease management teams match those at MSK. Heralded nationally as one of the “hybrid” cancer centers of the future, Miami Cancer Institute combines high-quality community-based cancer care with the best of an academic cancer center, including innovative clinical trials tied to research and genomics and disease-specific surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists who are experts in their fields. For more information, visit MiamiCancerInstitute.com.

About FIU
Florida International University is Miami’s public research university and in less than five decades has become a top 100 public university, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges. FIU is focused on student success and research excellence, with nearly $200 million in annual research expenditures. The Next Horizon campaign is furthering FIU’s commitment to providing students Worlds Ahead opportunities. Today FIU has two campuses and multiple centers, including sites in Qingdao and Tianjin, China, and supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA, with more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. The university has awarded more than 330,000 degrees to many leaders in South Florida and beyond. For more information about FIU, visit www.fiu.edu.