UF vascular surgeon awarded international visiting professorship

University of Florida vascular surgeon Peter R. Nelson, MD, MS, speaks this month in Australia as the Association for Academic Surgery’s international visiting professor. The professorship award is part of a leadership exchange program between the AAS and the Younger Fellows Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Nelson, an assistant professor of surgery, will give three talks while in Australia, as well as moderate a research poster competition. His talks will focus on issues confronting the field of surgery, research program development, and the important role of research in training future surgeons. He also will attend scientific and career development meetings and have the opportunity to meet colleagues during the RACS’ Younger Fellows Forum.

The international visiting professorship was created to help foster an intercontinental alliance among future leaders in the field of surgery. Earlier this year Nelson hosted Richard S. Page, BMedSci, MS, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ professorship recipient, during the 2009 Academic Surgical Congress in Fort Myers, Fla., providing an opportunity for the exchange of ideas.

Nelson’s clinical interests include endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, percutaneous peripheral intervention, and minimally invasive treatment for venous disease. His research studying the relationship of a procedure’s success or failure to a patient’s innate response to lower extremity revascularization is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

As faculty advisor for the UF surgical interest group, Nelson’s primary education interest is in understanding the issues surrounding medical student’s decision making regarding whether or not to go into the field of surgery. He currently is creating a national video project to provide insight into the field and enhance recruitment of future surgeons.

A member of the AAS since 2002, Nelson currently serves as co-chair of the leadership committee and sits on the association’s executive council.