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Alumni > Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Awards > Dr. Hiram C. Polk, Jr. - 2005 Alumnus of the Year

Dr. Hiram C. Polk, Jr. - 2005 Alumnus of the Year

Nominated for his outstanding reputation in the medical field, Dr. Polk received the Ephraim McDowell Physician of the Year Award in Louisville in Jan. 2003. The award is given annually to honor a physician who has made significant contributions to the medical field, demonstrated unselfish humanitarian service, represented the medical profession with distinction, and demonstrated the highest ethical standards. A native of Jackson, he earned an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School after graduating from Millsaps. He received his basic training in surgery at the Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. His initial faculty appointment was at the University of Miami. He assumed the Chair of Surgery at the University of Louisville in 1971.

In 1995, he was inducted as an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the oldest surgical college in the world. His recognitions include the presidencies of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Society for Surgical Oncology, the Society of University Surgeons, and several other esteemed associations. He has served on the American Board of Surgery, as a Governor for the American College of Surgeons, as Chairman of the VA Merit Review Board, and is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Polk is the author of nearly 500 scientific publications, with an additional 154 chapters in textbooks, nine major books and eight monographs. He has served as Visiting Professor at hundreds of medical schools around the world. His specific clinical interests include complicated cancers, especially malignant melanoma and esophageal problems. His research focus has dealt with immunology and infection and its prevention and therapy, and his innovations in this field are used around the world.

(Reprinted from the 2005 College Alumni Recognition Dinner Program)