Melina Kibbe, MD, was honored with the prestigious Dr. Rodman L. Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award at the Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Melina R. Kibbe, MD, received the prestigious Dr. Rodman L. Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award at the Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, held on December 2, 2017 in Iselin, NJ. The award, established in 1968, is given annually to a doctor or doctors who have advanced the study and science of medicine.
During the event, Kibbe, the Colin G. Thomas Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, inspired attendees with her presentation of “When Mice are Men: Sex Bias in Surgical Research.”
In honoring her for this award, the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Surgeons cited Kibbe’s clinical, research, and advocacy work.
Clinically, Kibbe has significant experience with both open and endovascular surgery, including the treatment of carotid stenosis, peripheral vascular disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Kibbe’s research interests focus on nitric oxide vascular biology and developing nitric oxide-based therapies for patients with vascular disease. For her research, she has received funds from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, American Heart Association, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Medical Association, and various society, foundation, and intramural sources.
Kibbe’s advocacy for sex inclusion in biomedical research has gained national and international media attention, resulting in policy development by the National Institutes of Health, the Government Accountability Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as a bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. She holds 12 patents or provisional patents. Her research was recognized by President Obama with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2009. Her bibliography includes over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters, with an emphasis on vascular biology and nitric oxide-based therapies.
She is board certified in general and vascular surgery and is RVT and RPVI certified by ARDMS. Kibbe is the Editor-in-Chief for JAMA Surgery. She is past-president of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, and the Association of VA Surgeons. She is also an active member in the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the Society for Vascular Surgery, and the American Heart Association, among others. Most recently, she was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the National Academy of Medicine.
Kibbe regards UNC as an extraordinary place to practice surgery, educate future generations of surgeons, and contribute to the advancement of her field through basic and translational research. Prior to joining UNC in 2016, she was a faculty member at Northwestern University for 13 years where she also served as the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and Deputy Director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology.
“Being an academic surgeon is a privilege. We are able to deliver outstanding clinical care while educating future surgeons and surgeon scientists – and, through innovation and discovery science, have an impact on how care is delivered at the same time,” Kibbe said.