The Alumni Awards Committee, comprised of fellow alumni of the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Division of the Biological Sciences, selected Dr. Kibbe as one of the 2019 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award. This Award recognizes alumni who have brought honor and distinction to the Division of the Biological Sciences and to the University of Chicago by demonstrating outstanding leadership in-and making significant contributions to the biological sciences or medicine through research, clinical care, health service administration, public and professional service, or civic duties.
Dr. Melina Kibbe was chosen as a recipient for the award for multiple reasons including of her life-long commitment to medicine through her diligent research, her patient-first clinical care commitment, as well as her varied roles in health services. She joins an exclusive list of 300 Pritzker and BSD alumni recipients.
The 2019 Alumni Service Award was presented in June 2019 as part of the Alumni Weekend.
Melina R. Kibbe, AB’90, MD’94, is an expert in both open and endovascular surgery, including the treatment of carotid stenosis, peripheral vascular disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysms. She is board certified in general and vascular surgery and is certified by the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) as a registered vascular technologist (RVT) and registered physician in vascular interpretation (RPVI).
Kibbe’s research interests focus on nitric oxide vascular biology and the development of novel and innovative nitric oxide-based therapies for patients with vascular disease. She holds ten patents or provisional patents, and has received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense, American Heart Association, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Medical Association, and other foundations and organizations. She was recognized by President Barack Obama in 2009 with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. More recently, she has been a strong advocate for sex inclusion in biomedical research for which she appeared on 60 Minutes and the Colbert Report.
Kibbe is the editor-in-chief for JAMA Surgery, and her bibliography includes over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters. She is the past president of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, and the Association of VA Surgeons. She is a member in the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the Society for Vascular Surgery, and the American Heart Association. Most recently, she was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the National Academy of Medicine. Kibbe is also a former faculty member of Northwestern University, where she served as the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and as Deputy Director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology.