by Jill Clendening
Carmen Solórzano, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, John L. Sawyers Professor of Surgical Sciences and director of Endocrine Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been elected president-elect of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES).
The AAES is dedicated to the advancement of the science and art of endocrine surgery. The organization is committed to providing surgical expertise in diseases of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands, as well as in neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas and It is considered the world’s preeminent endocrine surgery professional organization.
Solórzano is the first Latina and the fifth woman to be elected president of the AAES. The new role adds to the list of national leadership positions in surgery held by Solórzano, including serving as a past vice president of the AAES and as governor of the American College of Surgeons.
“I’m committed to improving patients’ lives through continued advancements in endocrine surgery, and it is a tremendous honor to be elected by my peers for this leadership role,” said Solórzano. “This organization has played an important part in my development as an expert clinician and surgeon scientist, and it is a career highlight to serve in this capacity.”
In 2019, after serving in an interim capacity for a year, Solórzano was named chair of VUMC’s Department of Surgery, the largest department in the Section of Surgical Sciences. She holds the John L. Sawyers Chair in Surgical Sciences. She previously led the Division of Surgical Oncology for five years. A 2018 recipient of the Sawyers Teaching Award, Solórzano is a well-respected mentor for faculty, residents and medical students.
Solórzano’s clinical research interests include the use of minimally invasive techniques for parathyroid and adrenal tumors, the use of near infrared light to detect parathyroid/en-docrine tumors, the use of surgeon-performed ultrasound for thyroid and parathyroid disease, the surgical management of recurrent/persistent thyroid cancer, and the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes.
She has authored more than 200 articles and book chapters. She serves on the editorial boards of the Annals of Surgical Oncology, the Journal of Surgical Oncology, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and the World Journal of Surgery. She is associate editor of the American Journal of Surgery hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) section, associate editor of Video Endocrinology, and editor for the section on endocrine tumors for the Annals of Surgical Oncology.
Solórzano serves as a governor of the American College of Surgeons representing the AAES, is an American College of Surgeons Board of Governors liaison to the Commission on Cancer and is chair of the Society of Surgical Oncology Endocrine and Head and Neck Site Disease working group.
She is also a member of the American Thyroid Association Thyroid Nodules Guidelines Task Force, is an American Board of Surgery oral board examiner and serves as certifying examination endocrine question consultant. She is a member of the American Surgical Association and the Southern Surgical Association.
A graduate of the University of Florida, Solórzano earned Phi Beta Kappa honors as an undergraduate and Alpha Omega Alpha honors as a medical student. She remained at the University of Florida to complete her general surgery residency and became interested in the management of cancer and endocrine neoplasms. She moved to Texas as a postdoctoral research fellow before completing a clinical fellowship in surgical oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Solórzano returned to Florida to serve as assistant professor of Surgery at the University of Miami and rose to become chief of Endocrine Surgery. She was recruited to Vanderbilt in 2010 as associate professor of Surgery and director of the Endocrine Surgery Center. In 2012, she became chief of the Division of General Surgery at the Nashville VA Medical Center.
