Victor W. Fazio, MB, MS, FRACS

Victor W. Fazio, MB, MS, FRACS, FACSFRACS (Hon), is chairman of the Department of Colorectal Surgery and vice-chairman of the Division of Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He has held both positions for more than 20 years. Board-certified in colon and rectal surgery, Dr. Fazio's clinical interest are Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, and pelvic floor reservoir procedures for ulcerative colitis and familial polyposis. He pioneered the use of innovative techniques that allow patients to avoid the need for colostomies.

Dr. Fazio has been named one of the country's top cancer doctors for women from Good Housekeeping magazine and one of the best doctors in America from American Health magazine. He also was awarded the Premier Physician Award from the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation in 1992. Under his co-direction, treatment for digestive diseases at The Cleveland Clinic is ranked second in the country in U.S. News & World Report magazine's annual survey of top hospitals. In 2000, he was the first recipient of The Cleveland Clinic Master Clinician Award.

A frequent invited lecturer at national and international medical meetings, Dr. Fazio has authored more than 500 scientific papers on surgical management of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and surgical treatment for colorectal cancers, as well as ostomy management. He has published seven books on surgery.

Currently, he is the principal investigator for an international multicenter clinical trial on the use of colonic pelvic resevoirs with rectal resection for cancer to improve bowel function.

He is active in numerous professional societies. His appointments include senior board member and past president of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, past president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and council member for The Society for Pelvic Surgeons.

Dr. Fazio has served on the editorial boards for several scientific journals, including Journal of the American College of Surgeons, British Journal of Surgery, Journal of Gastrointestinal Disease, Journal of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Journal of Pelvic Surgery, Ostomy and Wound Management, International Journal of Coloproctology, Hepato-Gastroenterology, Current Opinions in Gastroenterology, Perspectives in Colorectal Surgery, and Clinics in Colorectal Surgery. Since 1996, he has been editor-in-chief of the journal Diseases of the Colon and Rectum.

He also has served as a reviewer for nearly all of the major journals pertaining to digestive diseases, including Annals of Surgery, Archives of Surgery, New England Journal of Medicine, Cancer, The Lancet, and Gastroenterology.

Dr. Fazio received his medical degree from the University of Sydney in Australia and completed post-graduate work at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney. He also completed fellowships in surgery at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Boston and at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has been awarded the Master of Surgery degree from the University of Sydney and has honorary degrees from Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgery of England.