Chairs and Directors (UTRGV School of Medicine)

Chairs and Directors

Chairs

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS

Chair, Surgery

Daniel.Albo@utrgv.edu

Roles and Responsibilities

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS
Chair, Surgery
Surgery
Email: Daniel.Albo@utrgv.edu

Dr. Albo, a nationally and internationally renowned Surgical Oncologist, is a Tenured Professor and Chair of Surgery at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine. In this capacity, he will help lead and develop all Clinical, Educational, and Research Programs for UTRGV.

Dr. Albo previously served at AU as the Chairman of the Department of Surgery where he oversaw all clinical, educational, research, faculty development and administrative aspects of the Department of Surgery in one of the largest Medical Schools in the country. Dr. Albo also served as the Surgeon-In-Chief at Augusta University Health System. He played an integral role in the development of a matrix-style Perioperative Services organization, a multidisciplinary, horizontal integration health system that oversees all aspects of quality, efficiency, quality assessment and quality improvement in the care of all surgical patients across the health system. During his tenure, AUHS has accomplished all-time high volumes, efficiencies and quality in the Perioperative Services.

He previously served as the Director of the Cancer Center Service Line, at the Georgia Cancer Center. In his role, Dr. Albo was instrumental in the development of an integrated cancer service line model that continues to oversee all cancer clinical operations and clinical trials activities for the Augusta University Health System.

With a Certificate in Medical and Health Care Management obtained from the prestigious Jones Graduate School of Business. Rice University, Dr. Albo has almost two decades of experience in helping design and implement Matrix organizations in Surgery and Cancer in a variety of Health System models.

Dr. Albo earned his medical degree Magna Cum Laude at the University of the Republic, Uruguay, in 1991. He completed his General Surgery residency and obtained a PhD degree in Molecular Pathobiology at Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2000. He completed a Surgical Oncology fellowship at the UTMD Anderson Cancer Center in 2002 before joining the Medical College of Georgia, where he helped develop a Surgical Oncology program and a multidisciplinary MD/PhD program in Oncology. He then moved to the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, TX, in 2004. At BCM, he was first the Chief of General Surgery and Director of the Operating Room for the Houston VA Medical Center, where he developed Surgical Oncology and Minimally Invasive surgical services as well as a Colorectal Cancer Center, the latter two firsts in the VA system. He was subsequently named the Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and the Director for Surgical Network Development, helping develop Surgical Oncology and Minimally Invasive Surgery services throughout the Baylor system.

Dr. Albo has held leadership roles in several academic surgical societies, including being the President for the Association for Academic Surgery. His leadership has been influential in the transformation of the AAS into one of the leading Academic surgical societies in the world. He has been instrumental in the development of several key AAS initiatives, including the creation of highly successful international Academic Career Development courses, currently held in multiple countries worldwide.

Dr. Albo’s clinical expertise is on minimally invasive complex surgical oncology with emphasis in colorectal and hepatobiliary surgery. He has one of the highest utilization rates for laparoscopic surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer in the US, resulting in significant outcomes advantages for patients. His clinical expertise has resulted in several awards, including the prestigious Michael E. DeBakey Distinguished Service Award Medal. Earning the recognition of his peers, he has been consistently listed in the Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Surgeons, and America’s Top Surgical Oncologist lists.

Dr. Albo is a dedicated surgical educator. He has been awarded several prestigious teaching awards, including the Golden Stethoscope, Golden Apple, Jorge I. Cué, MD, and Gene A. Guinn, MD Teaching Awards. He has developed a unique MIS colorectal re-training program that has successfully lead to the conversion of open colorectal surgical units into minimally invasive ones in several countries, allowing for a rapid assimilation of minimally invasive concepts and highly reproducible excellent clinical results. In addition, he has helped develop one of the most advanced surgical simulation curricula for the training of students and residents. He is a sought-after lecturer and has given numerous presentations, Grand Round and Visiting Professor lectures worldwide.

His research has focused on translational and health services research in surgical oncology and minimally invasive surgery. In the Health Services research arena, he has studied minimally invasive surgery (MIS) utilization patterns as well as barriers and facilitators for a widespread adoption of MIS in colorectal disease. He has extensively studied the impact MIS has in reducing the cost of care in colorectal surgery. His work has also focused on issues of health care disparities for minorities in surgical oncology. He has published extensively and is considered an expert in the development of fully integrated multidisciplinary clinical models in surgery and cancer. In the translational research arena, his work has focused on the mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastases and biomarker discovery. He has considerable expertise in the fields of perineural invasion and neurogenesis.

His work has resulted in over 100 manuscripts, multiple book chapters and several research grants and awards. In addition, he is a co-editor of the Operative Techniques in General Surgery and editor of the Operative Techniques in Colorectal Surgery textbooks.

Dr. Albo lists his family as his most significant accomplishment in life. His lovely wife since 1991 (she has tremendous patience!), Luisa, a very accomplished professional photographer and artist, and his two wonderful children, Camila (now a Medical Student at the Medical College of Georgia) and Nicolas Matías, are the light of his eyes.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

• Shall be directly accountable to the Dean.

• Shall be responsible for the administration of his/her Department/Center/Institute.

• Shall hold regular meetings of the Department/Center/Institute faculty to present pertinent information and to discuss issues that may include, among others, Department/Center/Institute or SOM policies, educational, research and service programs, long-range objectives, and current problems. Chairpersons of larger Departments and Directors of larger Centers/Institutes that have been divided into Sections/Programs may elect to have regular meetings with the SectionsChiefs/Program Directors rather than with the entire faculty, with the expectation that the Chiefs will meet with their section/program faculty to present and discuss matters from the Section Chiefs'/Program Directors' meetings at regular intervals.

• Shall recruit and recommend to the Dean the appointment of faculty and other personnel.

• Shall be responsible for his/her Department's/Center's/Institute’s role in carrying out the programs that are the responsibility of SOM faculty.

• Shall be responsible for the implementation of all UTRGV and SOM policies and regulations applicable to the Department/Center/Institute.

• Shall prepare the Department/Center/Institute budget to be submitted to the Dean annually including recommendations for compensation of both faculty and non-faculty personnel.

• Shall be responsible for the budgetary control of his/her Department/Center/Institute and for the allocation of space within his/her Department/Center/Institute.

• Shall recommend faculty appointments, promotions, and tenure to the Dean and pertinent UTRGV SOM committee for review and processing.

• Shall organize the Department/Center/Institute in a way that best serves the needs of the Department/Center/Institute and SOM and provide for appropriate interaction with Department/Center/Institute faculty and between its faculty and leadership.

• Shall be responsible for the career development and mentoring of faculty members in his/her department.

Elias George, MD

Chair, Clinical Support Services

Elias.George@utrgv.edu

Roles and Responsibilities

Elias George, MD

Elias George, MD
Chair, Clinical Support Services
Clinical Support Services
Email: Elias.George@utrgv.edu

Dr. George is a medical graduate of Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), where he furthered his training by specializing in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology (AP/CP). He continued at BCM with subspecialty fellowship training in Hematopathology. He is an American Board of Pathology Diplomate in AP/CP and has over a decade of surgical pathology experience. Graduate education as a Ph.D. candidate at BCM and expertise in cancer diagnosis, tumor staging, immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry is applied in many collaborative research endeavors at UTRGV. He also has years of experience as medical director for hospital and outreach laboratories and facilities offering point of care testing.