Thomas E Read, MD, FACS, FASCRS : Bio and credentials

After 26 years of practice, I still look forward to coming to work every day. I am fortunate to work with a spectacular team at University of Florida/Shands Hospital, where I serve as a professor and chief of the UF Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. In our busy practice, we treat patients for a variety of problems that affect the GI tract including rectal cancer, colon cancer, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s) and colorectal polyps.

I trained on both coasts, graduating cum laude with a bachelor degree in biology from Harvard College in 1984. I received my medical degree with honors from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where I subsequently completed general surgery residency training and a basic science research fellowship. I completed additional specialty residency training in colon and rectal surgery at the Lahey Clinic in 1996.

I benefited from the mentorship of experienced physicians and surgeons during my training, and I believe we should “pay it forward”. Thus, I am dedicated to educating the next generation of physicians, and have served as program director for two colorectal surgery residency training programs, Coursemaster for medical students in surgery, and as ACGME Designated Institutional Official (DIO) responsible for graduate medical education. I have been fortunate to participate in the training of many outstanding physicians, and am grateful to have been the recipient of 22 awards for teaching, education and mentorship.

From a research perspective, we continually push frontiers, trying to advance our understanding of diseases and how best to treat them, and are focused on outcomes from a patient perspective. I have been lucky to be able to share our work (and learn from others), as an invited lecturer at scientific meetings more than 350 times and as a visiting professor at more than 25 institutions.

It takes a dedicated team of people to achieve good outcomes. My partners and our staff of nurses, physician assistants, and technicians should all share in the clinical accolades I have received over the years, such as being named one of America’s Top Doctors and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer by Castle Connolly Medical, Best Doctors in America by Best Doctors Inc., and America’s Top Surgeons by Consumer’s Research Council of America.

I appreciate that my colleagues have trusted me to serve in a variety of leadership roles for organizations that represent our specialty, including as President of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, and as a Governor of the American College of Surgeons. I currently serve as the Executive Director of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, and on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Outside of practice, I enjoy underwater photography, which makes living in Florida very appealing.