Behrns named chair of the department of surgery

Kevin E. Behrns, M.D.

Kevin E. Behrns, M.D.

Dr. Kevin E. Behrns has been named chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

For the past year, Behrns, the Edward R. Woodward professor of surgery, has led the department as interim chair.

Michael L. Good, M.D., interim dean, said Behrns has demonstrated exceptional leadership.

“It is clear that Dr. Behrns understands the strategically important role the department of surgery plays in an integrated academic health science center,” Good said. “I am confident he will take the department of surgery to new levels of accomplishment in all mission areas and in doing so, further elevate the achievements of the UF&Shands Health Science Center regionally and nationally.”

Behrns is an accomplished NIH-funded scientist and a skilled clinician who focuses his surgical practice on complex pancreatic surgery. He is also a well-respected educator, and until recently served as the residency program director for the department of surgery.

Behrns joined the UF College of Medicine in 2005 as chief of the division of general surgery, which includes gastrointestinal surgeons, surgical oncologists, and trauma and burn surgeons. A gastrointestinal surgeon with interests in benign and malignant diseases, Behrns focuses on biliary and pancreatic diseases. He heads the Surgical Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Pathobiology, a National Institutes of Health-funded research lab that is studying the role of chronic inflammation in the regulation of liver cell growth control. He is also the principal investigator of the department of surgery’s National Cancer Institute-funded surgical oncology training grant.