Shukri F. Khuri, MD Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Chief of Surgery, VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, Mass. Vice Chairman, Dept. of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

By 1983, he had identified tissue acidosis as a reliable quantifier of the magnitude of regional myocardial tissue ischemia. In 1987, he received FDA clearance for an early version of a myocardial pH monitoring system that he used to validate his findings and develop the maneuvers that form the basis of pH-guided myocardial management.

In addition to his work in myocardial protection, Dr. Khuri has also initiated and led efforts within the Veterans Administration (VA) that resulted in the establishment of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), the first national, validated, outcome-based, risk-adjusted and peer-controlled program for the measurement and enhancement of the quality of surgical care . That program has become the model for a joint effort between the VA and the American College of Surgeons, led by Dr. Khuri, to establish an NSQIP that will incorporate data from the non-VA sector of healthcare for the nationwide comparative assessment and improvement of the quality of all surgical care¹.

Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Khuri has achieved national and international prominence. His research laboratory at West Roxbury has been continuously funded for 24 years and has trained more than 60 residents and postgraduate students in applied research. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the prestigious American Surgical Association, and the author of more than 200 peer- reviewed publications. He is a regular reviewer for more than 10 scientific journals and has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Frank Brown Berry Prize in 1998.