Peter Angelos, MD, PhD, has been appointed as the Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, effective April 15, 2022.
Angelos is the Linda Kohler Anderson Professor of Surgery and Surgical Ethics; Vice Chair for Ethics, Professional Development, and Wellness; Chief of Endocrine Surgery; and currently serves as the Associate Director of the MacLean Center. A native of Plattsburgh, NY, where his father was a community general surgeon, he completed his undergraduate degree, medical school, and a PhD in Philosophy at Boston University. He completed his residency in General Surgery at Northwestern University and went on to complete fellowships in Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago and in Endocrine Surgery at the University of Michigan.
Angelos is a busy endocrine surgeon who has written widely on improving outcomes of patients having thyroid and parathyroid surgery, minimally invasive endocrine surgery, and ethical aspects in surgical innovation. He has also played a major role in the national and international recognition of the importance of surgical ethics to the practice of surgery. He has been heavily involved in training more than 80 surgeons in clinical medical ethics.
As a prolific author, Angelos has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and has written or co-authored over 50 book chapters. He edited two editions of the book, Ethical Issues in Cancer Patient Care, and he is co-editor of the American College of Surgeons textbook, Ethical Issues in Surgical Care and co-editor of the recently published book, Difficult Decisions in Surgical Ethics. Dr. Angelos was also a regular contributor and columnist for the ACS Surgery News.
Angelos has also held leadership roles in numerous medical and surgical organizations. He has been chair of the Society of University Surgeons Committee on Ethics and Conflict of Interest, chair of the American Thyroid Association Ethics Advisory Committee, and currently serves as chair of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Regents Committee on Ethics of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and serves as a Governor of the ACS. He is a member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators of the ACS, past President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, and member of the Board of Directors of the American Thyroid Association. In June 2019, he began a six-year term as a Councilor of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) where he also serves on the Complex Surgical Oncology Board of the ABS.
Angelos will succeed Mark Siegler, MD, the Lindy Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, who founded the MacLean Center in 1984 with support from the late Dorothy Jean MacLean, a generous philanthropist and grateful patient of Dr. Siegler. Under Siegler’s leadership, the Center has had a profound impact on the role of Clinical Medical Ethics, developing a new field that has transformed theoretical nonclinical work of bioethicists into applications for clinical practice that are used broadly by practicing physicians to this day. Siegler will continue to direct the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence.
