Biography - Bruce Schirmer, MD

Bruce Schirmer, MD

Dr. Bruce Schirmer was born in 1953 in the United States and grew up in the state of New Jersey. He attended Princeton University where he received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in Biology in 1975. He was also a member of the varsity football team while at Princeton. Shortly after graduating Princeton, he was married to Geri Eisenthal. Bruce and Geri have two daughters, Kate Lynn and Liza, graduates of Princeton and Elon University respectively.

Bruce and Geri moved to Durham, North Carolina where he attended Duke University for medical school, graduating in December 1978. He was elected to AOA during his third year. Bruce then was invited to stay at Duke for his surgical training in General Surgery by Dr. Sabiston, then chair at Duke. He finished his training in 1985. During these years at Duke he spent time in the research lab of Dr. R. Scott Jones. Dr. Jones took the chair at Virginia in 1982, and in 1985 when Dr. Schirmer finished his residency training, he was hired by Dr. Jones on the faculty at the University of Virginia, where he has been ever since.

In 1995, Dr. Schirmer was named the Stephen H. Watts Professor of Surgery at the University of Virgina. He has been the Program Director there since 2000 and Vice Chair of the Department since 2007. Directing the endoscopic surgery service, the minimally invasive fellowship, the nutrition support service, and the bariatric center of excellence have also been his responsibilities while on the faculty. He has been elected to the Society of Distinguished Educators and recipient of the first Master Educator award at the University of Virginia Health System.

Dr. Schirmer has been the recipient of an NIH RO1 award, and has published many original articles in the literature, especially on the topics of minimally invasive surgery, surgical education, gastrointestinal motility, postoperative ileus, bariatric surgery, and gastrointestinal hormones, and biliary secretion. He has authored books on ambulatory surgery and bariatric surgery. Offices held in surgical societies include or have included President of the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, President of the Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, President of the Society of Clinical Surgery, Recorder for the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and President-Elect of the Fellowship Council. He is the Chair of the Bariatric Surgery Centers Advisory Committee for the American College of Surgeons, and has served on the ACS Ultrasound Faculty. He is the co-Chair for the Committee on Issues for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Schirmer is past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Laparoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques, and serves on the editorial board for seven peer-reviewed journals.