Traci L. Hedrick, MD, MSc, FACS, FASCRS

Scott R. Steele, MD, MBA, FACS, FASCRS, FPSCRS (Hon.)

Dr. Traci Hedrick grew up in a small town in West Virginia prior to attending the University of Kentucky, where she earned her BS in Human Studies summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She then attended the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, receiving her M.D. in 2002. While at Kentucky, she was the top student in her class, receiving the valedictorian award and special “Best of Clerkship” awards in Anatomy, Pathology, and Surgery. Her medical school accolades also include election to junior Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), a named scholarship, and an award from the American Medical Women's Association. Dr. Hedrick began her residency in surgery at the University of Virginia in 2002, winning the Intern of the Year Award, the Academic Achievement Award for the third-year resident with the best academic and scholarly record, the Curtis Tribble Teaching Award in 2006, and a Mulholland Teaching Award in 2007 and 2009, her Chief year. Also, during her Chief year, she won the department's award for the resident who has most contributed to the education of the junior residents (by election by the residents) and then the prestigious Association of Women Surgeons Outstanding Resident Award. Along the way, Traci also garnered several awards for her research projects conducted during 2 years of research under the direction of Dr. Robert Sawyer. Besides numerous publications, she won the Surgical Infection Society Research Training Fellowship Award and completed the requirements for a Master of Clinical Research degree.

She completed her Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, prior to returning to the University of Virginia. Since then, she has been a powerhouse both clinically and academically. She has published extensively on surgical site infections and enhanced recovery after surgery, among other topics in her over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 23 book chapters. She is an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and serves as a senior editor for the ASCRSU online educational platform.

Traci is a task-oriented problem solver, thus the attraction to surgery. She loves connecting with patients and changing their lives in a positive way. She was drawn to colorectal surgery for the variety—big and small operations, abdominal and anorectal operations, open and minimally invasive approaches, and caring for patients of all ages with cancer and benign disease. Apart from her clinical and scholarly duties, she currently serves as the Division Chief of General Surgery at the University of Virginia.

Outside of medicine, she loves to travel, hike, and birdwatch with her family, particularly in the national parks. Her father was an amateur drag racer, so she spent a lot of time on the track growing up and now is a huge formula 1 fan. She lives in Charlottesville, VA, with her husband and two sons (Tyler and Carter, aged 13 and 11 years, respectively) and her two dogs Fozzie and Wilbur.

On behalf of the readers and staff of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, I sincerely thank Dr. Hedrick for serving as a Guest Editor and for providing us with a superb issue on the Perioperative Assessment and Optimization in Major Colorectal Surgery.

Publication History

Article published online:
25 January 2023