Pasithorn A. Suwanabol, MD, MS, FACS, FASCRS

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

Dr. Pasithorn Amy Suwanabol is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Divisions of Colorectal Surgery and Veterans Administration (VA) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. Raised alongside her siblings, June and Pete, in Waukesha, WI, by her parents Opas and Sasithorn, who immigrated from Thailand for graduate studies, Amy has a compelling life story within academic surgery.

Amy completed both her undergraduate (2002) and medical school (2007) studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). She remained in Madison for General Surgical residency, spending two additional years as a research fellow within a vascular biology laboratory. Following her father's death in 2011, she shifted her academic focus to palliative care among surgical patients. In 2015, she completed her Colon and Rectal Surgery Residency training at the University of Massachusetts, and after starting as faculty at the University of Michigan, she also went on to attain a Master of Science degree at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 2017. She currently is the Co-Director of the Multidisciplinary Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program at the Ann Arbor VA.

Amy is a busy surgeon, managing the entire breadth of colon and rectal pathologies, but has a particular clinical interest in cancer, anorectal pathology, and IBD. She has an extensive history in award-winning research, with multiple funded grants, and has been honored with the 2020 President's Award for Young Researchers by the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. Her interests include optimizing palliative and end-of-life care among surgical patients, quality improvement, and patient-centered outcomes. Even at this relatively early stage in her career, she has published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and has lectured around the U.S. on various topics of colorectal surgery. She is also actively involved with several national societies including the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, and Association for Academic Surgery. She serves as a reviewer and on editorial boards for several national and international peer-reviewed journals to include the European Journal of Surgical Oncology, American Journal of Surgery, Annals of Surgery Open, and Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.

On a personal level, Amy attributes her strong work ethic and passion to her mother who came to the U.S. with English as her second language, while raising three children with no family around—and now continues to run her own company well into her 70s. Amy also credits her siblings and her husband, Mark (a co-resident at UW), describing them as stabilizing forces that prevent her from feeling adrift, and acknowledges them for her ability to balance work and life. When Amy and Mark are not discussing difficult cases with each other, they enjoy traveling with their families to experience new things together. She loves the Green Bay Packers (Editor note- GO PACK GO!), a really good book, and golfing. She also loves being a surgeon, caring for our Veterans, and training the next generation of surgeons and surgeon scientists.

On behalf of the readers and staff of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, I want to sincerely thank Dr. Suwanabol for serving as a Guest Editor and for providing us with an incredible issue on an incredibly important, and yet often underreported topic, of caring for medically vulnerable populations.

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

Editor-in-Chief

Publication History

Article published online:
16 April 2024