Conference Speakers

Dr. Timothy Billiar is the George Vance Foster Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, Associate Senior Vice Chancellor for Clinical Academics, University of Pittsburgh, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer UPMC.

Timothy R. Billiar, M.D. received his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1983. He then completed training in general surgery at the University of Minnesota and the University of Pittsburgh. This included a four-year research training fellowship.

In 1992, Dr. Billiar joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery University of Pittsburgh as an acute care trauma surgeon. Since 1999, Dr. Billiar has served as Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and the George Vance Foster Endowed Chair. In 2021 he was named Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for UPMC and Associate Senior Vice Chancellor for Clinical Academics, University of Pittsburgh. He has a long standing interest in the mechanisms leading to immune and organ dysfunction after trauma and sepsis. His laboratory has made several contributions to the nitric oxide field including ongoing research on the role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of liver cancer. Dr. Billiar’s laboratory has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1989.

Dr. Billiar is past President of the Society of University Surgeons, the Nitric Oxide Society, the Surgical Infection Society, and the Shock Society, USA and is current President of the International Federation of Shock Societies. In 2006, Dr. Billiar was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine, USA and in 2011 was named Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also past recipient of the Medallion for Scientific Achievement from the American Surgical Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of University Surgeons. Dr. Billiar received the Friendship Award from the Peoples Republic of China in 2016.