Victor W. Fazio, M.B., B.S., is Chairman of the Department of Colorectal Surgery and Vice-Chairman of the Division of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He has held both positions for more than 25 years. He was selected to be the Rupert B. Turnbull, Jr., MD, Chair in 1995. Board-certified in colon and rectal surgery, Dr. Fazio’s clinical interest are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, and pelvic floor reservoir procedures for ulcerative colitis and familial polyposis. He pioneered the use of innovative techniques that allow patients to avoid the need for colostomies.

Dr. Fazio has been named one of the country’s top cancer doctors for women by Good Housekeeping magazine and one of the best doctors in America by American Health magazine. He also was awarded the Premier Physician Award from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation in 1992. Under his co-direction, treatment for digestive diseases at the Cleveland Clinic is ranked second in the country in the U.S. News & World Report magazine’s annual survey of top hospitals.

In 2000, he was the first recipient of The Cleveland Clinic Master Clinician Award, given to one of 1500 Cleveland Clinic physicians. Dr. Fazio is the recipient of the Al and Norma Lerner Humanitarian Award, which is the highest honor awarded by the Cleveland Clinic. It was created to honor the physician whose selfless dedication, boundless compassion, and tireless work has made the most profound and singular contribution to the good of humankind. The recipient personifies the highest values of the medical profession. The Al and Norma Lerner Award honors the physician who in all personal and professional qualities exemplifies the ethos of the Cleveland Clinic and has earned its deepest measure of gratitude and esteem.

A frequent invited lecturer at national and international medical meetings, Dr. Fazio has authored more than 500 scientific papers on colorectal topics including ostomy management, surgical management of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and surgical treatment for colorectal cancers. He has authored or co-authored 10 books.

Currently, he is the principal investigator for an international multi-center clinical trial on the use of colonic pelvic reservoirs with rectal resection for cancer to improve bowel function.

Dr. Fazio is active in numerous professional societies. His appointments include senior board member and past president of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, past president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and council member and past president for The Society for Pelvic Surgeons. Dr. Fazio has served on the editorial boards or as a reviewer for more than 40 scientific journals, including Archives of Surgery, British Journal of Surgery, Current Opinions in Gastroenterology, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and Journal of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Since 1996, he has been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Diseases of the Colon and Rectum.

Dr. Fazio received his medical degree from the University of Sydney in Australia and completed post-graduate work at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. After serving with the Australian Surgical Team in Vietnam in 1971, he completed fellowships in surgery at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Boston and at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He earned a Master of Surgery degree from the University of Sydney and has honorary degrees from the Royal College of Surgery of England and the Royal College of Surgery of Edinburgh. He is one of only two Australians to ever receive the Fellowship, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons both by examination and by conferment of honorary degree.

In May 2004, he received the Officer of the Order of Australia, from the Australian government. In June 2005, he earned the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association’s 2005 Distinguished Alumnus Award. He also received the Cleveland Clinic Teacher of the Year Award for 2005-2006. In April 2007, he was inducted into the prestigious European Surgical Association.

January 2008, Dr. Fazio was appointed Chairman of the Digestive Disease Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.