Bryan F. Meyers, M.D., has been named the Patrick and Joy Williamson Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The endowed chair was made possible by a gift to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation from Patrick and Joy Williamson and funds Meyers’ clinical research at Washington University.
“Bryan is a spectacular example of the kind of leader we are blessed to have at Washington University,” says Timothy Eberlein, M.D., Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and director of the Siteman Cancer Center and surgeon-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “He is a superb technical surgeon and has been a leader in developing new treatment paradigms in thoracic surgery. Even more important, he is one of the most compassionate and caring surgeons we have on our faculty. He has quickly developed into an international star who is uniformly respected by all of his colleagues.”
“The contribution Bryan Meyers makes to medicine is far-reaching,” says Richard J. Liekweg, president of Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “Patients travel from across the country and the world for care by lung specialists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, one of the leading lung transplant programs in the nation – not just for our expertise, but for the exceptional care provided by physicians like Dr. Meyers.”
The Williamsons gave the gift to honor Meyers and the lung transplant team for performing successful lung transplant surgery on Joy Williamson 12 years ago.
“We wanted to go to the best lung program in the country, and we found it at Barnes-Jewish Hospital,” Patrick Williamson says. “Both of us were highly impressed by Dr. Meyers’ caring attitude as he led the team each morning and evening during Joy’s recovery.”
Meyers is professor of surgery and chief of the General Thoracic Surgery section of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the School of Medicine and a lung cancer specialist with the Siteman Cancer Center. His clinical activity includes work in thoracic oncology, lung transplantation and benign esophageal diseases including minimally invasive esophageal surgery. He conducts research in lung transplantation, lung reduction surgery and lung cancer surgery.
“The opportunity to become the first recipient of the Williamson Chair is a great honor to me,” Meyers says. “It’s heartening to know that the work I’ve chosen to do and the areas I’ve chosen to focus on have made a difference to people. As I approach the mid-career point, this honor energizes me to push even harder.”
Recently, Meyers conducted research that found that emphysema patients could benefit from lung reduction on one side only, which makes the life-saving operation available to more patients. He is also working to evaluate the use of radioactive implants combined with surgical removal of small sections of lung to treat stage I lung cancer. He is one of the investigators of a vaccine designed to prevent the recurrence of lung cancer, which is now being tested in centers around the world, including the Siteman Cancer Center.
Meyers earned a medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Upon graduation from medical school, he completed an internship in surgery at the Naval Hospital in San Diego. He served as medical officer for the U.S.S. Juneau, an amphibious transport ship operating in the Pacific Fleet. When his Navy commitment was fulfilled, Meyers resumed his surgical training as a general surgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Meyers spent six years at Massachusetts General Hospital, including four years of clinical training and two years of laboratory research studying molecular biology in lung cancer and the genetic basis of chronic rejection in lung transplantation. He continued his training as a fellow in thoracic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine.
In 1998, Meyers joined the faculty at Washington University. He is active in the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, currently serving on the Executive Committee and the Thoracic Organ Site Committee. In addition to a medical degree, he earned a master of public health degree with a concentration in biostatistics.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Siteman Cancer Center is the only federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis. Siteman Cancer Center is composed of the combined cancer research and treatment programs of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. Siteman has satellite locations in West County and St. Peters, in addition to its full-service facility at Washington University Medical Center on South Kingshighway.
Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation generates resources to support the Hospital, a national leader, in its quest to provide excellent patient care, advance clinical research and support the education of healthcare professionals.