Transformative research earns Gail Besner, MD, American Surgical Association 2025 Medallion for Scientific Achievement

The American Surgical Association (ASA), founded in 1880, is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious surgical organization, and its members include the most prominent surgeons from the country’s leading academic medical institutions. The Medallion for Scientific Achievement is the highest honor the ASA bestows. Recognizing leading surgeons and their career-long innovative and seminal contributions to the field of surgery, the award is not given annually but is awarded only when a worthy recipient is proposed.

Gail Besner, MD, professor of Surgery and Pediatrics and director of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and the H. William Clatworthy, Jr. Professor of Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, was chosen for the 2025 Medallion for Scientific Achievement for her transformative and seminal contributions to pediatric surgical research on neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). This honor establishes her entry into the ranks of a select group of surgeon-scientists who have made benchmark scientific contributions to the field of surgery. She is the 35th recipient of the award since its inception 55 years ago.

Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, dean of the Ohio State College of Medicine, explains how Dr. Besner’s receipt of one of the most prestigious awards from the oldest surgical society in the United States is a celebration of her cutting-edge research in pediatric surgery at the academic medical institution.

“Dr. Besner is the third pediatric surgeon to ever receive the award, the second female recipient of the award and the second recipient from The Ohio State University. She joins Robert Zollinger, Sr., MD, who received the honor in 1977,” Dr. Bradford says. “It’s a tremendous honor to be able to celebrate Dr. Besner and her important contributions to not only the field of pediatric surgery, but to the countless families whose lives she has touched.”

Timothy Pawlik, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Surgery and surgical oncologist at The Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, says the ASA reserves the Medallion of Scientific Achievement for those individuals whose body of research work transcends the surgical discipline and has led to transformative changes in the given field.

“Dr. Besner’s work and commitment to surgical sciences makes her eminently qualified for this incredible recognition,” says Dr. Pawlik. “On behalf of myself and the entire Department of Surgery, we want to congratulate Dr. Besner on this most prestigious of awards.”

Dr. Besner's research began in 1987 during her surgical research fellowship with Dr. Folkman, when she first identified heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF), a protein that plays a role in tissue repair and regeneration. Since her first faculty appointment at Ohio State in 1991, her research has focused on the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies to protect the intestines from NEC, an often-deadly gastrointestinal disease that primarily affects premature newborns.

As a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Dr. Besner runs a multidisciplinary research program focused on mechanisms and therapy of NEC. In the laboratory, she has trained countless surgical research fellows and students, which she describes as one of the most meaningful and rewarding aspects of her career. Over the past 30 years, Besner’s laboratory has received over $20 million in National Institutes of Health funding, as well as funding from many other sources.

“I am incredibly humbled and honored to be included among the preeminent surgeons who have previously received this award, and to follow in Dr. Zollinger’s footsteps at Ohio State,” Dr. Besner says. “I remain dedicated to bringing a cure for NEC to the bedside in order to help generations of babies to come.”

This accolade honors Dr. Besner’s steadfast commitment to developing unique approaches to protection of the intestines from NEC. She accepted the award at the 145th annual meeting of the American Surgical Association in San Diego on April 24th.