Joseph Gallagher, MD, FACS, FASCRS, assumed his role as president of the Florida Chapter, American College of Surgeons, during the Annual Meeting, held in May in Tampa.

As Florida Chapter president, Gallagher will help lead the nonprofit association, which represents more than 600 surgeons whose mission is to support and improve the practice of surgery in the state. In addition to active participation in legislative advocacy by working with key policymakers to addresses today's ongoing public health concerns, the Florida Chapter also provides continuing medical education opportunities.

Gallagher is board certified by both the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the American Board of Surgery. He attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in biomedical and electrical engineering in 1989.  He attended the UHS/Chicago Medical School in Chicago, Illinois and received his medical degree and master’s degree in physiology in 1990. Dr. Gallagher completed his general surgical residency at University of Florida in Gainesville in 1998 and completed his fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at Colon and Rectal Clinic of Orlando/ORMC in 1999.

Gallagher is the program director of the advanced colon and rectal minimally invasive surgery program and is an associate program director of the PGY VI Colon and Rectal Residency Program both at the Colon and Rectal Clinic of Orlando.  He is a consultant surgeon of the Colon and Rectal Specialty for UF Health Cancer Center (formerly MD Anderson Cancer Center of Orlando).