FRESNO – James W. Davis, MD, FACS, was recently appointed the Steven N. Parks Endowed Chair – Surgery at UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program. Dr. Davis currently is chief of surgery at UCSF Fresno.
Endowed chairs, associated with the most prestigious educational institutions, are held by distinguished faculty. To establish an endowed chair, monies are raised and invested for the purpose of funding the position in perpetuity. The Steven N. Parks Endowed Chair – Surgery enables UCSF Fresno to continue recruiting the finest physicians and medical educators to head its surgery program for years to come.
Named in honor of UCSF Fresno’s longtime chief of surgery Steven N. Parks, this endowed chair is an Endowment of Excellence, which requires a minimum of $1 million to establish. This level of an endowment provides a stable, permanent source of funding and supports pioneering basic science investigations, clinical research and educational initiatives, among other activities. In this case, the annual payout is used for surgery and research related activities in the UCSF Fresno Department of Surgery. Davis is the first person named to hold the Parks chair.
Dr. Davis has served in a variety of capacities on boards, committees, medical societies and other professional organizations, including the Western Trauma Association, State Trauma Advisory Committee, State Emergency Medical Services, Acute Care Surgery Committee, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Northern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
In 1996, he was co-recipient of the UCSF Fresno Faculty Research Award. In 1994, he received the UCSF Fresno Henry J. Kaiser Teaching Award - Honorable Mention.
Davis earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He conducted a surgery internship at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, and completed a surgery residency training at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, and a trauma fellowship at UC San Diego. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery, with added qualifications in surgical critical care.
The Steven N. Parks Endowed Chair - Surgery is the second endowed chair at UCSF Fresno. In 2002, Michael Peterson, MD, was named the first Central California Valley Medical Center (CCVMC) Endowed Chair in Medicine. CCVMC endowed the first chair at UCSF Fresno - known today as the Valley Medical Foundation Professor of Medicine - with a nearly $1 million gift.
