Mary Margaret Knudson MD, FACS

M. Margaret “Peggy” Knudson, MD, FACS, San Francisco, CA, will receive the 2021 American College of Surgeons (ACS) Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Inspiring Women in Surgery Award at the Clinical Congress 2021 virtual Convocation Sunday evening, October 24. Dr. Knudson is a professor of surgery, University of California San Francisco (UCSF); adjunct professor, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD; and Medical Director, Military Health System Strategic Partnership−ACS (MHSSPACS). In addition, Dr. Knudson is Deputy Editor, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. The award was developed by the ACS Women in Surgery Committee and recognizes significant contributions to the advancement of women in the field of surgery.

Dr. Knudson completed medical school and general surgery training at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, followed by a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Stanford University, CA. She joined the faculty at UCSF in 1989, working primarily at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), where she was the second woman surgeon working at the trauma center.

Dr. Knudson has been on the front lines of treating trauma victims of major disasters, including the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco. She has served as visiting surgeon at both Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, and Balad Air Force Hospital, Iraq while treating soldiers injured on the battlefield. Dr. Knudson has a long and dedicated career of service with the U.S. military that began in 2003 when she taught ultrasound to surgeons who were deployed into battle zones.

Margaret developed and formalized the Senior Visiting Surgeon program, which promoted civilian trauma and vascular surgeons to rotate through the Army Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and assisted in the care of injured troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, she was the only civilian who spent time downrange at a military hospital in Iraq. With her extensive military experience, dedication to improving the outcomes of active soldiers, and her surgical expertise, Dr. Knudson has served as Director, MHSSPACS, since 2015.