MOBILE, Ala. – One of the nation’s leading lung surgeons and researchers has been named to the top surgical post at the University of South Alabama.

Joseph LoCicero III, M.D., has been named chairman of the department of surgery in the USA College of Medicine effective Dec. 16.

“Dr. LoCicero has had an outstanding career at some of the nation’s leading medical schools and is well known for his pioneering work in understanding and combating disease of the lungs,” said Dr. Robert Kreisberg, USA vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine.

“Dr. LoCicero was involved in one of the first successful lung transplants in the United States and has an impressive record in patient care, research productivity, and in the education of hundreds of medical students and residents over the past two decades.”

“The University of South Alabama College of Medicine and the USA Health System play a vital role in the health of the people of Mobile and the Gulf Coast,” LoCicero said.

“I look forward to joining this vibrant health care enterprise, especially as the University develops its Cancer Research Institute and Center for Lung Biology, both of which are making a tremendous contribution to the health and quality of life for this region.”

LoCicero, 54, comes to USA from serving a year and a half as professor and chair of surgery at the Chicago Medical School, where he was also surgeon-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center.

For a decade prior, LoCicero served at Harvard University Medical School, where he was associate professor of surgery and held numerous surgical leadership appointments at Boston area hospitals, including Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center.

Before Harvard, LoCicero served for seven years on the surgical faculty at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where he held leadership positions including chief of general thoracic surgery and thoracic transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

LoCicero has held numerous research leadership positions, many focusing on diseases of the lungs. He developed a technique in which lasers are used to seal lung perforations and earned FDA approval for a product that can seal lung air leaks instantly. He was involved in the nation’s second successful lung transplant in 1987 and led the Massachusetts Consortium for Lung Transplantation for four years. His work has also focused on medical complications in elderly patients and cancer of the lungs and thorax.

LoCicero has led many research programs and projects and edited five books, including “Shields General Thoracic Surgery.” He has authored more than 150 articles and book chapters, and has lectured internationally.

Born in Chicago and raised in Louisiana, LoCicero received a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he was named top surgical student for two years. After earning his medical degree in 1973, he did residencies at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and Northwestern University in Chicago.

LoCicero will be responsible for all administrative and leadership functions of the department of surgery, which provides surgical medical education and residency opportunities for students, conducts research, and provides patient care through the three hospitals of the USA Health System. The department has 16 full-time and 60 adjunct faculty.

LoCicero and his department will be involved in research and treatment initiatives including the new USA Cancer Research Institute and the Center for Lung Biology.

The USA College of Medicine has graduated more than 1,600 physicians and more than one-third of physicians practicing in Mobile received part of their training at USA. The College is the foundation of the USA Health System, which consists of the medical faculty, the USA Physicians Group physicians practice, and the University’s three hospitals – USA Medical Center, Children’s and Women’s, and Knollwood.