Kenneth S. Azarow, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.P.

  • Professor of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, School of Medicine
  • Kenneth A.J. Mackenzie Professor of Surgery and Chair, Department of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, School of Medicine
  • Helen B. Professor of Pediatric Surgery, Pediatrics, School of Medicine
  • Surgeon-in-Chief, OHSU

Biography

Dr. Ken Azarow is a pediatric surgeon and the Mackenzie Professor and Chair of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at OHSU. He joined the Doernbecher surgical team in 2013 after five years in Omaha, Nebraska and following a distinguished 25 year career in the United States Army. He was appointed Interim Chair of the OHSU Department of Surgery in 2016 and has served as Mackenzie Professor and Chair of Surgery since 2019.

His first assignment after his pediatric surgery fellowship was to Madigan Army Medical Center. His progression at Madigan has taken him to the positions of director of the General Surgery Residency Training Program and chief of the Department of Surgery which he held at the time of his retirement from the Army. While in Omaha he developed and initiated the Pediatric Surgery Training Program at the University of Nebraska. His entire professional career has been dedicated to training surgeons so that they can take care of the next generation of children.

Dr. Azarow and his wife are very proud of their three daughters who have successfully navigated growing up in both a military and a medical family. The family is an avid animal-loving group. 

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 1981, Franklin & Marshall College
    • M.A., 1983, Hahnemann University
    • M.D., 1987, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

  • Residency

    • General Surgery, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., 1987-1992

  • Fellowship

    • Pediatric Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1994-1996

  • Certifications

    • American Board of Surgery, 1993; recertified 2001, 2010, 2019
    • American Board of Surgery - Pediatric Surgery, 1998; recertified 2005, 2012, 2019

Memberships and associations:

  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Fellow
  • American College of Surgeons, Fellow
  • American Pediatric Surgical Association
  • American Surgical Association
  • Association for Academic Surgeons
  • Association of Pediatric Surgery Training Program Directors
  • Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons
  • North Pacific Surgical Association, past chair
  • Pacific Coast Surgical Society
  • Pediatric Trauma Society
  • Society of University Surgeons
  • Portland Surgical Society

Areas of interest

  • Unconscious Bias and Equity in Surgery
  • Lung regeneration after injury and due to congenital etiologies
  • Genetic predisposition and clinical outcomes – congenital diaphragmatic hernia
  • Surgical education in the new millennium
  • Developmental outcomes in infants and children with surgically correctable anomalies

Publications

Elsevier pure profile

Publications