Sharmila Dissanaike, MD

President of American Burn Association

Sharmila Dissanaike MD is Peter C. Canizaro Chair of Surgery of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, TX transitioning to Chair of Surgery at the University of New Mexico in August 2024. She is a clinically active burn, trauma and acute care surgeon who has won multiple awards for clinical, academic and research excellence during her career. Dr. Dissanaike holds multiple national leadership roles including President of the American Burn Association, President-Elect of the Southwest Surgical Congress, Director of the American Board of Surgery, Governor of the American College of Surgeons and on the Surgery Residency Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She is a former Chair of the Verification Review Committee for ABA. In addition to helping standardize verification criteria for burn centers and advancing multidisciplinary participation in site visits, she has worked locally and nationally to increase exposure to burn surgery among medical students and residents in order to grow the pipeline, and integrating burn more cohesively within trauma and disaster management systems.

Sharmila Dissanaike MD is Peter C. Canizaro Chair of Surgery of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, TX transitioning to Chair of Surgery at the University of New Mexico in August 2024. She is a clinically active burn, trauma and acute care surgeon who has won multiple awards for clinical, academic and research excellence during her career. Dr. Dissanaike holds multiple national leadership roles including President of the American Burn Association, President-Elect of the Southwest Surgical Congress, Director of the American Board of Surgery, Governor of the American College of Surgeons and on the Surgery Residency Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She is a former Chair of the Verification Review Committee for ABA. In addition to helping standardize verification criteria for burn centers and advancing multidisciplinary participation in site visits, she has worked locally and nationally to increase exposure to burn surgery among medical students and residents in order to grow the pipeline, and integrating burn more cohesively within trauma and disaster management systems.