assumed numerous other leadership roles throughout his career, including the Presidency of the American Surgical Association, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and the American College of Surgeons. Sabiston was also on the Board of Regents for the last of those organizations, and he served as Editor-in-Chief of the professional journal Annals of Surgery for 27 years. In addition, he received many awards, honorary degrees, and memberships in professional societies across the world. They included the Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of North Carolina, 1978; North Carolina Award in Science Gold Medal (Presented by the Governor of North Carolina), 1978; American Heart Association Scientific Councils' Distinguished Achievement Award, 1983; Michael E. DeBakey Award for Outstanding Achievement, 1984; College Medalist, American College of Chest Physicians, 1987; Honorary Degree, University of Madrid, 1994; Gimbernet Prize, Societat Catalana de Cirurgia, 1994; Honorary Fellowship, European Surgical Association, 1995; The Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus Award, 1995; Bigelow Medal, Boston Surgical Society, 1996; The Society Prize, the International Surgical Society, 1999; Honorary Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; Honorary Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada; Honorary Member of the German Society of Surgery; Honorary Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland; Honorary Member of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons; Honorary Member of the Japanese College of Surgeons; Honorary Member of the French Surgical Association; Honorary Member of the Philippine College of Surgeons; Asociacion de Cirugia del Litoral (Argentina); Brazilian College of Surgeons; Spanish Association of Surgeons; and Columbia Surgical Society. The honors that Sabiston was said to have cherished most were teaching awards from the medical students at Duke University, whom he held in the highest regard Retirement and death Sabiston retired from medical practice in 1994. He died from the last in a series of three cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) in January 2009 at the age of 84. External links David C. Sabiston Papers at Duke University Medical Center Archives References 1924 births 2009 deaths American thoracic surgeons People from Jacksonville, North Carolina Duke University faculty Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators United States Army Medical Corps officers 20th-century surgeons 20th-century American male writers Members of the National Academy of Medicine