Richard F. Kempczinski, MD
#16: 1992-1993
Dr. Kempczinski was born in Brooklyn, New York, and completed his undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduating with honors in 1962. He entered Harvard Medical School and once again graduated with honors in 1967. Following a surgical internship at University Hospitals in Cleveland, he returned to Boston for his surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he first studied vascular surgery under Drs. Robert Linton and R. Clement Darling. His surgical training was interrupted by two years of service in the U.S. Army, including a year in the Republic of Vietnam.
He began his academic career in 1974, at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, as Assistant Professor of Surgery and Chief of Vascular Surgery at the VA Medical Center, where he worked closely with Dr. Robert Rutherford, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. During his stay in Denver, he established the Rocky Mountain Vascular Society. In 1979, he accepted the position of Chief of Vascular Surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he spent the remainder of his career.
His lifelong interest in the Vascular Diagnostic Laboratory began during his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked with Drs. R. Clement Darling and Jeffrey Raines in one of the first clinically active laboratories of its kind in the United States. Over the span of his career, he made numerous contributions to the vascular literature in this area, including a widely read monograph, Practical Noninvasive Vascular Diagnosis. He was a founding member of the InterSocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Diagnostic Laboratories and served as its second President. He was also an honorary member of the Society of Vascular Technology, and in 2002, he was awarded its prestigious Pioneer Award.
His research efforts focused on vascular graft infection, biologic modification of prosthetic vascular grafts, medical management of vascular disease and, most recently, the systemic effects of skeletal muscle ischemia. In addition to more than 150 original articles and book chapters, Dr. Kempczinski has contributed seven books to the vascular literature, including The Ischemic Leg. He was one of the Associate Editors of Rutherford’s Vascular Surgery, arguably the standard textbook in vascular surgery. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Perspectives in Vascular Surgery, Cell Transplantation, and International Angiology.
Following a serious accident in 1994 which left him quadriplegic, he retired as Chief of Vascular Surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center but he continues to hold a position as Professor Emeritus of Vascular Surgery at that institution. Despite his disability, he was instrumental in helping to start The Vascular Societies’ home page on the Internet and served as its first Webmaster.
Dr. Kempczinski and his late wife, Ann Marie, have two children, Christopher John and Catherine Ann.
