Timothy Baxter, MD
#26: 2002-2003
Dr. B. Timothy Baxter was born in Denver, Colorado and was educated at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Medical School. Following his graduation from medical school in 1982, he remained in Denver at the University of Colorado for his General Surgery residency. This included a year of research in cardiovascular disease. His interest in peripheral vascular surgery developed through his work with Drs. Robert Rutherford and William Pearce. He did his peripheral vascular fellowship at Northwestern University with James Yao. During his fellowship, he spent a year working in the research laboratory of Dr. Rex Chisholm. Drs. Yao and Chisholm were particularly influential in his decision to pursue basic research after completing his training. He was fortunate to be able to continue to work with Dr. Pearce during his fellowship as they both made the move from Denver to Chicago in 1988. He has served on the faculty of the University of Nebraska Medical Center since joining Dr. Thomas Lynch in 1990.
His principal research interest is related to basic mechanisms underlying arterial remodeling and aneurysm formation. Dr. Baxter is the author of more than 100 original articles and book chapters. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the E. J. Wylie Traveling Fellowship in 1995-96 and the James IV Traveling Fellowship in 2000. These awards allowed him the opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. His basic research has been funded by the Veterans Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and he is an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. He has been involved in the grant review process for each of the organizations from which he has received funding.
He is a member of many surgical organizations. Since joining the faculty at the University of Nebraska, he has been the Chief of Vascular Surgery and Director of the Surgical ICU at the Omaha VA Hospital, and the Director of Surgical Research. In 2000, he became the Shackelford Professor of Surgery. The following year, he moved his clinical practice from the University to an affiliated teaching hospital, the Methodist Hospital, in order to learn and perform peripheral diagnostic and interventional procedures. He continues to be actively involved in training of surgical residents and runs an NIH-funded basic research laboratory at the University.
Along with the historian of the MWVSS, Jack Pfeifer, Dr. Baxter shares an interest in old automobiles. He also enjoys playing baseball and basketball with his four children, fly fishing with his brothers, and jogging with his wife, Barbara. The Baxters live in Omaha, Nebraska.
