Hilary Sanfey is Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair for Surgical Education in the Department of Surgery at Southern Illinois University (SIU), in Springfield Illinois. 

Dr. Sanfey graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1976, underwent surgical training

at RCSI and spent three years as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University (1981 – 1984).  She worked as a Consultant  transplant surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh for four years before moving to the University of Virginia (UVa) in 1996. After attaining AST accreditation as a transplant surgeon she remained on the faculty. 

At UVa she served as the Associate Program Director and Clerkship Co-Director until she left for SIU in 2008.  In 2009 she received a Master’s Degree in Health Professions Education from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Dr. Sanfey is a past president of the Association of Women Surgeons (AWS), a former member of the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors, past chair of the American College of Surgeons Women in Surgery Committee and the recipient of the AWS Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member and Nina Starr Braunwald Awards.  She is a past President of the International Society of Surgery US Chapter and a member of the American Surgical Association. Dr. Sanfey is currently First vice- president Elect of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Sanfey recently spent three months as a Specialist Advisor in Postgraduate Surgical Training and Education in the Department of Surgical Affairs in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.