Andrea A. Hayes Dixon, M.D., FACS, FAAP has been named the Howard University College of Medicine dean. Hayes Dixon becomes the first Black woman to serve as dean of The Howard University College of Medicine. With Hayes Dixon’s appointment, the number of women serving as academic deans at Howard University increases to 11. - According to 2021 data by the Association of American Medical Colleges, only 22% of medical school deans in the nation are women. - In 2004, Hayes Dixon became the first Black woman to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon. In 2006, she became the first surgeon to perform a high-risk life-saving procedure in teens with rare forms of abdominal cancer. Just last year, she became the first woman chair of the Department of Surgery at Howard University. - As dean of the College of Medicine, reporting to Anthony K. Wutoh, Ph.D., R.Ph., provost and chief academic officer, Hayes Dixon will oversee all aspects of academic and administrative affairs for the College of Medicine. - Prior to joining Howard University, Hayes Dixon served as the surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Children’s Hospital, where she also served as a professor of pediatric surgery and surgical oncology. Hayes Dixon leads a basic science laboratory, which focuses on rare sarcomas and maintains clinical research efforts. She specializes in refractory and resistant tumors in children, specifically soft tissue sarcomas in children. Patients from around the world request her services because of the rare diseases she investigates. She previously served as the section chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center. - Hayes Dixon earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Dartmouth College. She then earned a Doctor of Medicine from the Dartmouth College. She completed a residency program at the University of California Davis-East Bay. She also completed a molecular biology fellowship at the University of California - San Francisco. Hayes Dixon then completed a pediatric surgical oncology fellowship at the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.