The American College of Osteopathic Surgeons is pleased to present the first Guy D. Beaumont Jr., FACOS Award of Academic Excellence to Dr. Albert H. Olivencia-Yurvati for his outstanding organizational leadership and excellence in improving the quality of osteopathic surgical education in AOA/ACOS accredited surgical training programs and in continuing medical education.
Dr. Yurvati is a 1986 graduate of the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) in Fort Worth. He completed his internship and general surgery residency at Tulsa Regional Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., and a residency in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at Deborah Heart and Lung Center and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Browns Mills, N.J. He served as chief resident for both residencies. AOA board certified in cardiothoracic-vascular surgery and general surgery, he is a Fellow of the ACOS, the International College of Surgeons, and the American Heart Association.
He completed a doctorate in education with a concentration in organizational leadership from Northcentral University, and he earned a graduate certificate in teaching and adult learning from the UNT Toulouse School of Education. Dr. Yurvati currently is a tenured Dallas Southwest Osteopathic Physicians Endowed Professor in Surgery and chair of the department of medical education at TCOM. He also serves as professor of integrative physiology at the UNTHSC Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, as adjunct professor of biological sciences at UNT in Denton, and as a visiting professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
He has received numerous awards from UNTHSC, including the 2012 Clyde Gallehugh, D.O. Memorial Award, the 2011 President’s Award for Clinical Excellence, and the Benjamin L. Cohen Award for Outstanding Research Achievement, and an Academic Commendation of Excellence Award for superior post-tenure review. In 2010 he received the TCOM Dean’s Award for Philanthropy and a Doctorate of Philanthropy from the UNT Health Science Center in 2011.
Dr. Yurvati has served on many committees on the local, state, and national levels. He is past president of the Metro Fort Worth American Heart Association and recipient of the American Heart Association’s Distinguished Service Award. On the national level, he serves as chair of the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery and is actively involved in numerous ACOS committees. He also has served as ACOS Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Discipline chair and representative to the Board of Governors, as well as chair of the discipline’s educational program for the Annual Clinical Assembly. ACOS recognized him in 2013 with its highest award—the Orel F. Martin Medal.
He serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals, including the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA) and Filtration. He is a reviewer for many peer journals, including Cardiovascular Research, Experimental Biology and Medicine, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and the JAOA.
Dr. Yurvati has published more than 74 peer-reviewed articles, three book chapters, and numerous abstracts. He is the recipient of more than $2.5 million in grants, including National Institutes of Health, NASA, Department of Defense, and Osteopathic Heritage Foundation funding. He is a primary investigator in multiple phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. He has lectured nationally and internationally, presenting previously at the Therapeutic Filtration and Extracorporeal Circulation Meeting at the prestigious Hammersmith Hospital in London, England. His research interests include the inflammatory effects of cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiac metabolism, mechanical cardiac assist devices, post-cardiac surgery adhesions, and neoplasm of the lung.