Edward M. Barksdale, Jr. MD FACS, FAAP is the Robert J. Izant, Jr. MD Professor and Surgeon-in-Chief at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRUSOM). An All-American Athlete and honors graduate of Yale University (1980), Dr. Barksdale received his medical degree from Harvard University (1984). He completed a residency in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (1991) and fellowship training in Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (1994). He was a Visiting Scientist at the Biogen Corporation in Cambridge, MA (1997–99).

Dr. Barksdale currently works at the nexus of academia, clinical surgery, medical education, public health and social justice as a passionate advocate for child health and healthcare. He endeavors to invest his academic, clinical and service efforts to inspire individuals and transform communities at the precipice of hope. An accomplished surgeon he has been perennially recognition since 2001 for clinical excellence as one of America’s “Top Docs” and Black Enterprise Magazine as one of America’s Leading Doctor’s (2008). He remains very clinically active as a surgeon and was named as an Inaugural Member of the Master Clinicians at University Hospitals (2018). He has also excelled in medical education and mentorship of medical students, surgical trainees as well as career surgeons. He is the founder of the SBAS Leadership Academy (1996) that has actively supported the development of some of Americas top minority surgeons. A recipient of numerous teaching/mentorship awards and recognition including selection to the esteemed American College of Surgeons (ACS) Academy Master Surgeon Educator. He has been Medical School Commencement and White Coat Ceremony Speaker.

In Cleveland/Northeast Ohio, he has been devoted to building programs to address health disparities, particularly in fragile populations of children. He is the Co-Founder of the Antifragility Initiative, a novel holistic, person-centered, pediatric violence intervention funded by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) with ~$4M in extramural support. He was recently recognized by former Mayor Frank Jackson and The City of Cleveland for his contributions to the community (2021). He currently advises the new Mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb and City Council on public safety. His collaborative work helps make Cleveland and America more safe, vibrant, and prosperous, especially for children and young people. He was recently named one of the 5 recipients of the biennial George Herbert Walker Bush ’48 Lifetime Leadership Award (2023) at Yale University.

He is the proud husband of one and father of four adult children, two of whom are in medicine. His life and career have been guided by strong values he learned from family and community growing up in Lynchburg, Virginia during the dynamic 1960s.