Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, FAAP, FACS, Surgeon in Chief and Chair Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt (MCJCHV) is a Tenured Professor of Surgery at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Upperman oversees surgical operations for a busy clinical service and the MCJCHV. He is an associate program director in pediatric surgery at Vanderbilt and was the program director for the pediatric surgery fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Education. Dr. Upperman graduated from Stanford University in 1987. While at Stanford, he was one of twelve students who received the Dean’s Service Awards for exceptional contributions to the University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and a master’s degree in Sociology. He earned his medical degree and completed his surgical residency at New Jersey Medical School. He completed his clinical training in pediatric surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and was recruited to join the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2001.
Academic. In recognition of his esteemed reputation in education, leadership and pediatric trauma and disaster preparedness, Dr. Upperman has been invited to speak at a variety of distinguished venues, from hospital lectures to testimony before the Department of Health and Human Services' National Commission on Children and Disasters in Washington, D.C. He has been the keynote speaker at numerous national and international conferences on pediatric trauma and preparing for disaster. Dr. Upperman is an active member of Association of Pediatric Surgery Training Program Directors. In 2019, Dr. Upperman was awarded University of Southern California faculty mentoring award. Dr. Upperman is an active and accomplished academic surgeon who has published over 190 peer-reviewed publications, 200 abstracts, and 20 book chapters. His research interests include sepsis, education, trauma, and disaster preparedness. Dr. Upperman's research support has included funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Department of Health Human Services. In continued service of the medical community, Dr. Upperman has maintained positions of leadership and involvement in many national surgical associations. Dr. Upperman is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Upperman has served on the executive boards of the Association for Academic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons, American Pediatric Surgical Association, Surgical Infection Society and Pediatric Trauma Society. He has been a member of the Association for Surgical Education for 20 years. He was recently elected to the Vanderbilt chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.
Service. Dr. Upperman is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps. He served his country as Chief of Surgery during operation Iraqi Freedom 2 in 2004. Dr. Upperman served as a sworn member of the National Advisory Committee for Children in Disasters for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Red Cross. He was a panel member on the Institutes of Medicine panel on Prepositioning Antibiotics for Anthrax in 2012. He has served as a permanent member of the Pediatrics study section in the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development.
Home. Married to Dr. Bevanne Bean-Mayberry for 27 years. Dr. Bean-Mayberry is an accomplished Women's Health clinician and researcher at the UCLA Veteran's Administration Medical Center. They have 3 boys: Jeff Jr, Joseph and Joshua (and dog Buster).
