Dr. Geoffrey B. Thompson, MD

Dr. Geoffrey Thompson is the immediate past Chair, Department of Surgery, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City/Mayo Clinic, Abu Dhabi, and Professor of Surgery Emeritus at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science. In addition, he was Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He was educated at Brandeis University,the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Medical College of Pennsylvania (Drexel University School of Medicine), before training in Anatomic Pathology at the University of Massachusetts and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and in Surgery at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Dr. Thompson was a Chief Resident Associate at Mayo Clinic from 1987 to 1988 and a Mayo Foundation Scholar at the University of Hong Kong (Queen Mary Hospital) in 1988. He was on the staff of Mayo Clinic Rochester for 32 years before retiring in 2020 during which time he performed over 15,000 Endocrine, HPB and Gastrointestinal operations that included over 5000 thyroid and parathyroid procedures.

Dr. Thompson previously served as Interim Chair, and Vice-Chair, in the Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, as well as Section Head of Endocrine Surgery for over nine years. He served as Senior Associate Dean for the Faculty Affairs in the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and as a Councilor on Officers and Councilors. Dr. Thompson also served as program director of the Mayo Clinic Endocrine Surgery Fellowship. In 2017, Dr. Thompson was the recipient of Mayo Clinic’s highest recognition: “The Mayo Clinic Distinguished Clinician Award”. Dr. Thompson served as President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) from 2007-2008, President of the Minnesota Surgical Society, Secretary-Treasurer of the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons (IAES), Council Coordinator for the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons and past Chair of the AAES Foundation for education and research. In 2021 the AAES named an annual award in his honor recognizing his twelve years as Chair of the AAES Foundation, during which time over one million dollars was accrued providing research grants for young endocrine surgeons. In 2022, The IAES honored Dr. Thompson by naming him as a Vice President for the International Surgical Week in Vienna, Austria. For 13 years Dr. Thompson co-directed the Mayo Clinic Endocrine Course with colleagues in the division of Endocrinology. He previously co-chaired Mayo Clinical Reviews.

Dr. Thompson’s principle research interests focused on surgical disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands as well as pancreaticoduodenal neuroendocrine tumors. He had a particular interest in caring for patients with familial endocrine syndromes and pediatric endocrine disorders. Dr. Thompson is the co-author of 264 peer-reviewed publications (see Research Gate), 50 book chapters, and eight sets of international guidelines and consensus statements relevant to endocrine oncology. He has served on 9 editorial boards including Surgery, World Journal of Surgery, Endocrine Practice, World Journal of Endocrine Surgery and International Journal of Otolaryngology. He has lectured worldwide on topics related to endocrine surgical oncology, including named lectureships at Harvard, Yale and the Inaugural Robert C. Hickey Memorial Lectureship in Surgical Endocrine Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Since 2021, he has Chaired the Department of Surgery at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City in partnership with Mayo Clinic, during which time he recruited and reorganized a department that is now of the highest caliber, including over 110 Consultants and Specialists, 13 Divisions, as well as the National Trauma and Burn Centers. During his first year at SSMC he also served as the interim Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He was a member of the Clinical Practice Committee, Personnel and Privileging Committee and he Chaired the Surgical and Procedural and the institutional Space and Equiptment Committees. Throughout his tenure at SSMC he was actively involved in teaching medical students and residents at Sheikh Shakhbout and Khalifa University. With the departure of Mayo Clinic from Abu Dhabi, Dr. Thompson retired from SSMC in August, 2023 after a 40 year career with Mayo Clinic.