Dean, The Ohio State University College of MedicineVice President for Health Sciences, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
An internationally recognized head and neck cancer surgeon-scientist and leader in academic medicine, Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, became the dean of The Ohio State University College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in 2020. She also holds the Leslie H. and Abigail S. Wexner Dean’s Chair in Medicine and is a professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
Dr. Bradford earned her master’s degree in microbiology/immunology and her medical degree (cum laude) from the University of Michigan. She completed a general surgery internship at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital and a research fellowship and otolaryngology – head and neck surgery residency at the University of Michigan before joining the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery faculty in 1992. She served as department chair from 2009-16 and executive vice dean for academic affairs from 2016-20. From 2012-18, she held the Charles J. Krause, MD, Collegiate Professorship in Otolaryngology.
Specializing in head and neck cancer surgery, Dr. Bradford’s research focuses on identifying and evaluating biomarkers that can predict outcomes, as well as on developing therapies that combat certain types of head and neck cancer that are resistant to traditional forms of treatment. She was also the driving force behind the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy as a safe and reliable tool to stage patients with melanoma of the head and neck. She has published more than 330 peer-reviewed articles and more than 20 book chapters.
Her many awards include a Distinguished Service Award, a Presidential Citation and the Margaret F. Butler Outstanding Mentor of Women in Head and Neck Surgery Award from the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS), a Clinical Excellence Award from the Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Awards and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) Women in Otolaryngology Helen F. Krause, MD, Memorial Trailblazer Award.
Dr. Bradford was elected as the first woman president of the AHNS in 2012. In 2020, she served a one-year term as president of the AAO-HNS and was inducted into the academy’s Hall of Distinction in 2023. She is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, AHNS, The Triological Society and American Laryngological Association.
She is also a member of the boards of the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and Pelotonia. In 2024, she was appointed to the Internal Scientific Advisory Board for the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.