Robert Sade, M.D. is a native of Boston, received his BA degree from Wesleyan University in 1959, and his MD degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1963. He received his surgical training at several Harvard teaching hospitals, concluding as chief resident in cardiac surgery at the Children's Hospital. He was a member of the cardiac surgery faculty at the Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School before moving to the Medical University of South Carolina in 1975, to head the pediatric cardiac surgery program. His current positions include Professor of Surgery at MUSC, Director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at MUSC, and Medical Director of LifePoint, South Carolina's organ procurement agency.
At MUSC, Dr. Sade has served as Chairman of the MUSC Faculty Senate, Assistant Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Medicine, President of the Medical Staff, and Medical Director of the University Medical Center. He has written several hundred articles, book chapters, and books on cardiothoracic surgery, medical education, biomedical ethics, and health policy. He currently serves as Associate Editor for Ethics of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and serves as the Speaker of the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Medical Association.
Dr. Sade's interest in bioethics and health policy began during his studies of philosophy in college. He left the active practice of surgery and spent a yearlong sabbatical in 1994-95, studying and writing on the relationship between biomedical ethics and health policy. Dr. Sade's major focus is now on teaching and writing about biomedical ethics and health policy, developing the Institute of Human Values in Health Care, and helping to manage organ donation in South Carolina. Under his leadership, South Carolina now produces more organs for transplantation than any other donation region in the nation. Dr. Sade serves nationally on the ethics councils of the United Network for Organ Sharing, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American Association for Thoracic Surgery. He is a member of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association.