{"id":130348,"date":"2025-02-04T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=130348"},"modified":"2025-04-18T12:30:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T16:30:25","slug":"alumni-stories-fredric-meyer-camed81","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/medicine\/articles\/2025\/alumni-stories-fredric-meyer-camed81\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Stories: Fredric Meyer (CAMED\u201981)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Studio\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlumni Stories<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFredric Meyer (CAMED\u201981)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t0<\/span><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n

Following his graduation from medical school, Fredric Meyer, MD (CAMED\u201981), steadily climbed the administrative and academic ranks at Minnesota\u2019s Mayo Clinic, beginning his career as a neurosurgery resident, then becoming an assistant, associate, and full professor of neurosurgery before eventually achieving the position of neurosurgery chair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, Meyer was named to his current positions of executive dean of education for the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and dean of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to these responsibilities, Meyer remains a practicing neurosurgeon specializing in brain tumors and travels between Mayo\u2019s campuses located in Phoenix, Arizona, and Jacksonville, Florida. He also has been executive director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery since 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, he and his wife Irene Meissner, MD, have raised six children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer attributes his success to the work ethic his father passed down and the lessons he learned during a decade working at a Martha\u2019s Vineyard fish house and on fishing vessels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would consider myself very unspecial from an academic perspective,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer was drawn to BU by the rare pairing of a medical school and a hospital dedicated to the mission of providing healthcare to the poorer members of society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it was pretty special and was much more consistent with the calling of medicine, where you are supposed to take care of everyone,\u201d Meyer says. He praised Boston Medical Center\u2019s Geriatric Home Care Program, which was founded in 1875 and is the oldest, continuously operating in-home medical service in the United States. The program offers diagnosis and treatment to homebound seniors over 70. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In addition to his administrative duties, he remains a practicing neurosurgeon specializing in brain tumors. <\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was so visionary, so unique. A lot of medical schools still don\u2019t have that,\u201d Meyer says. \u201cTo me, the mission was beautiful.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer was influenced by many outstanding faculty during his time at BU, particularly William McNary, MD, professor of anatomy and the first dean of students at the medical school; Kenneth Edelin, MD, chair of obstetrics & gynecology from 1978 to 1989 and an outspoken advocate for women\u2019s reproductive rights; and Edward Spatz, MD, professor of neurosurgery for more than 40 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe impression they left on me was that the needs of the patient come first,\u201d he says. He cites Spatz as his mentor and the reason he became a neurosurgeon. \u201cHe was so devoted to his patients. To me he was a beautiful spirit; very humble, very modest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer has lived in Minnesota for most of his life but has strong Massachusetts roots. He grew up in Springfield and family vacations were on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, a tradition that continues to this day. At the family summer home in Aquinnah on the island, he fishes for striped bass and albacore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his first two choices for residency programs didn\u2019t work out, Meyer flew to the Mayo Clinic medical center for an interview with the late Ross H. Miller and the late Thoralf M. Sundt Jr., who was then professor and chair of the department of neurologic surgery as well as program director. Sundt was also a distinguished brain surgeon who had once operated on President Ronald Reagan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the interview progressed, the conversation turned to fishing and Meyer\u2019s work at the fish market and on a swordfishing boat. Meyer initially thought that perhaps he\u2019d come up short on another interview, but the two neurosurgeons were impressed by his work ethic and Sundt called to offer him a residency position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to offer you a job because what we want are people who are going to work really hard,\u201d Meyer recalls Sundt telling him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer took that to heart and, as a resident, was on call every other night for two years. \u201cI never left the hospital,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He greatly admired Sundt, a pioneer in the development of microsurgery of the cerebrovascular system. Even when stricken with a cancer that made his bones brittle and caused him to become progressively weaker, Sundt continued operating almost right up to his death at age 62. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe really cared about his patients,\u201d Meyer says. \u201cHe was very sick and worked in a back brace in the operating room. He was in constant pain, but to see him suffer and yet adhere to the principles of patient care was inspiring.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer remembers Sundt telling him that \u201clife is short, and it\u2019s not all about work. It\u2019s important to remember your family, your friends\u2014particularly your family\u2014and devote time to them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have six children and try really hard to be a good father,\u201d Meyer says. Frequently, he\u2019d leave after a day of surgery and go straight to his children\u2019s swim meets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been eight years since Meyer was chosen to lead the College of Medicine and Science, which includes the medical school, graduate medical education, biomedical sciences, professional development, and health sciences education and involves more than 4,300 students and trainees in 450+ educational programs on three campuses. He is especially proud of raising the medical school ranking into the top 10 nationally and of the school\u2019s increasing diversity\u2014 currently, one-third of their students are from underrepresented populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stories from Alumni: Fredric Meyer (CAMED’81)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12906,"featured_media":130349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Alumni Stories","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[395,398],"bu-publication":[366],"medicine-article-category":[372,399],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[381],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130348"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142983,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130348\/revisions\/142983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=130348"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=130348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}