Dr. Mellick T. “Mac” Sykes was born in 1948 and grew up in San Antonio. At Alamo Heights High School, he was a national merit scholar, football captain, and voted most likely to succeed. He attended Princeton University where he played football and graduated in 1971 cum laude in Philosophy.
In 1972, Dr. Sykes moved to Nashville, working nightshift at the Nashville General emergency room and taking pre-med courses at Vanderbilt, all while courting his future wife, Barbara.
Dr. Sykes entered The University of Texas Medical Branch in the fall of 1972. He served on the Honor Council and Student Senate and was elected class president and chief prefect of the Mu Delta Honorary Medical Service Society. He graduated in 1976 as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and honored with the Herman A. Barnett Award in Surgery and the George Sealy Award for Excellence in Research and Neurology.
His general surgery training and master’s degree in Anatomy were at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSC-SA), followed by a vascular surgical fellowship at St. Thomas Hospital / Vanderbilt in Nashville.
In 1983, Dr. Sykes returned to San Antonio to join Peripheral Vascular Associates. In 1987, he pioneered the modern treatment of effort thrombosis of the subclavian vein using thrombolytic therapy and first rib resection, now considered standard of care. He supervised residents from the university and military programs and was named to Best Doctors lists for three decades. Dr. Sykes served as president of the San Antonio Vascular Surgery Society and the J. Bradley Aust Surgical Society. He was chief of staff of Northeast Baptist Hospital and Methodist Specialty & Transplant Hospital and served on the executive boards of both Methodist and Baptist hospital systems.
In 1993, Dr. Sykes formally joined the UTHSC-SA faculty as chief of vascular surgery. He cared for patients, taught, published, became full professor, served on the Faculty Senate, and was elected chairman of the Medical Faculty Assembly. The Vascular Residents’ Study was named in his honor.
In 2002, following a three-month endovascular fellowship at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Sykes returned to community practice in San Antonio. In 2013, he retired to focus on the centennial history of the Texas Surgical Society.
Dr. Sykes was elected to the Texas Surgical Society in 1986, serving as secretary, president, and archivist. He spent four years researching and writing The Texas Surgical Society: the First 101 Years, published in 2016. That year, he received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor.
In 2018, Dr. Sykes returned to UTMB to augment vascular patient care, teaching, and faculty development. He remains adjunct professor today.
Over a span of 40 years, Dr. Sykes has treated thousands of patients, trained hundreds of medical students and surgical residents, supervised vascular faculty, published widely, and presented frequently. A life member of the John Sealy School of Medicine Alumni Association, he currently serves on its board.
Dr. Sykes is deeply connected to UTMB and its traditions. His father, grandfather, and great-uncle were all UTMB medical graduates. His great-grandfather’s 1880 diploma from the Galveston Medical College and Hospital is signed by Dr. Ashbel Smith.
Dr. Sykes extends heartfelt love and gratitude to his wife of 53 years, Barbara, and their children: Taylor Bowles and husband Bill, Mellick Sykes, Jr. and wife Amanda, James Sykes and wife Tarah, and Annie Moore and husband Tim. Joining in spirit are his lively and beloved grandchildren Lucy Bowles, Francie Bowles, Mamie Bowles, Riley Sykes, Blake Sykes, and baby Andrew Moore.
Dr. Sykes is honored, humbled, and grateful to be designated an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus by an institution so dear to his heart.