Steven D. Wexner is an American colorectal surgeon who developed clinical scoring systems used in colorectal surgery. He is the Physician Executive Director and System Chair for Colorectal Surgery at MedStar Health, and Professor of Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine, having previously served as Director of the Ellen Leifer Shulman and Steven Shulman Digestive Disease Center at Cleveland Clinic Florida from 2022-2025 and as chair of the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Florida from 1993 to 2024. He developed the Wexner Incontinence Score, the Wexner Constipation Score, and the Pikarsky-Wexner Perianal Crohn's Score, which are used to assess symptom severity in colorectal disorders. His research has focused on fecal incontinence, inflammatory bowel disease, and colorectal cancer. In 2020, he was elected vice-chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons for a one-year term.
Early life and education Steven Wexner is the son of Ira Howard Wexner, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York and Supervising Judge of the Nassau District and County Courts, and Arlene. His decision to pursue medicine was influenced by two childhood experiences: his grandmother's fatal heart attack and his sister's emergency hospitalization. Wexner received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1978. He earned his MD in 1982 from Weill Cornell Medicine. He completed a general surgery residency in 1987 at Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West). In 1988 he completed a fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Career In 1993, Wexner was named chairman of the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Florida, a position he held until 2024 when he became Emeritus Chair. While at Cleveland Clinic he also served as Chairman of the Division of Research and Education from 1995 to 2012, as well as Chief of Staff from 1997 to 2008. He served as Chief Academic Officer from 2008 to 2012. In 2012 He was appointed the Director of the Digestive Diseases Center. In November 2025, Wexner was appointed Executive Director and System Chair for Colorectal Surgery at MedStar Health, covering 10 hospitals in the Washington, D.C. region. He concurrently serves as Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair for Professional Development in the Department of Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine. As a founder of the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), he led a coalition to establish the accreditation program with the American College of Surgeon's Commission on Cancer. The NAPRC's goal is to implement educational and medical standards for rectal cancer treatment. In November 2025, Wexner discussed the rising incidence of colorectal cancer among younger adults in a FOX 5 DC interview, attributing the trend to genetic, environmental, and dietary factors and noting that removal of precursor polyps during colonoscopy can prevent the disease. He said these cancers are often found at an advanced stage because patients and physicians ascribe rectal bleeding, changed bowel habits, or unexplained weight loss to hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome. He recommended screening from age 45, or, for those with a family history, beginning ten years before the diagnosis age of the youngest first-degree relative with colorectal neoplasia.
Research Wexner has focused on research related to fecal incontinence treatment. In 1993, he and Marcio Jorge published a paper on the etiology and management of fecal incontinence that first presented what became known as the Wexner Incontinence Score. In 2022, Cleveland Clinic Florida received a $5 million gift to fund Wexner's research. In recognition of their contribution, Cleveland Clinic Weston recognized the Shulmans by naming the Digestive Disease Center the Ellen Leifer Shulman and Steven Shulman Digestive Disease Center. In a December 2020 interview with Local 10, Wexner said colorectal cancer was becoming more frequent in younger patients, which he attributed to genetic, environmental, and dietary factors. In a later television interview, he noted that symptoms in younger adults are often mistaken for hemorrhoids and that approximately half of colorectal cancer cases present without symptoms.
Clinical scoring systems Wexner has developed several clinical scoring systems used in colorectal surgery and gastroenterology. The Wexner Incontinence Score, also known as the Cleveland Clinic Incontinence Score, is a scoring system for assessing fecal incontinence severity. Developed with J. Marcio N. Jorge, the score evaluates five parameters—incontinence to solid stool, incontinence to liquid stool, incontinence to gas, need to wear a pad, and lifestyle alteration—each scored from 0 (never) to 4 (always), for a total score of 0 to 20. The Wexner Constipation Score, also known as the Cleveland Clinic Constipation Score or Agachan-Wexner Score, is used for assessment of constipation severity. The score evaluates eight parameters including frequency of bowel movements, difficulty of evacuation, completeness of evacuation, abdominal pain, time spent on toilet, type of assistance required, unsuccessful attempts per 24 hours, and duration of constipation. In 2002, Wexner and colleagues developed a scoring system specifically for perianal Crohn's disease to predict surgical outcomes. This scoring system incorporates patient history and physical examination findings to assess disease activity and predict the likelihood of successful surgical intervention.
J-pouch procedures Wexner's work has focused on surgical techniques for the avoidance of permanent stomas in patients with colorectal cancer, ulcerative colitis, and fecal incontinence. He introduced a modification to the technique for creating an ileo-anal pouch, or j-pouch for ulcerative colitis, in which double stapling is used in place of sutures. He also worked on the colonic j-pouch for patients with rectal cancer. The J-pouch is an alternative to a permanent ileostomy or colostomy, allowing patients who have had their colons removed to continue to have bowel movements without an ostomy bag. This is now part of standard care for patients with rectal carcinoma.
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