Dr. Hansen trained in medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA).  His General Surgery residency was at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine which included two years of metabolic research and completion of a Master in Public Health degree program. After finishing Pediatric Surgery training at The Children’s Hospital of Alabama and the University of Alabama – Birmingham, he spent the next 8 ½ years living and working in Kijabe, Kenya, at AIC-Kijabe Hospital and BethanyKids of Kijabe Hospital as a general and pediatric surgeon.  In Kenya, he served as the Head of Paediatric Surgery, the Clinical Director of BethanyKids of Kijabe Hospital, and Program Director of East Africa’s first formal pediatric surgery training program.  He is privileged to have been able to participate in the training of 11 pediatric surgeons from 8 African countries and dozens of general surgery residents from Africa and North America.   

Certified by the American Board of Surgery in Surgery and Pediatric Surgery, he joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2019.

Dr. Hansen is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa. He is currently a member of the American Pediatric Surgical Association’s global surgery committee.

He has published numerous academic articles, completed several research projects, and contributed to the book Paediatric Surgery: A Comprehensive Text for Africa.

He has a diversity of clinical experience that spans the breadth of pediatric surgery.  He has particular interest in medical and surgical education including global pediatric surgical training, pediatric colorectal disease, minimally invasive pediatric surgery, gastrointestinal, oncologic and hepatobiliary disease in children.