William W. Turner, M.D.

Meet Dr. Turner

Dallas General Surgeon Specializing in Abdominal Disorders

With thousands of operations under his belt, Dr. Turner is an expert in surgically treating abdominal disorders and benign soft tissue diseases. Abdominal diseases include gallbladder and bile duct disease, small intestinal disorders, and abdominal wall and inguinal hernias.

Dr. Turner's passion lies in performing operations and teaching residents and medical students.

He is skilled in laparoscopic and open techniques, and some of his most common procedures include gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) and inguinal and abdominal wall hernia repair.

He keeps his skills honed in part through a visualization technique he learned while he worked at a hospital that collaborated with the Indianapolis 500 during the 1990s. When a racecar driver sits in his car alone before a race, seemingly in a trancelike state, he is “driving the track” in his mind. Dr. Turner prepares for operations in a similar fashion. He re-studies the anatomy before operations, and he thinks his way through each step of what he’s about to do. 

Dr. Turner believes it’s important to explain to patients the role that surgery plays in treating their disease – how it will affect their symptoms, and what they will feel like during recovery. 

“I try to put myself in my patient’s shoes,” he says. “I want to give them an accurate view of the procedure and a sense of confidence in their surgeon.”

Dr. Turner has been involved with academic medicine his entire career, and he is a firm believer in the high level of care academic medical centers such as UT Southwestern provide.

“It’s where I’ve sought my care and where I have referred my wife and many friends,” he says. “Better care comes from asking questions and researching the answers and asking more questions. That’s what we do at UT Southwestern.”