Honorary Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) was awarded to six prominent surgeons from Switzerland, Scotland, Hong Kong SAR China, Argentina, Belgium, and Ecuador during the October 26 Convocation ceremonies that preceded the official opening of Clinical Congress 2014 in San Francisco, CA. The granting of Honorary Fellowships is one of the highlights of the Clinical Congress. This year’s recipients were as follows:
Pierre-Alain Clavien, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCSEng, FRCSEd, medical director, department of visceral and transplant surgery, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland, has contributed significantly to the understanding of basic mechanisms in liver disease, especially in the areas of organ preservation, ischemia reperfusion, liver regeneration, and cancer. He developed predictive scores for outcomes of liver operations as well as the Clavien-Dindo classification system used in the diagnosis and treatment of hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) diseases. He established the Swiss HPB Center, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of HPB diseases.
Alberto Raul Ferreres, MD, PhD, MPH, FACS, is professor of surgery and chairman, director of the general surgery residency training program at the Carlos Bocalandro Hospital, and director of the training center for minimally invasive and endoscopic surgery at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an ACS International Guest Scholar in 1991 and trained in ethics at the University of Chicago, IL. He has maintained an interest in public health policy and management, professional liability and patient safety, and surgical error, receiving numerous scholarships and awards in these areas from the National Ministry of Health and the National Academy of Medicine in Argentina. He is president of the ACS Argentina Chapter.
O. James Garden, BSc, MB, BCh, CBE, MD, FRCSGlas, FRCPEd, FRSE, is Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery and Honorary Consultant Surgeon, HPB surgical services, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, the editor-in-chief of HPB Surgery, and chair of the British Journal of Surgical Society, Ltd. He led the establishment of the Scottish Liver Transplantation Programme and performed the first successful liver transplant in Scotland in 1992 and is considered one of the world’s preeminent specialists in HPB diseases and liver transplantation. He was appointed Surgeon of the Queen of Scotland in 2005. He led the development of the masters in surgical sciences degree that forms part of the collective venture between the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Antoon (Toni) Lerut, MD, PhD, MPH, FACS, is a professor at UZ Leuven, an academic hospital in Leuven, Belgium. He established an excellent reputation in thoracic and esophageal surgery through his seminal contributions to the literature on esophageal cancer. Dr. Lerut is the co-editor of Pearson’s Thoracic and Esophageal Surgery, and chairs the European Union of Medical Specialists Section of Thoracic Surgery. Since his retirement, he has been a visiting scholar at universities in the U.S., China, and Turkey. He has developed a teaching project in collaboration with physicians in Africa to treat children with caustic strictures.
Chung-Mau Lo, MB, BS, FACS, Chin Lan-Hong Professor in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and head, department of surgery, University of Hong Kong, SAR China, has pioneered living related liver transplantation in Asia, and he and his team were the first to perform a right lobe living related transplant in 1996. In addition, he has made important contributions to the treatment and detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and use of adjuvant therapy. He was a principal force in founding and leading the new department of surgery at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital in China in 2012. A prolific investigator, he has received more than $10 million in peer-reviewed grants studying liver graft injury.
Edgar Rodas, MD, FACS, is president and founder of the Cinterandes Foundation, which since 1990 has equipped volunteer surgeons from around the world with a mobile surgery unit that brings previously unavailable surgical techniques to remote areas of Ecuador. Since 1994, more than 7,200 operations have been performed in the mobile operating room with excellent results. He has served as president of the Ecuadorian section of Amnesty International for two terms and as Minister of Health of Ecuador. He also founded the medical school at the University of Azuay in Cuenca, serving as dean for six years. He received the ACS Surgical Humanitarian Award in 2009.
Presenting on behalf of the College were Steven M. Strasberg, MD, FACS; E. Christopher Ellison, MD, FACS; L.D. Britt, MD, MPH, D.Sc(Hon), FACS, FCCM, FRCSEng(Hon), FRCSEd(Hon), FWACS(Hon), FRCSI(Hon), FCS(SA)(Hon), FRCSGlasg(Hon); Richard J. Finley, MD, FACS, FRCSC; Ronald J. Busuttil, MD, PhD, FACS; and Ronald Merrell, MD, FACS.
Sir Rickman Godlee, President of the Royal of College of Surgeons of England, was awarded the first Honorary Fellowship in the College during the ACS’ first Convocation in 1913. Since then, 447 internationally prominent surgeons, including the six chosen this year, have been named Honorary Fellows of the ACS. Following are the citations presented at the Convocation.
