Chapter news

Inaugural combined symposium held in Washington, DC

The Metropolitan Washington, DC, Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) held the inaugural combined symposium with the Virginia Chapter and the Virginia Surgical Society April 30–May 1 at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel, Washington, DC.

J. David Richardson, MD, FACS, 2015–2016 ACS President and surgeon-in-chief, University of Louisville School of Medicine, KY, was the keynote speaker. He delivered an update on the current state of care of the surgical patient in the U.S.

L.D. Britt, MD, MPH, DSc(Hon), FACS, FCCM, FRCSEng(Hon), FRCSEd(Hon), FWACS(Hon), FRCSI(Hon), FCS(SA)(Hon), FRCSGlasg(Hon), ACS Past-President, and Henry Ford Professor and surgeon-in-chief, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, also was a keynote speaker, highlighting research and recent initiatives by the ACS in addressing disparities in health care in his speech, What Are the Real Challenges and Threats in Healthcare?

Legislative updates were given by Sara Morse, Manager, Legislative and Political Affairs, ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy (DAHP); Justin Rosen, Congressional Lobbyist, DAHP; and Leonard Weireter, MD, FACS, Vice-Chair, ACS Committee on Trauma.

The Metropolitan Washington, DC, Chapter of the Association of Women Surgeons held its 8th Annual Resident Research Poster Competition, under the direction of Mary Maniscalco-Theberge, MD, FACS, Deputy Medical Inspector, Office of the Medical Inspector, Department of Veterans Affairs, and associate professor of surgery, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS), Bethesda, MD.

A poster session highlighting the research of residents from a number of training programs also took place at the meeting, as well as several resident-delivered talks.

The Virginia Surgical Society also contributed significantly to the program, with speakers addressing such issues as obesity and foregut diseases, evaluation of adrenal incidentalomas, enhanced recovery programs, the correlation of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and electronic health records, and morbidity and mortality after gastrectomy.

Annesely Copeland, MD, FACS, associate professor of surgery, USUHS, spoke on the topic of The Opportunity of Adversity: Reflections on a Surgical Career. A highlight of the two-day conference was the Resident Jeopardy Competition, which was both entertaining and educational.

The chapter continues its tradition of offering mock orals to postgraduate year (PGY)-5 residents who are preparing for board certification. In addition, a series of educational sessions to prepare residents for the administrative aspects of clinical practice, Business of Surgery Series, is in its third year under the leadership of Amy Vertrees, MD, FACS, associate program director, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda.

The incoming 2016–2017 chapter officers are as follows:

• President: Norma Smalls-Mantey, MD, MBA, FACS, FCCM, assistant professor of surgery, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC
• President-Elect: Jonathan Dort, MD, FACS, general surgeon, Inova Medical Group, Fairfax, VA
• Treasurer: Sharon Bachman, MD, FACS, general surgeon, Inova Medical Group, Falls Church, VA
• Governor: H. David Reines, MD, FACS, general surgeon, surgical critical care, Inova Fairfax Hospital

Jordan Chapter holds first annual meeting

The Jordan Chapter of the ACS held its first annual meeting May 5–8 at the Le Royal Hotel Amman under the patronage of the Minister of Health in Jordan, Ali Al Hyasat, MD, FACS. Courtney M. Townsend, Jr., MD, FACS, ACS President-Elect, attended the meeting.

The theme of the conference was Optimal Surgical Education for Better Care and was chosen based on the needs of the Jordanian surgical community. Before the official start of the meeting, Dr. Townsend met with Jordanian officials, focusing the discussion on collaboration with the ACS to improve the Jordanian surgical education system.

The scientific meeting included three concurrent sessions that covered a range of general surgery and surgical subspecialty topics. In addition, concurrent sessions were held for residents and medical students, including the following:

• Advanced Trauma Life Support^® (ATLS^®) in collaboration with the ATLS Jordan Chapter, Royal Medical Services, and the Jordan National Emergency Medical Services Educational Center
• Inaugural ACS Comprehensive General Surgery Review Course with support from the ACS Division of Education; Patricia L. Turner, MD, FACS, Director, ACS Division of Member Services; and Prof. Jamal Hoballah, MD, FACS, in collaboration with the Lebanon Chapter of the ACS
• Trauma Evaluation and Management Course for Medical Students
• Inaugural Surgical Jeopardy competition with assistance from the ACS Resident and Associate Society (RAS-ACS)
• Inaugural Women in Surgery Session

There was a strong social media presence, and the Communications Committee was live tweeting via the official ACS Jordan Chapter Twitter account @ACSJordan and the hashtag #ACSJO2016 and posting on the chapter’s official Facebook page. Visit the Jordan Chapter Twitter and Facebook pages for details on the live coverage that took place during the meeting.

Alabama and Mississippi Chapters hold joint meeting

The Alabama and Mississippi Chapters of the ACS held their annual joint conference June 9–11 at The Grand Hotel Marriott Resort in Point Clear, AL. Surgeons from both states gathered to listen to panel discussions on topics such as Acute Care Surgery, Adopting New Technologies, Cancer Updates, Colorectal Carcinoma, and Hot Topics in General Surgery.

The chapters welcomed Frank G. Opelka, MD, FACS, whose presentation was titled Welcome to the Future: How Will We Measure Performance? Dr. Opelka is Medical Director, Quality and Health Policy, ACS DAHP, Washington, DC.

A total of 14 residents presented posters to attendees. Laura Stafman, MD, a PGY-3 resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, received the top award for her presentation on UAB30, A Novel Proprietary Retinoid, Decreases Viability and Tumor Initiating Cell Maintenance in Human Neuroblastoma Patient-Derived Xenografts. William O. Richards, MD, FACS, was recognized for his year of service as President of the Alabama Chapter. E. Shields Frey, MD, FACS, was installed as 2016–2017 Alabama Chapter President.

The 2017 joint meeting is scheduled for June 8–10, 2017, at The Grand Hotel Marriott Resort in Point Clear.

Nigeria Chapter holds inaugural annual meeting

The Nigeria Chapter of the ACS held a successful meeting and Comprehensive General Surgery Review Course July 4–8 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi. The meeting took place in conjunction with the Nigerian Surgical Research Society and the Association of Surgeons of Nigeria. The highlight of the opening ceremony was the ACS Update presented by current Chapter Governor Emmanuel A. Ameh, MB, BS, FACS, on behalf of Dr. Richardson. In addition, the chapter hosted its first Comprehensive General Surgery Review Course with a focus on preoperative care, surgical practice issues, and oncology. More than 65 senior residents and fellows attended the course.

 

Italy Chapter holds competition and training project

The second edition of Italian Surgical Jeopardy was offered in Naples, Italy, June 11 under the auspices of the ACS Italy Chapter. The event was organized in collaboration with the European Society of Surgery and the European Meeting of the Residents and PhDs in Surgery.

Prof. Antonio di Cataldo, MD, FACS, Governor, ACS Italy Chapter, and Prof. Giuseppe Nigri, MD, FACS, Treasurer and Chapter Administrator, chaired the conference, and two general surgery residents moderated: Paolo Magistri, MD, and Giammauro Berardi, MD, Sapienza University of Rome. Judges of the competition were Gabriele De Sena, MD, FACS, from Naples, and Antoni Szczepanic, MD, president- elect of the European Society of Surgery from Poland.

Residents from across Italy, Poland, and Moldavia attended the meeting. The team from Modena and Reggio Emilia won the competition. They were awarded with an invitation to attend the September 2017 XXI Annual Meeting of the European Society of Surgery in Krakow, Poland.

At press time, the next annual meeting of the ACS Italy Chapter was scheduled for September 25–29 in Rome.

More than 300 health care professionals attended a meeting on Lymph, Lymphatics, and Lymph Nodes in Surgery Best Practice: State-of-the-Art May 27 in Genoa under the aegis of the ACS Italy Chapter.

The event, recognized as a “training project” of the Italian Society of Surgery (SIC), was organized in collaboration with the regional Societies of Surgery Società Ligure di Chirurgia, Società Siciliana di Chirurgia, and Società Lombarda di Chirurgia, and with the participation of the Latin-Mediterranean Chapter of the International Society of Lymphology, the European Society of Lymphology, the Italian Society of Lymphangiology, the Italian Society of University Surgeons (including the College of Professors of General Surgery), the Italian Society of Surgical Pathophysiology, the Italian Society of Digestive System Pathology, the Polyspecialist Italian Society of Young Surgeons, the Italian Society of Surgical Research, the Triveneto’s Society of Surgery, and the Coordination Committee Associazione Chirurghi Ospedalieri Italiani—Regione Liguria.

Corradino Campisi, MD, FACS, Chapter President; Ferdinando Cafiero, MD, FACS, president, Società Ligure di Chirurgia; Stefano Puleo, MD, FACS, president, Società Siciliana di Chirurgia and of the Italian Society of Surgical Research; and Giovanni Sgroi, MD, president, Società Lombarda di Chirurgia, chaired the conference.

Many ACS Fellows attended the event, among them Prof. Antonio Di Cataldo, MD, FACS, Governor, Catania; Prof. Achille Lucio Gaspari, MD, FACS, Past-Governor, Rome; Prof. Francesco Puccio, MD, FACS, Past-President, Brescia; Prof. Biagio Ravo, MD, FACS, Second Vice-President, Rome; and Prof. Dalila Patrizia Greco, MD, FACS, Women Surgeons Committee, Milan. Dr. Nigri played an integral role in contributing to the event organization, along with the SIC.

Held in the historic and architecturally significant setting of Genoa’s monumental Palazzo della Borsa, the conference mainly focused on the leading role of prevention techniques and early treatment of lymphatic complications in different fields of oncological surgery. Much attention was paid to lymph vessel-sparing techniques, and to clinical applications of lymphatic microsurgery.

Tennessee Chapter holds 2016 meeting

The Tennessee Chapter of the ACS (TNACS) 2016 Annual Meeting took place July 22–24 in Memphis. Approximately 100 surgeons and other health care professionals gathered for the event. The chapter welcomed ACS President Dr. Richardson and Georgia ACS Chapter Executive Director Kathy Browning as two of the guest speakers for the event. Plans are already under way for the August 2017 meeting in Nashville.

The Tennessee Surgical Quality Collaborative provided a report on ongoing quality improvement initiatives with surgeons from the state.

Surgical Jeopardy was a highlight of the event, with the team from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, winning the competition.

Thailand Chapter supports academic organizations

The Thailand Chapter of the ACS continues to support postgraduate surgical education through a variety of national and international organizations, including the Royal College of Surgeons Thailand, International Society of Surgery, International College of Surgeons, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Bangkok Phuket Hospital, Prince of Songkla University, and Mae Fah Luang University. The spectrum of academic activities has been designed to enhance the learning experience in surgery not only for young surgeons, but also for those in the surgical subspecialties.

In the last year, the chapter supported the World Congress of Surgery, which took place at the Bangkok Convention Centre at Central World, and included the involvement of the Royal College of Surgeons Thailand and the International Society of Surgery. The scientific program featured state-of-the-art lectures, live operations, plenary sessions, roundtable discussions, and paper and poster presentations. The chapter organized a basic science paper competition, and the winning article was titled Is Concomitant Cholecystectomy with Bariatric Surgery in Asymptomatic Patient Necessary? by Narong Boonyagard, MD, general surgeon, department of medicine, faculty of medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

The chapter also supported the Second International Symposium in Colorectal Disease, which took place at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa, December 5–7, 2015. This subspecialty academic activity involved many world-renowned colorectal surgeons and included a comprehensive hands-on workshop, live operations, interactive lectures, panel discussions, and multidisciplinary symposia covering state-of-the-art technology, knowledge, controversies, innovations, and new surgical techniques in colorectal surgery. ACS Regent Steven D. Wexner, MD, FACS, from Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston served as the ACS visiting professor.

Connecticut Chapter develops Skills Competition

The Connecticut Chapter has been preparing for its Eighth Annual Surgical Skills Competition at the October 28 chapter meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Farmington, CT. In this unique partnership with industry, the competition provides an interactive, game theory-based, educational experience for our residents. Each program fields a team comprising an intern, a mid-level resident, and a chief to compete head-to-head with other programs in challenges that help to reinforce the skills they are learning in their programs. The October chapter meeting is a joint annual meeting of the Connecticut Chapter, the Connecticut Surgical Quality Collaborative (CtSQC) and the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

The CtSQC, an ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP^®)-based collaborative, incorporated in March 2016. Collaborative members presented several talks and posters at the ACS NSQIP Conference in July in San Diego, CA. The CtSQC has reached critical mass, with all hospitals in Connecticut agreeing to participate in its educational programs. The collaborative’s new website should be up and running by the end of the third quarter.