The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco, CA, provided myriad opportunities for surgeons, residents, medical students, and other affiliate health care professionals to sharpen and test their surgical skills and to interact with their peers and ACS leaders and staff. A total of 12,370 surgeons, residents, medical students, affiliate health care professionals, exhibitors, staff, guests, and members of the press were in attendance.
Highlights
Some highlights of Clinical Congress included the opportunity to participate in The Surgical Metrics Project, three Special Sessions, and ACS Theatre offerings.
More than 100 Clinical Congress attendees at all stages of a surgical career participated in The Surgical Metrics Project, which allowed participants to explore the use of wearable technologies to measure surgical decision making and techniques. Each participant was equipped with magnetic motion-tracking technology synchronized with headgear that captured video and audio.
Three Special Sessions were once again offered at Clinical Congress. These sessions provided attendees with an in-depth look at important ACS initiatives: the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, the results of the College’s membership survey on firearm injury prevention, and the new Commission on Cancer quality metrics.
The ACS Theatre once again was the host site for three programs about timely topics. Staff from the Division of Advocacy and Health Policy led a discussion of the ACS’ response to the financial pressures facing surgeons. Three surgeons who helped lead the development of the 17th edition of the Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program (SESAP®) led a question-and-answer session on SESAP 17, which was unveiled at Clinical Congress 2019. The third Theatre session was on getting involved in global health initiatives through Operation Giving Back.
In addition, several patient education programs were showcased through the week in the ACS Theatre. These sessions focused on wound assessment apps, negative pressure wound therapy, opioid-sparing pain management, central line management, feeding tubes, smoking cessation, and ostomy education and simulation.
Convocation
The College welcomed more than 1,990 Initiates to ACS Fellowship at this year’s Convocation, 999 of whom were in attendance. Initiates from the class of 1994 and 1969 respectively celebrated 25 and 50 years of Fellowship. Fellows who died in the last year were acknowledged.
The 100th President of the ACS, Valerie W. Rusch, MD, FACS, was installed at Convocation. Dr. Rusch is an esteemed thoracic surgeon and is vice-chair, clinical research, department of surgery; Miner Family Chair in Intrathoracic Cancers; attending surgeon, thoracic service, department of surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and professor of surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY. In her Presidential Address, Dr. Rusch reflected on the theme, The Joys of Lifelong Learning, Collaboration, and Giving Back.
John A. Weigelt, MD, DVM, FACS, was installed as First Vice-President, and F. Dean Griffen, MD, FACS, was installed as Second Vice-President. Dr. Weigelt is a general surgeon with an emphasis on trauma, critical care, and acute care surgery and is on the faculty of Sanford Health System and the University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls. Dr. Griffen is clinical professor of surgery, Ochsner Louisiana State University, Shreveport. Drs. Rusch, Weigelt, and Griffen all are previous recipients of the Distinguished Service Award (DSA)—the College’s highest honor presented annually.
R. Phillip Burns, MD, FACS, received the 2019 DSA. Dr. Burns is professor and chairman, department of surgery, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga. The award acknowledges Dr. Burns’ “innovative vision as integral engineer of the College’s focused initiatives influencing general surgery training, ultimately creating better prepared general surgery residents entering practice with enhanced skills and confidence to further improve the quality of care for their patients.”
Two new awards were presented at Convocation. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Norman M. Rich, MD, DMCC, MC, FACS, received the inaugural Distinguished Lifetime Military Contribution Award. This award pays tribute to Dr. Rich’s outstanding contributions to surgery during his military service and his legendary advances in vascular trauma restoration techniques.
Danielle Saunders Walsh, MD, FACS, FAAP, received the first Resident and Associate Society (RAS-ACS) Outstanding Mentor of the Year Award. Dr. Walsh is general surgery residency program director; department of surgery vice-president for diversity and inclusion; associate professor of surgery, division of pediatric surgery, East Carolina University and Vidant Medical Center; and director of surgical quality, James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital, Greenville, NC.
ACS Past-President Patricia J. Numann, MD, FACS, was accorded the ACS Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Numann is the Lloyd S. Rogers Professor of Surgery Emeritus, State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, Syracuse; SUNY Upstate Distinguished Service Professor; and SUNY Upstate Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus. Dr. Numann has worked tirelessly to promote diversity in the surgical professional and to advocate for surgical education and research.
The fourth annual Mary Edwards Walker Inspiring Women in Surgery Award was presented to Vice-Admiral Raquel C. Bono, MD, FACS. As Chief Executive Officer and Director, Defense Health Agency Medical Corps, Dr. Bono has served on the ACS Board of Governors (B/G) (2014−2016) and has been the recipient of three Defense Superior Service Medals, four Legion of Merit medals, two Meritorious Service medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals.
A total of 12 international surgeons were conferred Honorary Fellowship in the ACS. They are as follows:
- Prof. Italo Braghetto, MD, MHA, FACS, medical director, Avansalud Clinic, Santiago, and chairman, department of surgery, Universidad de Chile Clinical Hospital of Santiago
- Prof. Laurence Chiche, MD, professor of surgery and director, department of surgery, Bordeaux University, France
- Prof. Ian D.S. Civil, BSc, MBChB, FRACS, FACS, director of trauma services, Auckland Hospital, New Zealand, clinical director for the Major Trauma National Clinical Network and clinical leader for the Safe Surgery New Zealand Expert Advisory Group for the Health Quality and Safety Commission of New Zealand
- Prof. John Hyland, MCh, FACS, FRCS(Eng), FRCSI, FRCSEd(Hon), consultant general and colorectal surgeon, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, and founder of the hospital’s Centre for Colorectal Disease
- Prof. Yoko Kato, MD, PhD, professor and chair, department of neurosurgery, Fujita Health University Banbuntane Hotokukai Hospital, Aichi, Japan
- Prof. Marek Krawczyk, MD, PhD, professor and chairman, department of general, transplant, and liver surgery; and president, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland
- Prof. Antonio M. de Lacy Fortuny, MD, PhD, head, gastrointestinal surgery service, and chief, minimally invasive surgery department, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain
- Prof. Ari Kalevi Leppäniemi, MD, PhD, professor of surgery, abdominal center, Meilahti Hospital, and chief, division of emergency surgery and surgical critical care, University of Helsinki, Finland
- Prof. Neil Mortensen, MA, MBChB, MD, FRCSEng, FRCPSGlas(Hon), FRCSEd(Hon), FRCSI(Hon), professor of colon and rectal surgery, University of Oxford Medical School, and honorary consultant colorectal surgeon and fellow, Green Templeton College, U.K.
- Prof. Vijay Naraynsingh, MD, FACS, professor emeritus of surgery, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica
- Prof. Kerstin Sandelin, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCS, professor of surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Chair, National Quality Breast Cancer Register; and founding member and past-president, Breast Surgery International
- Prof. Panayotis Soucacos, MD, FACS, professor of orthopaedic surgery, The Panayotis N. Soucacos Orthopedic Research and Education Center, Attikon University Hospital, University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece
Named Lectures
Clinical Congress featured 11 Named Lectures, starting with the Martin Memorial Lecture, which was presented immediately following the Opening Ceremony October 28. National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg delivered the lecture, The Health of the Supreme Court, and participated in a meet and greet after the presentation.
Other Named Lectures were as follows:
- Michael J. Mack, MD, FACC, medical director, cardiothoracic surgery, and chair, cardiovascular service line, Baylor Scott & White Health, Dallas, TX, presented the John H. Gibbon, Jr., Lecture, Innovation: A Surgical Imperative
- Joseph C. Maroon, MD, FACS, clinical professor and vice-chairman, department of neurological surgery, and Heindl Scholar in Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, delivered the Charles G. Drake History of Surgery Lecture, From Surgical Burnout to Wellness: The Secret to a Balanced Life
- Ronald V. Maier, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), FCSHK(Hon), FCCS(Hon), Immediate Past-President of the ACS, presented the I.S. Ravdin Lecture in the Basic and Surgical Sciences, Response to Injury: The Genomic Storm and Precision Medicine
- Patricia L. Roberts, MD, FACS, FASCRS, past-chair, department of surgery, and senior staff surgeon, department of colon and rectal surgery, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, MA, delivered the Herand Abcarian Lecture, How to Navigate a Second Career in Surgery
- Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, FACS, professor and chairman, department of surgery, University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, NY, presented the Excelsior Surgical Society/Edward D. Churchill Lecture, Blood and the Moving Wheels of History
- M. Margaret Knudson, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Military Health System Strategic Partnership ACS, and professor of surgery, University of California San Francisco, delivered the Scudder Oration on Trauma, A Perfect Storm
- Carol Scott-Conner, MD, PhD, FACS, emeritus professor of surgery and emeritus chair, department of surgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, presented the Olga M. Jonasson, MD, Lecture, Recapturing the Joy of Surgery
- Emmanuel M. Makasa, BSc, HB, MBCHB, MPH, MMed(orth), health and wellness expert, Office of the President of the Government of the Republic of Zambia, delivered the Distinguished Lecture of the International Society of Surgery, The Role of Surgical Care in Attaining Universal Coverage for Sustainable Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Margaret L. Schwarze, MD, MPP, FACS, associate professor of surgery and bioethics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, presented the John J. Conley Ethics and Philosophy Lecture, What We Talk about When We Talk about Surgery
- Andrew L. Warshaw, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), ACS Past-President and senior consultant, international and regional clinical relations, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the W. Gerald Austen Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, delivered the Commission on Cancer Oncology Lecture, Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Prospect
Scientific Forum
The 2019 Owen H. Wangensteen Scientific Forum Dedicatee was John C. Alverdy, MD, FACS, Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor of Surgery and executive vice chair, department of surgery, University of Chicago, IL. Dr. Alverdy is nationally recognized for introducing several new operations into the field, including minimally invasive pancreatic surgery, bariatric surgery, and surgery for disorders of the foregut.
Practicing surgeons, residents, and medical students were recognized for their contributions to advancing the art and science of surgery. Recipients honored with the 2019 Owen H. Wangensteen Scientific Forum Excellence in Research Awards included the following: Michael T. Cain, MD; Ryan A.J. Campagna, MD; Malini Chinta; Caitlin Redford Collins, MD, MPH; Naomi-Liza Denning, MD; Cale Ewald; Brian Fleischer, MD, MEng; Deshka S. Foster, MD, MA; Kyle W. Freischlag, MD; Elysia Grose, BHSc; Amna Khokar, MD; Akshita Kumar, MD; Charles Liu, MD; William Aaron Marshall, MD; Alejandro Munoz-Valencia, MD; Apoorve Nayyar, MBBS; Napat Pruekprasert, MD; Hallie J. Quiroz, MD; Arturo Jesus Rios-Diaz, MD; Simon Rodier, MD, MPhil; Christopher Scheiber, MD; Jeremy Sharib, MD; Shi Yan, MD; and Christopher J. Zimmerman, MD.
The Best 2019 Scientific Forum e-Posters of Exceptional Merit were awarded to Stephanie Cruz, MD (Domestic), for her presentation of Prospective Application of a Computational Algorithm Using Trend Analysis of Abdominal NIRS Predicts the Onset of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: From Bench to Bedside, and Pawan Singhal, MBBS, MS, DNB, FACS (International), for his presentation of A Novel Total Annulus Excision Technique of Tympanoplasty: Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.
Other awards and honors
The ACS Foundation Board of Directors presented the 2019 Distinguished Philanthropist Award to Christopher K. Payne, MD, FACS, a urologist at Vista Urology and Pelvic Pain Partners, San Jose, CA, whose generosity has elevated him to the Fellows Leadership Society Legacy Circle.
Recipients of the 2019 ACS B/G Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards were recognized at the B/G annual reception/dinner. Recipients were selected by the B/G Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards Workgroup.
Two individuals received the ACS/Pfizer Surgical Humanitarian Award, which recognizes Fellows who have dedicated much of their careers to ensuring that underserved populations have access to surgical care and have done so without expecting commensurate compensation.
Donald E. Meier, MD, FACS, a general surgeon from Dallas, TX, received the Surgical Humanitarian Award for his decades of surgical, training, and education service around the world, primarily in West Africa. Devendra S. Saksena, MBBS, FACS, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Mumbai, India, received the Surgical Humanitarian Award for his nearly 50 years of service in establishing cardiothoracic surgery services in India and Africa.
The ACS/Pfizer Surgical Volunteerism Awards recognize ACS Fellows and members who are committed to giving back to society through significant contributions to surgical care as volunteers. Three awards were granted in 2019. Steven Bolton, MD, FACS, a general surgeon in Pontiac, MI, received the Domestic Surgical Volunteerism Award for his efforts to initiate and operate a medical clinic for underserved residents of the city. Richard W. Furman, MD, FACS, a cardiothoracic surgeon from Boone, NC, received the International Surgical Volunteerism Award for providing care to underserved patients around the world and for cofounding World Medical Mission with his brother, Lowell B. Furman, MD, FACS, a 2003 recipient of the ACS Surgical Volunteerism Award. Alison Smith, MD, a general surgery resident at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, received the Resident Volunteerism Award for her significant volunteerism efforts in Haiti.
The Commission on Cancer (CoC) recognized the winners of its annual Cancer Research Paper Competition. Jennifer Leiting, MD, a general surgery resident at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, was the 2019 first- place winner for her paper, “Termsirolimus Is Effective Against Patient-Derived Metastatic Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma In Vitro and in Vivo.” Dr. Leiting received a $1,000 honorarium plus travel expenses to present her research at the CoC Annual Meeting. Pamela Lu, MD, a general surgery resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, placed second for her paper, “Systemic Chemotherapy Does Not Prolong Survival in Patients with Metastatic Low-Grade Appendiceal Mucinous Adenocarcinoma.” Stephen Abel, DO, MHSA, of Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, was awarded third place for his paper, “Utilization of Adjuvant Radiotherapy for Resected Colon Cancer and Its Effect on Outcome.” Drs. Lu and Abel each received $500 and had the opportunity to display their posters at the CoC Annual Meeting.
The CoC honored three State Chairs for their outstanding performance in 2019: Maria Castaldi, MD, FACS, Manhattan Council State Chair; Susan He Lee, MD, FACS, Brooklyn-Long Island State Chair; and Ingrid Lizarraga, MD, FACS, Iowa State Chair.
The 2019 National Safety Council (NSC) Surgeons Award for Service to Safety was given to Mary E. Fallat, MD, FACS, “for her tireless advocacy for improving the care of pediatric trauma patients.” Dr. Fallat is chief of pediatric surgery and the Hirikati S. Nagaraj endowed Professor in Pediatric Surgery, University of Louisville, KY.
The ACS Committee on Trauma (COT) presented a Special Recognition Award to Richard J. Fantus, MD, FACS, for his distinguished service to the COT, particularly his 200 contributions to “National Trauma Data Bank data points,” published monthly in the Bulletin for 17 years.
The Excelsior Surgical Society honored the late Colonel Basil A. Pruitt, Jr., MD, FACS, and the late Donald D. Trunkey, MD, FACS, each with a plaque and American flag.
The International Relations Committee welcomed the following International Guest Scholars and Travelers: Mary Margaret Ajiko, MD, Soroti, Uganda, Baxiram S. and Kankuben B. Gelot Community Surgeons Travel Awardee; Salah Eldien AlTarabsheh, MBBS, FACS, Amman, Jordan; Maria Eugenia Aponte-Rueda, MD, PhD, FACS, Caracas, Venezuela; Carlos J. Yanez Benitez, MD, FACS, Huesca, Spain, Dr. Abdol and Mrs. Joan Islami Scholar; Patrick H.Y. Chung, MBBS, MS (HK), FRCSEd (PAED), FHKAM (Surg), Hong Kong, China, Carlos Pellegrini Traveling Fellow of the ACS; Karen Hope Dalmacio, MD, Iloilo City, Philippines, Doctors Duremdes Community Surgeons Travel Awardee; Mohammad Rafi Fazli, MD, Herat, Afghanistan; Diego Lucas Fernandez, MD, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Adenauer Marinho de Oliveira Goes, Jr., MD, Belem, Brazil; Nikhil Gupta, MBBS, FALS, FACS, FRCS, Delhi, India; Vishal Gupta, MBBS, Lucknow, India; Jeremy Ming Hsu, MBBS, FACS, Gladesville, Australia; Konstantinos Kostopanagiotou, MD, PhD, Athens, Greece, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Scholar; Pawan Krainara, MD, Krabi, Thailand; Oyintonbra Funkuro Koroye, MBBS, DMAS, FWACS, FICS, FACS, Bayelsa State, Nigeria; Michael Bundepuun Ode, MBBS, Jos, Nigeria; Elena B. Rangelova, MD, Stockholm, Sweden, Dr. Murray F. Brennan Scholar; Pornthip Rattanadechapitak, MD, Khon Kaen, Thailand; Adrian M. Seifert, MD, Dresden, Germany; and Kazuki Takeishi, MD, PhD, Fukuoka, Japan.
For the first time, the Thailand Chapter of the ACS sent two young general surgeons to Clinical Congress. Drs. Rattanadechapitak and Krainara attended lectures and courses and enjoyed visiting the Exhibit Hall. They also were guests at the International Relations Committee luncheon honoring International Scholars.
The ACS History and Archives Committee presented first- and second-place awards for the annual History of Surgery Poster Competition. The first-place winners were Tom Liu; Katherine Howe, MD; and Michael Nussbaum, MD, FACS, from Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, for the poster, “A Long Way to Washington: Establishing Surgical Care for Black Appalachians in the Early 20th Century.” Second place was awarded to John Ernhardt, Jr., and J. Patrick O’Leary, MD, FACS, of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Miami for “Surgeons in the Colonial Development of America’s Oldest City.”
Three surgeons who serve rural or small communities attended Clinical Congress as Nizar N. Oweida, MD, FACS, Scholars—Christian Eusebio, MD, a general surgeon from Tamuning, Guam; Courtney L. Olmsted, MD, MSCI, a general surgeon from Morrisville, VT; and Wei Wei, MD, FACS, a general surgeon from Galax, VA. The three spoke at the annual meeting of the Scholarships Committee and the Rural Surgery Forum.
The 17th annual ACS Resident Award for Exemplary Teaching was presented to Courtney A. Green, MD, MAEd, a fifth-year resident in general surgery at the University of California San Francisco. The award is sponsored by the Division of Education to recognize a resident’s excellence in teaching and to highlight the importance of teaching in residents’ daily lives. Dr. Green was selected by an independent review panel of the ACS Committee on Resident Education.
The seventh annual Jameson L. Chassin, MD, FACS, Award for Professionalism in General Surgery was presented to Ruchi Amin, MD, a fifth-year chief resident in general surgery at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. The award recognizes a chief resident in general surgery who exemplifies the values of compassion, technical skill, and devotion to science and learning. The ACS established the award with gifts from the Chassin family, colleagues, and friends of the late Dr. Chassin, who was a skilled surgeon, teacher, and scholar in New York. The award is administered by the ACS Division of Education. Dr. Amin was selected by an independent review panel of the Committee on Resident Education.
Sam C. Wang, MD, FACS, assistant professor of surgery, division of surgical oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, received the 15th Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson II Promising Investigator Award administered by the ACS Surgical Research Committee. Dr. Wang received the award in recognition of his track record of producing high-impact publications and attaining extramural grant support from the National Institutes of Health, the ACS, and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.
The Best 2019 Scientific Forum e-Posters of Exceptional Merit were awarded to Stephanie Cruz, MD (Domestic), for her presentation of “Prospective Application of a Computational Algorithm Using Trend Analysis of Abdominal NIRS Predicts the Onset of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: From Bench to Bedside,” and Pawan Singhal, MBBS, MS, DNB, FACS (International), for his presentation of “A Novel Total Annulus Excision Technique of Tympanoplasty: Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.”
The Committee on Medical Student Education recognized the following students as first- and second-place winners in their respective categories at the Medical Student Program ePoster Session: in the Clinical Research category, Sneha Subramaniam (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY) and a second-place tie between Randy Casals (Columbia University, New York, NY) and Mikhail Pakvasa (University of Chicago, IL); in the Basic Science category, Iris H. Liu (University of California San Francisco) and Maximilian Hawkins (University of Chicago); and in the Education, Innovation, and Outcomes Research Category, Ilaria Caturegli (University of Maryland, Baltimore) and Shawn Izadi (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley).
Annual Business Meeting
The Annual Business Meeting of Members convened October 30, with Dr. Rusch presiding. The following ACS officials presented reports: Gerald M. Fried, MD, FACS, FRCSC, Chair of the Board of Regents (B/R); Steven C. Stain, MD, FACS, Chair of the B/G; David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, ACS Executive Director; Dr. McGrath, Chair of the Board of Directors of the ACS Foundation; and William G. Cioffi, Jr., MD, FACS, Chair of the Board of Directors of the ACS Professional Association Political Action Committee.
In addition, Fellows were elected to serve as ACS officials in 2019−2020. The President-Elect is J. Wayne Meredith, MD, FACS, MCCM, the Richard T. Myers Professor and Chairman, and residency program director, department of surgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine; medical director and professor of pediatrics, department of pediatrics, The Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma; and medical director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC. The First Vice-President-Elect is H. Randolph Bailey, MD, FACS, FASCRS, professor of surgery, and emeritus director of the colon and rectal residency training program, University of Texas (UT) McGovern Medical School, Houston; chief, division of colon and rectal surgery, Memorial Hermann Hospital Texas Medical Center, Houston; and deputy chief of surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital. The Second Vice-President-Elect is Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, director, interdisciplinary breast program; chief, division of breast surgery; and medical director, International Center for the Study Breast Cancer Subtypes, Weill Cornell Medicine-New York Presbyterian Hospital Network, NY, as well as adjunct professor breast surgery, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
A new Secretary and Treasurer were elected this year. Tyler G. Hughes, MD, FACS, clinical professor of surgery and director medical education, Kansas University School of Medicine, Salina, was elected Secretary, and Don K. Nakayama, MD, MBA, FACS, clinical professor, division of pediatric surgery, department of surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, was elected Treasurer.
Two surgeons were elected to the ACS B/R. Diana L. Farmer, MD, FACS, FRCS, is a highly regarded pediatric and fetal surgeon and the Pearl Stamps Stewart Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Chair, department of surgery, University of California (UC) Davis School of Medicine; surgeon in chief, UC Davis Children’s Hospital; and chief of surgery, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Sacramento. Dr. Stain, an esteemed general surgeon, is professor of surgery and Henry and Sally Schaffer Chair, department of surgery, Albany Medical College, NY.
In addition, three surgeons were reelected to the B/R: Anthony Atala, MD, FACS, director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the W. Boyce Professor and Chair, department of urology, Wake Forest University; James W. Gigantelli, MD, FACS, ophthalmology chair and professor of ophthalmology, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV; and Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, FACS, Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chairman, department of surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, and surgeon-in-chief, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The following Officers of the B/G Executive Committee were elected:
- Chair: Ronald J. Weigel, MD, PhD, FACS, professor and chair of surgery, and associate vice-president, UI Health Alliance; and professor of surgery-surgical oncology and endocrine surgery, professor of biochemistry, professor of anatomy and cell biology, and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, University of Iowa
- Vice-Chair: Taylor Sohn Riall, MD, PhD, FACS, professor and chief, division of general surgery and surgical oncology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson
- Secretary: Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD, FACS, general surgeon, UW Medical Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; and professor of general surgery and adjunct professor of electrical engineering, University of Washington, Seattle
The following surgeons have been elected to the B/G Executive Committee:
For more information
For more details on the information presented in this article, refer to previous issues of the Bulletin as follows:
September 2019
R. Phillip Burns, MD, FACS, to receive the 2019 ACS Distinguished Service Award
October 2019
Surgeons honored for volunteerism and humanitarianism
November 2019
Valerie W. Rusch, MD, FACS, installed as 2019−2020 ACS President
Patricia J. Numann, MD, FACS, receives ACS Lifetime Achievement Award
12 prominent surgeons awarded Honorary Fellowship in the ACS
December 2019
Wayne Meredith, MD, FACS, MCCM, is 2019−2020 ACS President-Elect
New ACS Secretary and Treasurer elected
New Regents, Board of Governors’ Executive Committee members elected
Andre Campbell, MD, FACS, FACP, FCCM, has been reelected to the B/G Executive Committee. Dr. Campbell is professor of surgery, division of general surgery, director, surgery 110 clerkship, and director, surgical critical care fellowship, University of California San Francisco.
Mark A. Dobbertien, DO, FACS, is a minimally invasive surgeon affiliated with Naval Hospital Jacksonville, and Flagler Hospital, St. Augustine, FL.
Nancy L. Gantt, MD, FACS, is professor of surgery, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, and co-medical director, Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital Center, OH.
Dhiresh R. Jeyarajah, MD, FACS, is head of surgery, Texas Christian University and University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth; program director, hepato-pancreato-biliary and advanced gastrointestinal fellowship; and associate program director, general surgery residency, Methodist Richardson Medical Center, TX.
Martin A. Schreiber, MD, FACS, is professor and chief, division of trauma and critical care, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. He is past-Chair, Grassroots Advocacy Engagement Workgroup, and Lead, Health Policy and Advocacy Pillar.
Member engagement activities
Clinical Congress 2019 provided attendees and their guests with opportunities to participate in wellness activities, including 5K running tours and yoga. The annual Taste of the City on the last night of the conference provided an informal venue for attendees, their families, and guests to experience San Francisco’s unique dining and cultural scene.
To provide a more family-friendly meeting environment, parents and guardians were able to bring infants to scientific sessions for the first time when carried in the arms of a parent or adult guardian. The ACS also partnered with ACCENT on Children’s Arrangements Inc. to provide an on-site children’s program known as Camp ACS, and the Little Medical School gave children ages two and older a chance to explore the world of medicine.
Clinical Congress 2020
This year’s Clinical Congress will take place October 4−8 in Chicago. Details regarding the educational program, registration, housing, and transportation will be posted as they become available on the ACS website.
