Chapter news

Domestic and international chapters of the American College of Surgeons  (ACS) met in the last several months for a variety of activities, including annual meetings, award presentations, Stop the Bleed^® training sessions, symposiums, summit presentations, advocacy days, and skills training. Following are highlights and photos of attendees, featured guests, awardees, and skills and knowledge competition winners. 

Domestic Chapters

Alabama Chapter

Annual Meeting, June 7–9, Destin, FL: The program included the James Glenn Donald III, MD, FACS, Memorial Resident Poster Presentations. Winning residents are as follows: Laura Stafman, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, first place for Activation of Protein Phosphatase 2A Inhibits Hepatoblastoma Tumorigenicity; David Roy, MD, University of South Alabama, Mobile, second place for Endoscopic Technique for Closure of Enterocutaneous Fistulas; and Yong Tan, MD, University of South Alabama, third place for Mitochondrial DNA Repair as a Pharmacological Target in a Rodent Model of Lung Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death.

Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter

Annual Young Surgeons Dinner May 29, Garden City, NY. Pictured are Jeffrey P. Weiss (left), MD, FACS, President, Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter, and Barbara L. Bass (right), MD, FACS, ACS President. Dr. Bass delivered the keynote address, It’s Your Career: Engage and Enjoy, to more than 70 attendees. Robert F. D’Esposito, MD, FACS, a urologist, Garden City, received the Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter Mentorship Award.

Metropolitan Chicago Chapter

Connecticut Chapter

Florida Chapter

Patricia Byers, MD, FACS, Governor and Past-President of the Florida Chapter (pictured), presented the Florida Chapter Success Story May 20 at the 2018 Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. Dr. Byers’ presentation, Three Chapters, One State: Florida’s Experience in Unified Advocacy, focused on the successful 2018 Florida Advocacy Days program and the maturation of the Florida chapters’ advocacy efforts.

Illinois Chapter

The Illinois Chapter Founder Competition took place April 29 at the University of Chicago Medicine during the joint meeting of the Illinois Surgical Society and the Illinois Chapter of the ACS. Resident winners of the competition were (from left) Lai Xue, MD, University of Chicago, third-place tie with James N. Winters, MD, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield (not pictured); Lisa A. Kowalski, MD, FACS, Illinois Chapter President; Alyssa Mowrer, MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, first place; and Olga Kantor, MD, University of Chicago, second place.

Maryland Chapter

Spring Meeting, April 28, Baltimore: Attendees learned about changes to Maintenance of Certification, use of social media by surgeons, and a range of clinical and scientific topics. Photo (from left): Residents from the University of Maryland, Baltimore: Carlos Munoz-Zuluaga, MD; Tina Kariya, MD; Arkadii Sipok, MD; Chelsea Harris, MD; Nicole Shockor, MD; and Natalie O’Neil, MD.

Michigan Chapter

The 65th Annual Meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the ACS, the 67th Annual Surgical Resident’s Competition, and the Michigan Committee on Trauma’s 68th Annual Keyport Trauma Symposium took place May 16–18 in Traverse City. To engage residents, a Top Gun Surgical Skills competition and a Resident Jeopardy competition (pictured) took place during the meeting. Joceline Vu, MD, and Aaron Williams, MD, residents at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, were the winners for the Surgical Skills competition, and Miguel Tobon, MD, and Awni Shahait, MD, from Wayne State University, Detroit, won first place in the Resident Jeopardy competition.

Nevada Chapter

Dinner Meeting, April 25, Las Vegas: Herand Abcarian, MD, FACS (second from right), professor of surgery, University of Illinois Chicago, delivered the keynote address, Why Do We Have So Much Trouble Treating Anal Fistulas? All the surgeons in the photo trained under Dr. Abcarian in Chicago (from left): John Fildes, MD, FACS, FCCM, Nevada Chapter Governor; Goesel Anson, MD, FACS, Anson, Edwards and Higgins Plastic Surgery Associates, Las Vegas; Terence G. Banich, MD, FACS, General Surgery Associates, Las Vegas; and Joseph P. Thornton, MD, FACS, associate professor, department of surgery, University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Medicine.

Southern California Chapter

A week before the January Southern California Chapter’s Annual Meeting, mudslides in Montecito closed the freeway, devastated homes and lives, and closed the meeting hotel, necessitating a postponement of the Chapter’s meeting. The rescheduled meeting took place May 11–12 in Indian Wells, CA. The transition of officers took place at the meeting. Photo (from left): Ninh Nguyen, MD, FACS, Chapter President, University of California, Irvine, Medical Center; Vincent Rowe, MD, FACS, Immediate Past-President, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and J. Craig Collins, MD, FACS, President-Elect, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Medical Center.

West Virginia Chapter

The chapter’s 68th Annual Meeting, May 10–12, White Sulphur Springs: Guest speakers included Charles D. Mabry, ACS First Vice-President; William G. Cioffi, Jr., MD, FACS, ACS Treasurer; and Carol Slomski, MD, FACS, and Keith Apelgren, MD, FACS, both professors emeriti, Michigan State University, East Lansing. In addition, state surgical residents submitted 24 abstracts for the trauma, surgery, and cancer competition, and 28 medical students participated in a dedicated open forum with all attendees, a poster competition, and simulation labs. Photo: Dr. Mabry (front left) with Chapter Officers and Council Members.

North Texas Chapter

Annual Meeting, February 16–17: The program included a diverse group of speakers, including ACS President Dr. Bass, who delivered a lecture titled Need Drives Solutions: How ACS Initiatives Have Impacted Surgeons and the Surgical Landscape; and Taylor Riall, MD, PhD, FACS, who delivered the Harry M. Spence Lecture, Maintaining the Fire: Physician Well-being, Resilience, and Intentional Culture. In addition, Robert O. Carpenter, MD, FACS, bariatric surgeon, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, TX, delivered the Ethics Lecture on Promoting a Safe, Just, and Fair Workplace Culture: Beyond Harassment; and Patrick V. Bailey, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Advocacy, ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy, delivered the Robert S. Sparkman Lecture, ACS Advocacy and Health Policy Agenda 2018. The chapter also offered Surgical Jeopardy and its first mock oral exams for residents. Photo (from left): Michael Truitt, MD, FACS, North Texas Governor; resident winners from Methodist Health System Morgan Floyd, MD, and Paul Deramo, MD; and Jeopardy host Warren Lichliter, MD, FACS.

Advocacy Days

New York Chapters

Representatives from the Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter, the New York Chapter, and the Manhattan Council traveled to Albany for a joint advocacy day June 4. The chapters received funds from the ACS Chapter Advocacy Lobby Day Grant Program, which allowed them to meet with legislators to discuss important issues facing surgeons in New York. Photo (from left): Daniel Huang, MD, FACS, Board of Directors, Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter; Arthur Cooper, MD, FACS, Manhattan Council Governor; Steven N. Burger, MD, FACS, New York Chapter Past-Governor; and Charles V. Coren, MD, FACS, Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter Governor.

North Carolina Chapter

The North Carolina Chapter of the ACS and the North Carolina Committee on Trauma hosted an Advocacy Day featuring Stop the Bleed training May 23 in Raleigh. Photo (from left): Surgeons from Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC, with State Rep. Gregory F. Murphy, MD, FACS (third from right), included Shannon Wright Longshore, MD, FACS; Danielle Saunders Walsh, MD, FACS, FAAP; Brett T. Starr, MD; Eric A. Toschlog, MD, FACS; and Lindsay Bridges, MD.

Tennessee Chapter

Tennessee Chapter (TNACS) surgeons thank State Rep. John Ray Clemmons for hosting TNACS Advocacy Day/Stop the Bleed. Photo (from left): William Edwards, MD, FACS, The Surgical Clinic, Nashville; Roger Nagy, MD, FACS, Skyline Medical Center, Nashville; Laura Witherspoon, MD, FACS, University Surgical Associates, Chattanooga; Max Langham, MD, FACS, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis; Bradley Dennis, MD, FACS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville; Representative Clemmons; George Maish III, MD, FACS, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Gayle Minard, MD, FACS; University of Tennessee Health Science Center; and Oscar Guillamondegui, MD, FACS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

International Chapters

Bangladesh Chapter

The Bangladesh Chapter of the ACS hosted its first Annual Chapter Meeting in April in Dhaka. More than 160 residents, ACS Fellows, and invited senior surgeons and experts attended the educational program with the theme Updates in Breast Surgical Procedures. Officers of the Bangladesh Chapter in attendance included (from left): Prof. Sarder A. Nayeem, MB, BS, PhD, FACS, Treasurer; Prof. S. M. Munirul Huq, MB, BS, FACS, President; Prof. Murtuza Choudhury, MB, BS, MS, FACS, Governor; and Prof. Mohammed Shadrul Alam, MB, BS, FACS, Secretary.

Chile Chapter

The 62nd Annual Congress of the Chile Chapter, May, Santiago, Chile: The meeting featured a President’s reception and a convocation ceremony to welcome new ACS Fellows into the College. Attending the opening ceremony were, from left, Felipe Catan, MD, FACS, President-Elect; Juan Hepp, MD, FACS, Governor; special guest Philip R. Caropreso, MD, FACS, ACS Second Vice-President-Elect; Hugo Nuñez, MD, FACS, Chapter President; and Victor Bianchi, MD, FACS, Chapter Second Vice-President.

Turkey Chapter

Region 17 (Middle East, Egypt) Meeting of the ACS, May, Ankara, Turkey: The meeting, which included many distinguished speakers and guests, was organized and hosted by ACS Governor Mehmet Haberal, MD, FACS(Hon), FICS(Hon), FASA(Hon), and the Turkey Chapter. Participants included several ACS Governors from the region, as well as ACS Past-President Patricia J. Numann, MD, FACS (pictured, wearing red, in the front row), and Chair of the ACS Foundation Board of Directors Mary H. McGrath, MD, MPH, FACS (pictured, wearing green, behind Dr. Numann).