New Regents, Board of Governors Executive Committee members elected

The Board of Governors (B/G) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has elected two new members of the Board of Regents—Diana L. Farmer, MD, FACS, FRCS, and Steven C. Stain, MD, FACS. In addition, new B/G Executive Committee members have been elected.

Regents

Dr. Farmer, a highly regarded pediatric and fetal surgeon, is the Pearl Stamps Stewart Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Chair, department of surgery, University of California (UC) Davis School of Medicine. She is surgeon-in-chief, UC Davis Children’s Hospital and Chief of Surgery, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Sacramento.

A Fellow of the College since 1998, Dr. Farmer has served on many ACS committees and governing bodies. Most recently, she was Chair of the B/G (2016−2018). Previously, she was Vice-Chair of the B/G (2015−2016), and a member of the B/G Executive Committee (2015−2018). She chaired the B/G Quality Pillar (2014−2016) and served on the B/G Bylaws Committee (2016−2017). She served on the Advisory Council for Pediatric Surgery (Pediatric Surgery Liaison to the ACS Program Committee, 2006−2012, and Ex Officio member, 2012−2018) and co-chaired the Council of Advisory Council Representatives (2006−2012). She has served on several ACS committees, including the following: Resident Education Committee (2003−2009); ACS/Association of Program Directors in Surgery/Association of Surgical Educators Entering Surgery Resident Prep Curriculum Committee (2009−2011); Program Committee (2013−2016); Research Committee (2013−2019); Continuing Education Workgroup (2013−2015); Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care Committee (2015−2016); Member Services Liaison Committee (2017−2018); and Surgical Research Committee (2016−2019).

At the local level, Dr. Farmer has been a member of the Northern California Chapter of the ACS since 1998, serving on the chapter’s Executive Council (2011−2013) and the Northern California Credentials committee (2012−2015).

She is Past-President of the Society of Surgical Chairs (2016−2017), which the ACS manages, and a member since 2010. In 2015, Dr. Farmer cohosted an ACS Surgical Quality Forum at the Sacramento Health Foundation and UC Davis Medical Center. A distinguished fetal stem cell scientist, she was the 2017 Owen Wangensteen Surgical Forum Dedicatee. She is a Life Member of the ACS Foundation Fellows Leadership Society and was the recipient of the 2017 ACS Professional Association Political Action Committee (ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC) Warshaw Award-PAC MVP.

Dr. Stain is professor of surgery and Henry and Sally Schaffer Chair, department of surgery, Albany Medical College, NY. An esteemed general surgeon, he has been a Fellow of the ACS since 1994.

Dr. Stain has served in several ACS leadership positions. He has served on the B/G since 2013 and the B/G Executive Committee since 2014, most recently as Chair (2018−2019), Vice-Chair (2016−2018), and Secretary (2015−2016). Actively involved in the ACS Foundation, Dr. Stain has been a member of the Fellows Leadership Society since 2002 and has served on the Foundation’s Committee on Major Gifts (2009–2015) and Board of Directors (2012–2015). He has been the ACS Representative to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee for Surgery (2011–2017). He served on the ACS Health Policy and Advocacy Group (2014−2016).

He has been heavily involved in the ACS chapters in the states where he has practiced, including the Southern California Chapter (Membership Committee, 1997−2000; Assistant Chairman, Program Committee, 1998–1999; Associate Chairman Program Committee, 1999–2000; and Committee on Applicants, 1996–2000); the Tennessee Chapter (2001–2005, Committee on Applicants, 2003–2005); and New York Chapter (2005–present, Committee on Applicants, 2014–present, Chair, Committee on Applicants, 2019–present).

In addition, the following individuals have been reelected to serve three-year terms on the Board of Regents:

• Anthony Atala, MD, FACS, director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the W. Boyce Professor and Chair, department of urology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
• James W. Gigantelli, MD, FACS, ophthalmology chair and professor of ophthalmology, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV
• 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, New York, NY

B/G Executive Committee

The B/G elected the following Officers of the B/G Executive Committee:

Chair: Ronald J. Weigel, MD, PhD, FACS, professor and chair of surgery, associate vice president for the University of Iowa (UI) Health Alliance, professor of surgery-surgical oncology and endocrine surgery, professor of biochemistry, professor of anatomy and cell biology, and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, UI, Iowa City. He has served on the Executive Committee since 2018.

Vice-Chair: Taylor Sohn Riall, MD, PhD, FACS, professor and interim chair, department of surgery, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson. Dr. Riall is the outgoing Quality, Research, and Optimal Patient Care Pillar Lead.

Secretary: Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD, FACS, a general surgeon, University of Washington (UW) Medicine and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and professor of general surgery and adjunct professor of electrical engineering, UW, Seattle. Dr. Sinanan is the outgoing Advocacy and Health Policy Pillar Lead.

Andre Campbell, MD, FACS, FACP, FCCM, has been re-elected 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. Dr. Campbell is the Education Pillar Lead.

New members of the B/G Executive Committee elected to serve one-year terms include the following:

Mark A. Dobbertien, DO, FACS, is a minimally invasive surgeon in Jacksonville, FL. He is affiliated with Naval Hospital Jacksonville, and Flagler Hospital, St. Augustine, FL. He is Vice-Chair, Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards Workgroup, Member Services Pillar, and is a member of the Health Policy and Advocacy Workgroup, Advocacy and Health Policy Pillar, and co-chair, Opioid Use/Abuse Subcommittee of the Workgroup. He will serve as the Member Services Pillar Lead.

Nancy L. Gantt, MD, FACS, is professor of surgery, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, and co-medical director, Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital Center, OH. She is Vice-Chair of the Surgical Care Delivery Workgroup, Quality, Research, and Optimal Patient Care Pillar. She will now serve as the Quality Pillar Lead.

Dhiresh R. Jeyarajah, MD, FACS, is head of surgery, Texas Christian University, and University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth. He is program director, hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) and advanced gastrointestinal fellowship, and associate program director, general surgery residency, Methodist Richardson Medical Center, TX. He is an HPB and foregut surgeon in Dallas, TX. He is outgoing Chair, Newsletter Workgroup, Communications Pillar, and will now serve as Communications Pillar Lead.

Martin A. Schreiber, MD, FACS, is professor and chief, division of trauma and critical care, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. He is Chair, Grassroots Advocacy Engagement Workgroup, Health Policy and Advocacy Pillar.