The ACS hasn’t always been known as the House of Surgery.
Since its founding in 1913, the ACS has used the same official seal and motto, “To Heal All with Skill and Fidelity.” Through this constancy, the College has established and sustained a trusted, prestigious presence in surgery.
The phrase the “House of Surgery” is rather newer. It’s been used intermittently for decades and has now become the official tagline of the ACS. Through its broad use today, the College is redefining and deepening what it offers to all surgeons.
First Uses
The first use of the House of Surgery at the ACS dates to 1969, when it appeared in an issue of the ACS Bulletin—although not with its present definition. Its usage at that time opened an era in which the phrase had several meanings.
In the 20th century, the term seems to have been documented just twice. The 1969 article included a call for full participation of surgical residents in “this one house of surgery,” indicating that trainees, and not just fully trained surgeons, had a place in this particular professional society. The words were used differently in 1975, when another Bulletin article used the phrase to indicate the entire profession of surgery, with all its varied disciplines.
When the “House of Surgery” re-emerged more than a quarter-century later, in the early 2000s, another meaning materialized: a reference to unity within the surgical field. Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, used the phrase in this way in the Bulletin in 2001. Reflecting on the first of his years as the ACS Executive Director (2000–2009), Dr. Russell urged surgeons to “rally around our primary mission of caring for the surgical patient and, in the process, truly form a ‘house of surgery’ and put an end to unnecessary fragmentation and divisiveness.”
Gerald B. Healy, MD, FACS, a professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and ACS Past-President (2007–2008), remembers using the phrase similarly in conversations with Dr. Russell and other ACS leaders starting around 2005. “I would use it frequently, when I would talk to the Board of Regents,” he recollected, “and I’d offhandedly say, ‘We are a house of surgery. We’re going to act like one.’”
The House, Not A House
As the phrase has gained and lost myriad meanings, the College began to embrace this final concept as an appellative for itself and a way to describe what the ACS can offer to surgeons worldwide. If the College was once considered one house of surgery among many, it is now instead the House of Surgery—the place that, uniquely among healthcare organizations, can unite all surgeons.
While the idea may have emerged slowly, it has continued to evolve and expand in the 3 years as Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, transitioned from her role as ACS Director of Member Services to Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.
While surgical practice continues to increase in complexity and operative procedures become more and more specialized, surgeons are eager to benefit from shared insights, stronger networks, cross-cutting educational offerings, and more strident advocacy for surgical patients and the profession—efforts that often require an organization with the broad expertise, infrastructure, and partnerships in place to benefit all surgeons. The phrase, therefore, underscores how the ACS serves, in Dr. Turner’s words, “everyone who comes under the umbrella of surgery. All specialties, all ages, all locations, all practice configurations, all the disciplines.”
As a result, the College also has begun appending the phrase to programming. The House of Surgery podcast, which debuted in 2022, offers fireside chats, recorded lectures from prominent surgeons, and some original interviews about hot surgical topics.
Importantly, the name has become a calling card for the organization. To help ensure all can understand the College’s strategy to represent all surgeons collectively, the ACS has strengthened its identification as the House of Surgery. In 2023, the ACS trademarked the phrase itself. This phrase will continue to characterize the organization for generations to come, as the ACS becomes a stronger and more effective advocate for the surgical collective.
