A ssociation for Academic Surgery • W I N T E R 20 0 6/07 New sl e t ter Pr e si de n t ’ s M e s s ag e - Dec . 2 0 0 6 Dr. Siobhan Corbet “In the past eighteen months, the number of active AAS members has jumped nearly 20%!” In this Issue President’s Message 1 Institutional Representative Focus: Alan Dackiw 1 Become An AAS Institutional Rep! 2 In the past eighteen months, the number of active AAS members has jumped nearly 20%! This remarkable recruitment of young academic surgeons into the Association can be attributed to several factors. First, the AAS’s growth reflects the health and the dynamic nature of the organization. We have taken the lead among surgical societies in developing a career-training program for surgery residents, fellows and new faculty who are interested in pursuing academic careers. Further, we have established ourselves as an organization that encourages and actively recruits member participation on committees and in executive positions. The success of these directives has been readily apparent in the activities of the AAS Institutional Representatives. The Institutional Representative program was re-introduced in 2005 by the Membership Committee, led by Chairs, Jeff Upperman and more recently, Peter Nelson. Jeff and Peter proposed that the AAS reach out to active Dr. Siobhan Corbett members who were located at academic centers around the country. Over time, these members have served as a clearinghouse for information regarding AAS activities and have actively focused on the local recruitment of young faculty. They have encouraged young surgeons in their departments to consider the benefits of AAS membership by keeping them appraised of AAS programs and up-coming events. In recognition of their efforts, there will be a special invitation for the Institutional Representatives at an AAS-sponsored breakfast this February in Phoenix. In addition, we will focus the remainder of the newsletter on providing you with specific information about this valuable program and introducing you to one of our top recruiters! I look forward to seeing you all in Phoenix. I nst it u t iona l R epr e se n tat i v e Focus : A l a n D a c k i w, M D , P h D “Just Get the Word Out” By Peter Nelson, MD, Membership Committee Chair Johns Hopkins stood out in the most recent round of new applications and acceptances to Membership of the AAS across both full member and candidate member categories. This is in large part due to the outstanding efforts of Dr. Alan Dackiw the Johns Hopkins Institutional Representative to the AAS. AAS Elections Process for 2007 4 Alan is Assistant Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University in the Division of Surgical Oncology, Section of Endocrine Surgery. He completed general surgical training and his PhD at the University of Toronto, surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and endocrine surgery fellowship at UCSF. His clinical interest is in endocrine tumor surgery including surgery of the adrenal, thyroid, ASC Registration Reminder 4 AAS Research Awards 4 Alan Dackiw, MD, PhD Continued… parathyroid and endocrine pancreas. His research interests include endocrine tumor genetics, familial tumor syndromes, and endocrine organ development and neoplasia in animal models of disease. Like most of us, Alan was first introduced to the collegial research environment of the AAS by his research mentor Dr. Ori Rotstein, an active member who regularly submitted papers and took his residents to the annual meeting. The AAS was one of the first meetings at which Alan, as a resident, had the opportunity to present his research. He was presented a research award in recognition for his efforts. What he appreciates most about the AAS is that it has introduced him to many peers with whom he remains friends and colleagues today. Alan was eager when asked to accept the responsibility of Institutional Representative. He felt it to be a great opportunity to recruit new members to the AAS so that they might benefit from the organization in the same way that he has. His strategy to recruitment is simple but effective. He “just gets the word out”. He has used the hospital based e-mail system to reach out to all faculty and residents with information about the AAS and its activities. He also makes frequent announcements and circulates brochures and information at Johns Hopkins’ weekly grand rounds conference. Finally, he feels the strong endorsement and support of his activities and the AAS on the part of his Department Chair, Dr. Julie Freischlag, and Vice-Chair Dr. Steven Leach have been critical to the success of his efforts. With this approach, the response on the part of junior faculty and surgical trainees has been uniformly positive. Alan is fully supportive of the recruitment of subspecialty surgeons, PhD researchers in surgery, and even more clinically oriented faculty, to enhance the diversity of AAS Membership. To this end, he has expanded his email announcements to include all related Departments and Sections across the University. Furthermore, he is excited to include medical students with an interest in surgery into his recruitment strategy. He feels it will help to identify appropriate students at an early stage to get them exposed to surgical mentors and involved in research to showcase how the AAS can help them achieve their goals. With changes in training paradigms, students are being asked earlier and earlier to make important career decisions and this exposure will prove critical. In closing, Alan feels that access to a group e-mail list is very important and a captive audience at Department wide conferences provides an opportunity for a personal touch. The AAS Fundamentals of Research Course and the Faculty Development Course have proven to be very useful introductions to the AAS and response to these courses from attendees from Johns Hopkins has been very positive. Please join me in congratulating Alan, as well as all of the AAS Institutional Representatives, on an outstanding job over the last two years. We look forward to recognizing these individuals at the Academic Surgical Congress in February. Their efforts have lead to record increases in AAS Membership and I encourage everyone to use them as examples in their own recruiting efforts. Regards, Peter R. Nelson, MD Chair, Membership Committee B e c o m e a n AAS I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p ! The term of service for the current set of AAS institutional reps will conclude after the February 2007 Academic Surgical Congress. The next term will run from 2007-2009. If you are currently an institutional rep, you will be asked to nominate another member from your institution to serve or to volunteer to serve another term. If you are not a rep but would be interested in serving, please talk to your current institutional rep (see the listing below.) If your institution does not have a rep, please volunteer to serve by contacting the AAS Membership Department (members@aasurg.org or 310-437-1606 ext 108.) AAS 2 0 0 5 - 2 0 0 7 I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s Joseph Mills, MD Oluyinka Olutoye, MD, PhD Daniel Jones, MD Suresh Agarwal, MD Selwyn Rogers, MD, MPH Walter Biffl, MD Toan Huynh, MD Michael Zdon, MD Cynthia Gingalewski, MD Leila Mureebe, MD Roberta Sonnino, MD, FACS Dev Desai, MD, PhD Arizona Health Sciences Center Baylor College of Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston University School of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brown Medical School Carolinas Medical Center Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin Univ of Medicine and Science Children’s National Medical Center Columbia University Creighton University School of Medicine Duke University Medical Center Edward Lin, DO Neri Cohen, MD, PhD Sophie Dessureault, MD Mokenge Malafa, MD Christopher Steffes, MD Vinod Narra, MD Omaida Velazquez, MD Daniel Meldrum, MD Kenric Murayama, MD Alan Dackiw, MD, PhD Guiseppe Nigri, MD, PhD Quyen Chu, MD Emory University School of Medicine Greater Baltimore Medical Center H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Harper Hospital Henry Ford Hospital Hospital of University of Pennsylvania Indiana University School of Medicine John A Burns School of Medicine Univiversity of Hawaii Johns Hopkins Surgery La Sapienza University LHUHSC Shreveport 2 William Gunnar, MD Loyola Tommy Brown, MD Madigan Army Medical Center Rebecca Wolfer, MD Marshall University School of Medicine Hasan Alam, MD Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School Michael Sarr, MD Mayo Clinic Thomas Wang, MD, PhD Medical College of Georgia Karen Brasel, MD Medical College of Wisconsin Nestor Esnaola, MD Medical University of South Carolina Chris Tzarnas, MD Mercy Catholic Medical Center John Moawad, MD MetroHealth Medical Center / Case Western Reserve Universtiy Steven Stylianos, MD Miami Children’s Hospital John Kepros, MD Michigan State University Janet Meller, MD Midwest Pediatric Surgical Assoc Celia Divino, MD Mount Sinai School of Medicine John Renz, MD, PhD New York Presbyterian Hospital Vivienne Halpern, MD North Shore LIJ Health System/ Li Campus of Albert Einstein College of Medicine Melina Kibbe, MD Northwestern University William Carson, MD Ohio State University Martin Schreiber, MD, FACS Oregon Health Sciences University Osbert Blow, MD, PhD Overland Park Regional Medical Center Kevin Staveley-O’Carroll, MD, PhD Pennsylvania State College of Medicine Maureen Chung, MD Rhode Island Hospital James Alexander, MD Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Ashwani Rajput, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute Robert Higgins, MD Rush Presbyterian St Luke’s Medical Center Ronald Chamberlain, MD Saint Barnabus Medical Center Christopher Marsh, MD Scripps Clinic and The Scripps Research Institute Jacquelyn Quin, MD Southern Illinois University Christine Finck, MD St Christopher’s Hospital Eddy Hsueh, MD St Louis University Marc Pelletier, MD Stanford Medical Gregory Cherr, MD State University of New York at Buffalo David Rivadeneira, MD Stony Brook Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Michael Zenilman, MD SUNY Downstate Medical Center Carl Weiss, MD, PhD SUNY Upstate Medical University David Gorski, MD The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Emily Robinson, MD The University of Texas Health Science Center Houston Paul DiMuzio, MD Thomas Jefferson University Oliver Bathe, MD Tom Baker Cancer Centre Sander Florman, MD Tulane University Jorge De la Torre, MD UAB Division of Plastic Surgery Clarence Foster, MD UCI Medical Center James Dunn, MD, PhD UCLA Medical Center Mark Sawicki, MD UCLA Medical Center Hiroomi Tada, MD, PhD UMass Medical School Alicia Mohr, MD UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School Vinay Gupta, MD Union Memorial Hospital Randeep Jawa, MD University at Buffalo Sonia Ramamoorthy, MD Brian Cmolik, MD Scott Wilhelm, MD Ronda Henry-Tillman, MD Hung Ho, MD Mahesh Mankani, MD Alessandro Fichera, MD Timothy Pritts, MD, PhD Christopher Raeburn, MD Wayne Frederick, MD Elizabeth Beierle, MD Peter Nelson, MD N. Joseph Espat, MD, MS Kimberly Ephgrave, MD Joseph Cullen, MD Andrew Bernard, MD Glen Franklin, MD Patricia Turner, MD Carl Schulman, MD Rebecca Minter, MD Daniel Saltzman, MD, PhD John Gosche, MD William Cirocco, MD, FACS Bruce Cairns, MD Diane Rhoden, MD Michael de Vera, MD Rabih Salloum, MD Joseph LoCicero, MD Richard Bell, MD Oscar Grandas, MD Atul Madan, MD Brian Daley, MD Fiemu Nwariaku, MD Daniel Vargo, MD Ted James, MD Joseph Cuschieri, MD Herbert Chen, MD, FACS Steven Trocha, MD Jonathan Jaffin, MD Juliane Bingener-Casey, MD Nipun Merchant, MD Shaikh Hai, MD, FICS J. Perren Cobb, MD Alan Dardik, MD, PhD University College San Diego University Hospital of Cleveland University Hospitals of Cleveland University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences University of California Davis Medical Center University of California San Francisco University of Chicago University of Cincinnati University of Colorado Health Sciences Center University of Connecticut Health Center University of Florida University of Florida College of Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics University of Kentucky College of Medicine University of Louisville University of Maryland University of Miami School of Medicine University of Michigan University of Minnesota Medical School University of Mississippi Medical Center University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine University of North Carolina University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Tulsa University of Pittsburgh University of Rochester Medical Center University of South Alabama University of South Carolina University of Tennessee at Knoxville University of Tennessee Health Science Center University of Tennessee Medical Center University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center University of Utah University Of Vermont University of Washington University of Wisconsin Upstate Surgical Specialists US Army UT Health Science Center-San Antonio Vanderbilt University Medical Center Wake Medical Center Washington University in St. Louis Yale University School of Medicine 3 AAS E l e c t i o n P r o c e s s f o r 2 0 0 7 Membership applications can be submitted online at www.aasurg.org Please remind your colleagues, residents and friends. Reminder that the nomination and election process for the AAS has been enhanced to allow for nominations to occur prior to the annual meeting. Please visit the election page, www.aasurg.org/ elections2007.php for more information. ASC REGISTRATION R e m i n d e r Register now for the 2nd Annual Academic Surgical Congress to be held February 6-9, 2007 at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Register online today at: http://www.academicsurgicalcongress.org/registration The Academic Surgical Congress is designed to provide three days of comprehensive continuing education in academic surgery. It is the intent of both the Association of Academic Surgery (AAS) and Society of University Surgeons (SUS) to bring together the nation’s leading authorities to present and discuss their most recent clinical and research efforts. The 2007 program includes special topics on “Surgical Innovation, Investigation and the IRB,” “Maintenace of Board Certification”, “ACS Certifying Education Centers for Excellence,” and a new clinical topics session on Minimally Invasive Surgery. AAS R e s e a r c h Awa r d s The Association for Academic Surgery is pleased to announce the winners of three academic development grants: the 2007 Student Travel Grant is awarded to Bafemi Pratt; the 2007 Student Research Grant is awarded to John Steinberg; and the 2007 Roslyn Faculty Grant is awarded to Eric T. Kimchi, MD. Mr. Pratt received his undergraduate training at the University of Chicago and is presently attending Harvard Medical School. During his third year of medical school, he received the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship, which enabled him to spend two years performing outcomes research. This work has led to a first author publication in the Annals of Surgery, in addition to presentations at the SSAT, AHPBA, and Pancreas Club. Mr. Pratt also expects to receive a Masters Degree from the Harvard School of Public Health for this work. AAS R e s i d e n t Research Awa r d Ava i l a b l e The AAS is pleased to offer the 2007 Resident Research Award. You may download the application from the AAS website: www.aasurg.org Mr. Steinberg received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and is presently a MD/PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins University who expects to receive his dual degree this spring. In his thesis work, Mr. Steinberg defined the molecular mechanisms involved in cerebellar long-term depression. This work was published in Science with Mr. Pratt as co-first author. He has also received the Dinesh Thekdi Young Investigator Award from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for his outstanding thesis research. Dr. Kimchi is a graduate of The Penn State College of Medicine who completed his surgical residency at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. During this time he was awarded the Helen DeRoy Research Fellowship in surgery and immunology. He furthered his surgical training at The University of Chicago where he completed a fellowship in surgical oncology. There, he received the Dennis and Claire Nardoni Surgical Oncology Research Fellowship, which led to a first author publication in Cancer Research, as well as other publications. Dr. Kimchi returned to the Penn State College of Medicine in July of 2005 as a member of the Section of Surgical Oncology. Since his arrival he has assumed a prominent role as part of the Program for Liver, Pancreas, and Foregut Tumors within the Penn State Cancer Institute. As a young faculty investigator, he has received clinical and basic science grants for research in hepatocellular cancer. The deadline for applications is January 19, 2007. 4