In 1979, the annual business
meeting was held in conjunction with the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly March 13-14 at the
Omni International Hotel. The program consisted of presentations by Robert Condon, Richard Egdahl,
James C. Thompson, Jonathan Van Heerden, Rainey Williams and Robert M. Zollinger. The meeting
was a resounding success. At the business meeting of the Chapter, the By-Laws were amended to
allow the inclusion of the State Cancer Liaison Fellow, the Chairman of the State Trauma
Committee and the Chairman of the Education Committee to serve as ex-officio members of the
Council. A second 1979 meeting was held during the MAG Scientific Assembly at the Omni
International Hotel. Guest speakers included William M. Thompson of Duke, Marion Anderson
from the Medical University of South Carolina and Robert Vaughan of Columbus, Georgia.
In 1980, the first meeting occurred March 17-19, in concert with the Atlanta
Graduate Medical Assembly at the Omni International Hotel. At this time, "Two Days of Surgery"
were presented and the guest speakers included Samuel A. Wells, John J. Bergan, and Roger Sherman.
The second 1980 meeting also occurred at the Omni International Hotel on November 21st.
This was a breakfast meeting for the Council and a business meeting at lunch.
In 1981, the spring meeting of the Georgia Chapter occurred on March 23rd
at the Colony Square Hotel in Atlanta. The council met at 7:00 A.M. and the members met for
the annual business meeting at noon for lunch. The speaker was John Jesseph, M.D., past Chairman
of the American Board of Surgery who gave an interesting talk on "The College, the Board and
Recertification". At the Council meeting, LaMar McGinnis, Secretary, presented a report regarding
the articles of incorporation. The new By-Laws were adopted as submitted.
The fall meeting of 1981 occurred November 20-21 at the Omni International
Hotel during the MAG Scientific Assembly. Speakers included Tom DeMeester, C. William McGarity
and Jerome R. DeCosse of New York who spoke on "The Place for Radical Mastectomy In the Treatment
of Breast Cancer".
By 1982, a definite pattern had emerged regarding meetings of the Georgia Chapter.
In the Spring, the Chapter met with the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly for a business meeting
and scientific program and in the fall they met during the MAG Scientific Assembly. In 1982, the
Spring meeting occurred on April 5-6 at the Colony Square Hotel in Atlanta. Speakers included
Herand Abcarian, Philip Gordon, Burt Myers, Hiram Polk and Harlan Stone. The fall meeting in
1982 occurred on October 31st at the Omni International Hotel. The Board of Directors met at
7:00 A.M. (The designations, "Council" and "Board of Directors", were used interchangeably in
the minutes during these years). The speakers included William Ferrante, Raul Ramos and Robert
Condon.
In 1983, the pattern of two meetings was repeated. In contrast to previous years,
the Spring meeting was held not with the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly but at the Medical
College of Georgia in Augusta on March 26-27. The Fall meeting was held November 18-19 during
the MAG Scientific Assembly at the Colony Square Hotel in Atlanta. Resident papers were presented
and M. Rick Timms won the first prize of $500.00.
In 1984, the Spring meeting was held at Emory University School of Medicine March
24-25. There was a dinner for new initiates on the evening of March 23rd at the Cherokee Town Club
hosted by LaMar McGinnis. The Board of Directors met for breakfast and the Chapter business
meeting was held at lunch on March 24th. Speakers at this meeting included William McGarity,
Maurice Jurkiewicz, Richard Ricketts and Tom Shires.
The Fall 1984 meeting occurred November 16-17 at the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton
Hotel in Atlanta during the MAG Scientific Assembly. At this meeting it was decided that beginning
in 1985, that the Fall meeting would consist of a Board of Directors meeting, a speaker of
national recognition and a cocktail party and dinner for members and spouses. It was further
decided that henceforth the Spring meeting would be the major educational meeting. The Board
of Directors met at breakfast and this was followed by a SESAP review course. The Chapter
business meeting occurred at noon. The speakers at this meeting included Talmadge Bowden,
Robert Nesbitt, Richard Treat, and Arlie Mansberger.
The spring meeting in 1985 occurred March 30-31 at the Mercer University School
of Medicine in Macon. Outstanding speakers made this a truly memorable meeting. The speakers
included Robert M. Zollinger, Will C. Sealy, and Gilbert S. Campbell. The fall meeting occurred
during the MAG Scientific Assembly at the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta on November
23rd. There was a breakfast meeting of the Board of Directors followed by a "Risk Management
Course" interrupted by a business meeting that occurred at lunch. Speakers at this meeting
included Eugene O. Harrison and Arlie Mansberger.
In 1986, the spring meeting occurred at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Savannah
on March 21-23. Robert Gongaware was Chairman of the program and there were several speakers
including Carl Boyd, Isodore Cohn, Jr., and Peter Scardino. An interesting address was given
on "Socio-Economic Problems in Surgery" by J. Roy Rowland, Congressman. The fall meeting
occurred in Atlanta at the World Congress Center on November 9th. There were invited speakers,
committee reports, but apparently there was no scientific session. There were some interesting
addresses, including C. Rollins Hanlon who spoke on "The College of Surgeons Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow". Maurice Jurkiewicz spoke on "Ethics and Surgical Practice" and Frank Spencer
spoke on the "Liability Insurance Crisis". This was followed by a panel discussion moderated
by Dean Warren. Gradually, the officers and members were coming to the concept of one major
annual meeting to be held independent of other organizations including MAG and the Atlanta
Graduate Medical Assembly and an interim meeting of the Board of Directors.
In 1987, the spring meeting occurred at the Medical College of Georgia in
Augusta on April 3-5. Scientific papers were presented by Talmadge Bowden, Charles Wray,
Robert Johnson, Robert Nesbitt, Richard Treat and Michael Hawkins. The Fall meeting occurred
at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta on November 20-21. On November 20th, the SESAP
V review was presented followed by a Board of Directors meeting.
In 1988, the spring meeting occurred at Emory University School of Medicine
on April 15-17. The speakers included Donald Trunkey, Dean Warren, John Bostwick, and Robert
Guyton. The resident competition consisted of Randall Bolar from Eisenhower, Grant Carlson
from Emory, Paul DeLuca from Memorial Medical Center, Tracy Lowery from Mercer and Michael
Tolson from MCG. The Board of Directors met in the Board room of the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead
Hotel on Friday evening, April 15, 1988. The 1988 fall meeting was for the Board of
Directors only and occurred at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta on November 11th.
Dr. Gongaware requested abstracts for the spring meeting from the membership and committee
reports were given.
The spring meeting for 1989 was originally planned for the Mercer University
School of Medicine in Macon but for some reason it was changed to The Cloister where the
meeting occurred March 3-5. This was the first meeting at the Cloister since 1961. All
annual meetings since 1989 have occurred at the Cloister. Resident's papers were presented
with first place going to Gregory A. Delaurier of Augusta on "The Correlation of Elevated
Peritoneal Fluid Lactic Acid with Progressive Bowel Strangulation in Dogs". Second place
went to Matthew Jerles of Atlanta, "Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Experience with 100
Consecutive Surgical Patients". For the Board of Directors' the Fall 1989 meeting occurred
during the Georgia Surgical Society meeting at The Cloister in September.
Thus, in 1989 a pattern emerged that has persisted through 2000.
The Spring Meeting would be held in March at The Cloister and an interim Board of
Directors meeting would be held in September during the annual meeting of the Georgia
Surgical Society.
In 1990, the annual Spring Meeting was held at The Cloister March 8-11.
Attendance was better than usual and it was decided to continue meeting annually at The
Cloister during the second weekend in the month of March. However, in an immediate break
with tradition, the 1991 meeting was held February 22-24 due to scheduling problems at The
Cloister. The Scientific meeting was held on Saturday, February 23rd and Sunday, February
24th. There were six resident papers presented on February 23rd and the resident awards
were presented on Sunday morning, February 24th. One of the highlights of this meeting
was a paper by LaMar McGinnis entitled, "Clinical Trials-The Need for More Involvement
by Surgeons and Hospitals". Dr. McGinnis stressed the need for increased involvement
in clinical trials currently being recommended by the American Cancer Society.
In 1992, the meeting occurred at The Cloister March 12-15. The first prize
in the Residents' Competition was presented by Joe Bowden, Program Chairman, to J. Allen Stevick,
M.D. Ellis Keener, incoming President presented a plaque to John P. Wilson for "all of his
distinguished and unselfish services to the Georgia Chapter". Also, at the 1992 meeting,
the first annual Chapter golf tournament was inaugurated.
In 1993, the meeting occurred at The Cloister March 11-14. At the council
meeting prior to the annual meeting, the Chairs of Surgery at the four medical schools in
Georgia were appointed ex-officio members of the Chapter Council (Board of Directors).
This included Tom Gadacz of the Medical College of Georgia, Martin Dalton of Mercer University,
William Wood of Emory and Mark Walker of Morehouse. The Scientific meeting was extended to
three days and began on Friday, March 12th. There were morning papers highlighted by a
presentation by a visiting distinguished surgeon, Richard J. Field, Jr., of Centreville,
Mississippi and a Regent of the American College of Surgeons. This meeting is remembered
for the fierce winter storm that blew over gigantic potted trees at The Cloister and on
several occasions disrupted the meeting by loss of power. At 1:00 A.M. on Saturday,
March 13, 1993, a massive winter storm began with snow falling as far south as Macon.
The temperature was low and the wind was horrendous to the extent that the golf
tournament was cancelled. Interestingly enough, a resident, Andrew Calcutt of Mercer
was in the middle of his paper when the loss of power totally extinguished illumination
both of his slides and the light on the lectern. Nevertheless, Calcutt bravely
continued to give his entire paper without benefit of any electrical power whatsoever.
For this he received a warm round of applause and eventually second prize with first
prize going to Steve Eubanks of Georgia Baptist Medical Center. Significantly,
the meeting ended on a brighter note as the sun shone on Sunday, March 14th as we
were departing the Cloister and leaving this interesting meeting of intellects
and inclement weather.
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