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SURGICAL VOLUNTEERISM AWARDS HONOR
SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS,
FOR SERVICE TO THE MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED

CHICAGO: Earlier this evening, seven members of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) were recognized for their selfless efforts as volunteer surgeons who provide care to medically underserved individuals in the United States and internationally. The following surgeons were named recipients of the 2009 Surgical Volunteerism Award of the College and the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative (PMHI): Edgar Rodas, MD, FACS, Cuenca, Ecuador, received the Surgical Humanitarian Award; Douglas P. Grey, MD, FACS, and William P. Schecter, MD, FACS, both of San Francisco, CA, were corecipients of the Surgical Volunteerism Award for domestic outreach; Glenn W. Geelhoed, MD, FACS, Washington, DC, received the Surgical Volunteerism Award for international outreach; Vance J. Moss, MD, FACS, and Vincent L. Moss, MD, FACS, both of Long Branch, NJ, were corecipients of the Surgical Volunteerism Award for military outreach; and Awori J.W. Hayanga, MD, MPH, received the inaugural Surgical Volunteerism Award for resident outreach. The Surgical Volunteerism Awards were presented in conjunction with the award program’s sponsor, the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.

The ACS/PMHI awards were presented during the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors dinner, which is one of the highlights of the College’s 95th Annual Clinical Congress being held in Chicago, IL. The volunteerism award is given “in recognition of those surgeons and surgical residents committed to giving something of themselves back to society by making significant contributions to surgical care through organized volunteer activities.”

Dr. Rodas received the 2009 American College of Surgeons/Pfizer Inc. Surgical Humanitarian Award, which recognizes surgeons who have dedicated a substantial portion of their career to ensuring the provision of surgical care to underserved populations without expectation of commensurate reimbursement. A native of Ecuador, Dr. Rodas has focused his entire surgical career on the profound need for access to quality medical care for his fellow Ecuadorians. His volunteerism efforts have included trips to remote areas of Ecuador in a specially created mobile surgical unit and a mobile surgical houseboat in which medical care us provided. He has also created the Cinterandes Foundation to promote human development and the improvement of individuals and the communities in which they live. Part of that activity is carried out by the organization’s Integral Family Health Program, which addresses issues related to health and well-being aside from surgical care.

Dr. Grey and Dr. Schecter were awarded the Surgical Humanitarian Award for domestic outreach in recognition of extensive work in their local community. In 1993, Dr. Grey and Dr. Schecter worked together to found Operation Access, a not-for-profit organization that provides surgical care to the uninsured in the San Francisco Bay area. For the last 16 years, both surgeons have worked with hundreds of medical professionals and local hospitals in the Bay area to provide outpatient surgical care to uninsured, low-income residents. In the process, their dedication helped make Operation Access a model program for providing surgical care, free of charge, to the uninsured.

Dr. Geelhoed was awarded the Surgical Volunteerism Award for international outreach in recognition of his more than 30-year participation in numerous medical missions to serve the medically underserved outside of the United States. Dr. Geelhoed’s dedication to surgical volunteerism has led him to provide uncompensated care to indigenous populations in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, and Central and South America. He has also served as an instructor to local health care professionals in the countries in which he has volunteered to ensure continuity of care, has lectured extensively on the importance of surgical volunteerism, and has actively recruited surgeons and other medical professsionals to serve on volunteerism trips.

Dr. Moss and Dr. Moss were awarded the Surgical Volunteerism Award for volunteer work performed while serving as active duty military surgeons. Their service in the United States Army Reserve Medical Corps gave them the opportunity to cosponsor and plan two missions to treat civilians outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom. During the missions, the Moss brothers and their team treated women and children living along the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan/Pakistan border who were suffering from a lack of medical treatment. Over the course of the missions, more than 6,000 civilians were treated, including operations on more than 2,000 patients.

Dr. Hayanga is the first recipient of the Surgical Volunteerism Award for volunteer work undertaken during surgical residency. He cofounded the Ruben J. Williams Foundation, an organization committed to improving the delivery of surgical care through the enhancement of surgical education in resource-poor regions in east Africa and developing active education and patient care networks by fostering connections among academic medical institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the US. The resulting relationships help facilitate curriculum enhancement, development of research into the delivery of health care, public and health care policy, and medical and surgical education. The foundation also supports epidemiological research regarding disparities in global health care delivery, oncology, and critical care.

Drs. Rodas, Grey, Schecter, Geelhoed, Moss, Moss, and Hayanga bring to 19 the total number of recipients of the ACS Surgical Volunteerism Award, which was inaugurated in 2003. The surgical volunteerism awardees are determined by the ACS Governors Committee on Socioeconomic Issues, and the awards are administered through the ACS Operation Giving Back program.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 75,000 members, and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www.facs.org.

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