Welcome to the Young Fellows Association of the American College of Surgeons
In 1969, the American College of Surgeons established the Committee on Young Surgeons, an organization limited to 15 Fellows and Associate Fellows under the age of 45, who were charged with making College activities meaningful to young surgeons in all specialties.
By 2007, the Committee recognized that there were many young surgeons who fit our demographic who had no way to become more involved in the ACS, despite their enthusiasm and good ideas. The idea for the Young Fellows Association grew from this idea: that all young Fellows, not just a sample of 15, should have an opportunity to work within the structure of the ACS.
The structure of the YFA will seem familiar to those young surgeons who were involved in the Resident and Associate Society (RAS) of the College. There are officers and an executive committee whose positions are confirmed by the Regents. The primary structure of the Association is its workgroups. The workgroups are modeled after the primary divisions of the College, and often work with the staff of those divisions.
The four workgroups are: Advocacy, chaired by Sanjay Parikh, MD, FACS; Communications, chaired by Laurel Soot, MD, FACS; Education, chaired by Wayne Frederick, MD, FACS, and Member Services, chaired by Rob Todd, MD, FACS. Each group has a list of goals and objectives. All of the workgroups are open to the ideas and participation of any young Fellow. If you have an idea which doesn’t seem to fit in any workgroup, please contact me at youngfellows@facs.org.
The members of the Young Fellows Association hope that many young surgeons will take this opportunity to take advantage of your position in the American College of Surgeons, the strongest organization of surgeons in the world.
Mark Savarise, MD, FACS
Chair