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Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
ACS
Awards

Martin Memorial Lecture Presenters

Established 1946

This lecture was established in 1946 to honor Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS, founder of the American College of Surgeons, and his wife, Isabelle Hollister Martin. Starting in 2008, the Martin Memorial Lecture became the keynote lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the Clinical Congress and is sponsored by the American Urological Association (AUA). The AUA previously sponsored the AUA Lecture scheduled in this time slot.

Nominations for this lecture come from the College’s Honors Committee with consultation by the Advisory Council for Urology.

Year

Lecturer

Lecture Title

2024 Lester Martinez-Lopez Combat Trauma: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges for Surgery
2023 Gordon L. Telford Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From Rural Boyhood to Distinguished Surgeon
2022 David B. Hoyt Reflections
2021 Anthony S. Fauci COVID-19: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges
2020 Norman (Ned) E. Sharpless Assuring Progress in Cancer Research During Challenging Times
2019 Nina A. Totenberg The Health of the Supreme Court
2018 Francis S. Collins NIH: The National Institutes of Hope
2017 David R. Williams Personal Best: Reflections of a Physician Astronaut on Leadership and Teamwork
2016 Delos M. Cosgrove Doctors in Distress: The Burnout Crisis
2015 Paul E. Farmer Addressing Unmet Surgical Need: The Role of Academic Surgery
2014 W. Marston Linehan Targeting the Genetic and Metabolic Basis of Cancer
2013 David McCullough Something New, Something Old, With Renewed Force: The Role of History and Innovation in Medicine
2012 Michael R. Harrison Surgical Innovation=What If + Why Not?
2011 C. David Naylor Too Big to Fail? Health Care Reform in the U.S. and Canada
2010 Anthony Atala Regenerative Medicine: New Approaches to Health Care
2009 Glenn D. Steele, Jr. Re-engineering Systems of Care – Surgical Leadership
2008 Peter Neupert Translating the Power of Software for Optimal Patient Care
2007 Prof. Sir Richard G.A. Feacham Fighting the Great Pandemics: Challenges and Opportunities
2006 Catherine DeAngelis Scientific Conflict of Interest - Facts and Friction
2005 Donald Kennedy Science and Politics: How Rich a Mixture Do We Want?
2004 Leonard M. Shlain The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: Brain Lateralization and Its Effect on History, Religion & Gender Relations
2003 Richard L. Cruess Professionalism, The Profession, and Public Policy
2002 Seymour I. Schwartz From Mainz to Modem with Martin in the Middle
2001 David B. Hoyt & Donald E. Fry Unconventional Civilian Disasters: What the Surgeon Should Know
2000 Harold T. Shapiro High Anxiety: The Interface of Ethics, Biomedicine and Public Policy
1999 Sir Miles Horsfall Irving Health Technology Assessment: The Way Forward for Surgery
1998 Uwe E. Reinhardt Who Will “Manage” Health Care in the New Millennium?
1997 Senator William H. Frist Operating Outside the Theatre: New Challenges for Leadership
1996 Mary-Claire King From Families with Breast Cancer: Clues for New Therapies
1995 John Rowe Controlling Health Care Expenditures at the End of Life
1994 Philip Leder The New Genetics: Hype and Hope
1993 W. French Anderson Human Gene Therapy
1992 Louis C. Lasagna Is Medicine the New Dismal Science?
1991 Robert M. Zollinger Let's Improve Our Image
1990 J. Michael Bishop Oncogenes: Bench to Bedside
1989 J. W. Marriott, III Mayo Cares
1988 Albert R. Jonsen Aesculapius as American Doctor
1987 No Lecture (Invited lecturer unable to attend.)
1986 C. Rollins Hanlon The Delusions of Unity
1985 Hon. Jeane Kirkpatrick (No formal title submitted. The lecture dealt with current U.S.-international relations.)
1984 Eli Ginzberg American Medicine: The Power Shift
1983 Alistair Cooke An Hour (or less) of American Medical Humor
1982 A. Bartlett Giamatti The Role of the Federal Government in Higher Education
1981 Steven Muller Higher Learning in America: For Whom and for What?
1980 Alton Ochsner To Our Founder, Franklin H. Martin, with Reflections and Concerns
1979 Hon. Paul Rogers Government in Health: Too Much or Too Little?
1978 John Lister Medicine, Politics and Society
1977 Theodore Cooper Federal Policy and Medical Practice
1976 Alexander Heard Public Policy and the Paradoxes of Plenty
1975 J. Englebert Dunphy Look Back for Tomorrow
1974 Rene Dubos Medical Utopias and the Art of Living
1973 Harry Schwartz American Medicine after Watergate
1972 Governor Ronald Reagan Socialized Doctors Have Socialized Patients
1971 Philip Handler Science and Societal Expectations
1970 Elliot L. Richardson We Cannot Strive for Anything Less
1969 George W. Beadle Man's Inheritance: Biological and Cultural
1968 William G. Pollard The Earth as a Spaceship
1967 Senator Lister Hill That Magnificent Institution Called Surgery
1966 Howard Pyle Safety - Preventive Medicine
1965 Alfred M. Gruenther Where Do We Stand in this Troubled World?
1964 Werner Von Braun Space - The New Challenge
1963 Lauris Norstad Atlantic Alliance in Review and Prospect
1962 J. Irwin Miller Where Do We Go from Here?
1961 Hyman G. Rickover Education in a Free Society
1960 Wendell M. Stanley Proved and Prospective Relationships Between Viruses and Cancer
1958 Leroy E. Burney Physicians for Tomorrow
1957 Hon. Robert Cutler Fusing Together of Disciplines
1956 Vannevar Bush Professional Collaboration
1955 Grayson L. Kirk Current Dilemmas for Doctors and Others
1954 Alan Gregg Horizons at Half Century
1953 Sir James Paterson Ross Science and Surgery
1952 Donald C. Balfour Hippocratic Principles in the Evolution of Gastric Surgery
1951 Paul B. Magnuson Remove Not the Ancient Landmark
1950 Sir Geoffrey Jefferson Balance of Life and Death in Cerebral Lesions
1949 Sir James Learmonth Collateral Circulation, Natural and Artificial
1948 Clarence Craford Some Aspects of the Development of Intrathoracic Surgery
1947 Allen O. Whipple Qualifications of the Surgeon and the Cancer Problem
1946 Edward D. Churchill American Surgeon, A.U.S.

Year

Lecturer

Lecture Title

2024 Lester Martinez-Lopez Combat Trauma: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges for Surgery
2023 Gordon L. Telford Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From Rural Boyhood to Distinguished Surgeon
2022 David B. Hoyt Reflections
2021 Anthony S. Fauci COVID-19: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges
2020 Norman (Ned) E. Sharpless Assuring Progress in Cancer Research During Challenging Times
2019 Nina A. Totenberg The Health of the Supreme Court
2018 Francis S. Collins NIH: The National Institutes of Hope
2017 David R. Williams Personal Best: Reflections of a Physician Astronaut on Leadership and Teamwork
2016 Delos M. Cosgrove Doctors in Distress: The Burnout Crisis
2015 Paul E. Farmer Addressing Unmet Surgical Need: The Role of Academic Surgery
2014 W. Marston Linehan Targeting the Genetic and Metabolic Basis of Cancer
2013 David McCullough Something New, Something Old, With Renewed Force: The Role of History and Innovation in Medicine
2012 Michael R. Harrison Surgical Innovation=What If + Why Not?
2011 C. David Naylor Too Big to Fail? Health Care Reform in the U.S. and Canada
2010 Anthony Atala Regenerative Medicine: New Approaches to Health Care
2009 Glenn D. Steele, Jr. Re-engineering Systems of Care – Surgical Leadership
2008 Peter Neupert Translating the Power of Software for Optimal Patient Care
2007 Prof. Sir Richard G.A. Feacham Fighting the Great Pandemics: Challenges and Opportunities
2006 Catherine DeAngelis Scientific Conflict of Interest - Facts and Friction
2005 Donald Kennedy Science and Politics: How Rich a Mixture Do We Want?
2004 Leonard M. Shlain The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: Brain Lateralization and Its Effect on History, Religion & Gender Relations
2003 Richard L. Cruess Professionalism, The Profession, and Public Policy
2002 Seymour I. Schwartz From Mainz to Modem with Martin in the Middle
2001 David B. Hoyt & Donald E. Fry Unconventional Civilian Disasters: What the Surgeon Should Know
2000 Harold T. Shapiro High Anxiety: The Interface of Ethics, Biomedicine and Public Policy
1999 Sir Miles Horsfall Irving Health Technology Assessment: The Way Forward for Surgery
1998 Uwe E. Reinhardt Who Will “Manage” Health Care in the New Millennium?
1997 Senator William H. Frist Operating Outside the Theatre: New Challenges for Leadership
1996 Mary-Claire King From Families with Breast Cancer: Clues for New Therapies
1995 John Rowe Controlling Health Care Expenditures at the End of Life
1994 Philip Leder The New Genetics: Hype and Hope
1993 W. French Anderson Human Gene Therapy
1992 Louis C. Lasagna Is Medicine the New Dismal Science?
1991 Robert M. Zollinger Let's Improve Our Image
1990 J. Michael Bishop Oncogenes: Bench to Bedside
1989 J. W. Marriott, III Mayo Cares
1988 Albert R. Jonsen Aesculapius as American Doctor
1987 No Lecture (Invited lecturer unable to attend.)
1986 C. Rollins Hanlon The Delusions of Unity
1985 Hon. Jeane Kirkpatrick (No formal title submitted. The lecture dealt with current U.S.-international relations.)
1984 Eli Ginzberg American Medicine: The Power Shift
1983 Alistair Cooke An Hour (or less) of American Medical Humor
1982 A. Bartlett Giamatti The Role of the Federal Government in Higher Education
1981 Steven Muller Higher Learning in America: For Whom and for What?
1980 Alton Ochsner To Our Founder, Franklin H. Martin, with Reflections and Concerns
1979 Hon. Paul Rogers Government in Health: Too Much or Too Little?
1978 John Lister Medicine, Politics and Society
1977 Theodore Cooper Federal Policy and Medical Practice
1976 Alexander Heard Public Policy and the Paradoxes of Plenty
1975 J. Englebert Dunphy Look Back for Tomorrow
1974 Rene Dubos Medical Utopias and the Art of Living
1973 Harry Schwartz American Medicine after Watergate
1972 Governor Ronald Reagan Socialized Doctors Have Socialized Patients
1971 Philip Handler Science and Societal Expectations
1970 Elliot L. Richardson We Cannot Strive for Anything Less
1969 George W. Beadle Man's Inheritance: Biological and Cultural
1968 William G. Pollard The Earth as a Spaceship
1967 Senator Lister Hill That Magnificent Institution Called Surgery
1966 Howard Pyle Safety - Preventive Medicine
1965 Alfred M. Gruenther Where Do We Stand in this Troubled World?
1964 Werner Von Braun Space - The New Challenge
1963 Lauris Norstad Atlantic Alliance in Review and Prospect
1962 J. Irwin Miller Where Do We Go from Here?
1961 Hyman G. Rickover Education in a Free Society
1960 Wendell M. Stanley Proved and Prospective Relationships Between Viruses and Cancer
1958 Leroy E. Burney Physicians for Tomorrow
1957 Hon. Robert Cutler Fusing Together of Disciplines
1956 Vannevar Bush Professional Collaboration
1955 Grayson L. Kirk Current Dilemmas for Doctors and Others
1954 Alan Gregg Horizons at Half Century
1953 Sir James Paterson Ross Science and Surgery
1952 Donald C. Balfour Hippocratic Principles in the Evolution of Gastric Surgery
1951 Paul B. Magnuson Remove Not the Ancient Landmark
1950 Sir Geoffrey Jefferson Balance of Life and Death in Cerebral Lesions
1949 Sir James Learmonth Collateral Circulation, Natural and Artificial
1948 Clarence Craford Some Aspects of the Development of Intrathoracic Surgery
1947 Allen O. Whipple Qualifications of the Surgeon and the Cancer Problem
1946 Edward D. Churchill American Surgeon, A.U.S.