We send our thoughts, prayers, gratitude and respect to the health care workers in the greater New York City area and other U.S. regions, as well as those in countries around the world who are fighting for patients in the epicenters of COVID-19. In this section, surgeons share their experiences.

Video Interviews with Our Surgical Colleagues

• Patrick V. Bailey, MD, MLS, FACS, Medical Director, Advocacy, American College of Surgeons
• Wael K. Barsoum, MD, CEO and President, Cleveland Clinic Florida
• Badma Bashankaev, MD, FACS, FASCRS, Health Advisor to the Head of the Republic of Kalmykia, Russia, and chief of surgery, Global Medical System Clinics and Hospitals
• Aneel Bhangu, MBChB, FRCS, PhD, Senior Lecturer and Clinician Scientist in Global Surgery and Honorary Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon, University Hospital Birmingham, UK
• Jo Buyske, MD, FACS, DABS, President and CEO, American Board of Surgery, and Adjunct Professor of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
• Robert K. Cleary, MD, FACS, FASCRS, Colon and Rectal Surgeon, IHA Colon & Rectal Surgery, Ypsilanti, MI
• Delia Cortes-Guiral, MD, PhD, ECPSO, General and Digestive Surgeon and Colo-rectal Cancer Consultant at King Khalid Hospital, Saudi Arabia, and at Hospital Universitario Principe de Asturias, Madrid
• Raul Cutait, MD, PhD, professor of surgery, Universidade de São Paulo School of Medicine, and chief, colorectal surgery, Hospital Sírio-Libanês, São Paulo, Brazil
• Conor P. Delaney, MD, MCh, PhD, FACS, FRCSI, FASCRS, FRCSI (Hon), Chair, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute at Cleveland Clinic, the Victor W. Fazio, MD, Endowed Chair in Colorectal Surgery, and Professor of Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine
• Lord Darzi of Denham, OM, KBE, PC, FRS, FACS(Hon), FREng(Hon), FMedSci, Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College in London, England
• Paula Ferrada, MD, FACS, Chair, ACS Young Fellows Association; director, surgical critical care fellowship program; professor of surgery, department of surgery, division of acute care surgical services; and medical director, surgical and trauma intensive care unit, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond
• Abe Fingerhut, MD, FACS(Hon), FRCPS(G), FRCS(Ed)(Hon), FASCRS(Hon), Consultant, Ruijin Hospital, Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, and Section for Surgical Research, Medical University of Graz, Austria; and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Annals of Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Surgery (ALES)
• Julie Ann Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS, CEO, Wake Forest Baptist Health, and Dean, Wake Forest School of Medicine
• Mary T. Hawn, MD, MPH, FACS, Emile Holman Professor in Surgery and chair, department of surgery, Stanford University, CA
• Robert S.D. Higgins, MD, MSHA, FACS, Director, Chair, and Surgeon-in-Chief at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and President of the Society of Surgical Chairs
• Art Hiranyakas, MD, PhD, FACS, FASCRS, FRCST, FSCRST(Hon), FRCFPT, FICS, Director, Bangkok-Phuket Colorectal Disease Institute; Director, Colorectal Surgery Clinic, Bangkok Hospital; and Secretary General, ACS Thailand Chapter
• David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons
• Jakob Izbicki, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), Professor of Surgery and Chairman, Department of General Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, and Surgeon-in-Chief, University of Hamburg, Germany
• Prof. Charles H. Knowles, MBBChir, PhD, FRCS, FRCS (Gen Surg), Professor of Surgery, Barts Health NHS Trust and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London; Director, National Bowel Research Centre; and Deputy Director of Research, The Blizard Institute, UK
• Mousa Khoursheed, BMBCH, FRCS, FACS, FASMBS, Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kuwait University, Kuwait City
• Julio Mayol, MD, PhD, Chief Medical and Innovation Officer and Professor of Surgery, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Madrid, Spain
• Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, FACS, ACS Regent; Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chairman, department of surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College; and surgeon-in-chief, New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY
• Professor Neil Mortensen, MB, ChB, MA, MD, FRCS Eng Hon FRCS (Glasg), FRCSI (Hon), Hon FRCS (Ed), Hon FACS, President-Elect of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Emeritus Chair of Colorectal Surgery at Oxford University, U.K.
• Venky Munikrishnan, MD, MRCS, FRCS, Consultant Colorectal & Robotic Surgeon and Director, Institute of Colorectal Surgery, Apollo Main Hospitals Chennai, India
• Heidi Nelson, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Cancer Programs, American College of Surgeons
• Ronan O’Connell, MB, BCh, BAO, MD, FRCSI, FRCSP Glas(Hon), FRCS Edin(Hon), FRCS Eng(Hon), FASA(Hon), FCSHK(Hon), Vice-President Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; President Elect European Surgical Association; and Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University College Dublin
• Christopher A. Ohl, MD, FIDSA, FACP, Professor of Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Frank Opelka, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Quality and Health Policy, American College of Surgeons
• Melissa S. Pessin, MD, PhD, Chair, Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Gary W. Procop, MD, MS, Director, Molecular Microbiology, Mycology, Parasitology, and Virology Laboratories, Cleveland Clinic
• Sameer Siddiqui, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery, Division Chief of Urology, Interim Chair, Department of Surgery, St. Louis University, MO
• Antonino Spinelli, MD, PhD, FASCRS, Chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery at Humanitas University Hospital in central Milan, Italy
• Steven C. Stain, MD, FACS, ACS Regent and Henry and Sally Schaffer Chair and Professor, Department of Surgery, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY
• Beth H. Sutton, MD, FACS, Chair, ACS Board of Regents, and a surgeon in private practice in Wichita Falls, TX
• Gary L. Timmerman, MD, FACS, attending surgeon, Sanford Surgical Associates; professor and chair, department of surgery, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD; and ACS Regent
• Patricia L. Turner, MD, FACS, Director, Division of Member Services, American College of Surgeons
• John J. Vargo, MD, MPH, AGAF, FACG, FACP, FASGE, Director, Endoscopic Operations; Director, Endoscopic Innovation and Research; Head, Section of Advanced Endoscopy; Chairman Emeritus, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic; and President, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)
• Andrew R. Watson, MD, MLitt, FACS, FATA, Physician, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery; Vice President, Clinical Information Technology Transformation, International Division; and Medical Director, Telemedicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; and Past-President of the American Telemedicine Association

ACS Regent Anthony Atala, MD, FACS
Mask the City

ACS India Chapter President Professor Chintamani Chintamani, MS, FACS, FRCS(Ed), FRCS(Eng), FRCS(Glas), FRCS(Irel), FICS(Surg Oncol), FIMSA
Perspective from India

Board of Governors Member Nancy Gantt, MD, FACS
A Message Encouraging Well Being and Use of the ACS COVID-19 Registry

YFA Member Haytham Kaafarani, MD, FACS, MPH
Treating COVID-19 Patients at Massachusetts General Hospital

Jennifer Knight Davis, MD, FACS, trauma and critical care surgeon at West Virginia University Medicine, Morgantown
Insights from a Young Fellows Association Member

YFA Member Nicolas J. Mouawad, MD, FACS, MPH, MBA, RPVI
Michigan at the Epicenter in the Midwest

YFA Member Mayur Narayan, MD, MPH, MBA, MHPE, FACS, FCCM, FICS, Weill Cornell Medical Center
Fighting the Pandemic in NYC

Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, surgical oncologist for Weill Cornell Medicine and Second Vice-President-Elect, American College of Surgeons, and other physicians explain why COVID-19 may be more dangerous for African Americans to TIME Reports with Katie Couric.

YFA Member Rishi Rattan, MD, FACS, Ryder Trauma Center, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL
Diagnosing COVID-19

Juan Carlos Salamea, MD, University of Azuay, Hospital Universitario del Río, Cuenca, Ecuador
Fighting COVID-19 in South America

Jon Stanford, MD, FACS, Carrollton Surgery Group, Carrollton, GA
Recovering from COVID-19: A Surgeon’s Experience with the Virus

John H. Stewart, IV, MD, MBA, FACS, Chair, ACS Advisory Council for General Surgery, and Chair, Council of ACS Advisory Chairs
Equanimity Under Duress

ACS Spain Governor Antonio Torres, MD, FACS
“A Tough and Hard Disease”: His Experience Treating COVID-19 and as a Patient Himself

Maria Tudela Lerma, MD, PhD, general surgeon at Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
Insights from a Young Fellows Association Member

Tanya Zakrison, MD, MPH, FACS, acute care and trauma surgeon and Associate Professor, University of Chicago Medicine, IL
Surgeon Discusses How Trauma-Informed Care Can Clarify Nonmedical Effects of COVID-19

Prasad S. Adusumilli, MD, FACS, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY
Stopping Is Not an Option

Samuel P. Carmichael II, MD, MS, acute care surgeon, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Wake Forest Surgeon Discusses Life in the Time of COVID-19

Prof. Ian D. S. Civil, BSc, MBChB, FRACS, FACS, FACS(Hon), Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Auckland, and general and vascular surgeon and director of trauma services, Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand
COVID-19 Response in New Zealand

Daniel Herron, MD, FACS, chief of bariatric surgery, Mount Sinai in Manhattan, New York, NY
The Surgical Chief Changing Soiled Bedsheets

Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, FACS, Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor, Chairman of Surgery, and Surgeon-in-Chief, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
Fighting COVID-19 at New York-Presbyterian in New York City

Cynthia Talley, MD, FACS, vice-chair of education and associate professor, division of general surgery/trauma acute care, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, and member of the American College of Surgeons Young Fellows Association
Coping with Financial Distress

Gilbert R. Upchurch, Jr., MD, FACS, Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine
Insights from a Surgeon from the University of Florida College of Medicine

Anthony J. Vine, MD, FACS, Asst. Clinical Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Updates from Mount Sinai Health System
Return Home
Return to “Normalcy”?
A Message of Solidarity