Faculty
Chair
Andrew L. Warshaw, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), MAMSE
Dr. Warshaw, a graduate of Harvard College and of Harvard Medical School, trained in surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, as a clinical associate in the section on gastroenterology of the NIH, and as a research fellow in gastroenterology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 1972 he has been on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He became professor of surgery at Harvard in 1987 and, in 1997, became the W. Gerald Austen Professor of Surgery, surgeon-in-chief, and chair of the department of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, positions he held until 2011.
Dr. Warshaw has been president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the International Association of Pancreatology, the Massachusetts Chapter of the ACS, the New England Surgical Society, the Halsted Society, the Boston Surgical Society, the Society of Surgical Chairs, and the American Pancreatic Association. He was a director of the American Board of Surgery and its chair in 1993. He has served as a Governor of the ACS and chair of its Socioeconomic Issues Committee. In 1999, he conceived and began the ACS volunteerism program, which became Operation Giving Back. He has been First Vice-President of the College, a member of its Health Policy Steering Committee, and founding Chair of the ACS Political Action Committee. In 2007, he was elected Treasurer of ACS and was appointed Chair of its Health Policy and Advocacy Group. He was the President of the American College of Surgeons, 2014–2015. Currently he serves as physician director for Network Development and Integration at Massachusetts General Hospital. In this position he helps to develop clinical service lines that facilitate patient care, quality, and safety at MassGeneral’s community affiliates and subsidiaries, where he has also served on the Board of Trustees at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and Wentworth Douglass Hospital.
A renowned pancreatic surgeon, Dr. Warshaw has made important contributions to the diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of the pathogenesis of inflammatory and malignant lesions of the pancreas. His bibliography lists more than 500 original reports as well as 240 book chapters, reviews, and monographs and 15 books. He was editor-in-chief of the journal SURGERY (1997–2015). He has received the Master Educator Award of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Pancreatic Association, the Rudolf Nissen Medallion from the German Society of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, the Founders Medal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the James Ewing Medal of the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Award for the Advancement of Women from Harvard Medical School, the Nobility in Science Award of the National Pancreas Foundation, the Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award from Harvard Medical School, and is a Founding Member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.
Harvard Medical School has established the Warshaw Family Professorship in Surgery, honoring Dr. Warshaw’s career and accomplishments as a surgical leader. Massachusetts General Hospital created the Codman-Warshaw Chair for the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery, which he founded in 2001 to monitor clinical outcomes for quality improvement.
Co-Chair
Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, FACS, MAMSE
Dr. Michelassi is the Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chair, department of surgery and surgeonin-chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He earned his MD from the University of Pisa School of Medicine and completed his internship and surgical residency at New York University and a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University. Prior to joining New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell in 2004, Dr. Michelassi was on the faculty at the University of Chicago for 20 years, serving as vice chair of the surgery department and the Thomas D. Jones Professor of Surgery. He is an internationally renowned gastrointestinal surgeon with a strong expertise in the surgical treatment of gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancers and inflammatory bowel disease. A prolific author of more than 300 papers, book chapters, and abstracts, Dr. Michelassi has delivered many named and keynote lectures, has been invited to be a visiting professor at 75 national and international institutions, and has delivered more than 300 national and international presentations. He is associate editor of the Annals of Surgical Oncology and serves on the editorial board of five prestigious medical journals. Dr. Michelassi has served as president of many organizations, including the Society of Surgical Oncology, Illinois Surgical Society, Western Surgical Society, Central Surgical Association, Society of Surgical Chairs, New York Surgical Society, and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. A member of more than 45 professional societies in the United States and abroad, he has served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the ACS and is currently a member of the ACS Board of Regents.
Faculty
Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS, MAMSE
Dr. Freischlag is the chief executive officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and chief academic officer of Atrium Health. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top medical centers, Wake Forest Baptist includes a multihospital health system and physician network; the state-of-the-art Wake Forest University School of Medicine; and Wake Forest Innovations, its technology transfer and commercialization arm.
As chief academic officer, Dr. Freischlag oversees research and discovery for the entire Atrium Health academic enterprise, including all educational and research programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Cabarrus College and Carolinas College of Health Sciences. Previously, Dr. Freischlag served as vice chancellor for human health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis.
Dr. Freischlag has helped to drive change in academic medicine with a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion. She has led education and training programs at top medical schools in her role as professor and chair of surgery and vascular surgery departments. Dr. Freischlag also has many years of experience leading patient care services as chief of surgery or vascular surgery at nationally ranked hospitals. She served as professor, chair of the surgery department, and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She led initiatives to expand research, add specialty clinical services, improve patient-centered care and patient safety, redesign the surgical training program, and enhance academic career paths for faculty.
Her national leadership includes serving as a former governor and secretary of the Board of Governors and a regent and past-chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. She is the past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation, and past president of the Association of VA Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Chairs. Dr. Freischlag was the editor of JAMA Surgery for ten years (2005–2014) and is a member of the editorial boards of the Annals of Vascular Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and British Journal of Surgery.
She has published more than 300 manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters, primarily addressing the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease utilizing outcome data and clinical trials; additionally, she has published on burnout and work-life balance. Dr. Freischlag is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome. She has received numerous awards during her career and was also elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015. She has mentored students, residents, and young faculty and is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from her expertise in vascular diseases, teamwork and patient safety, leadership, and work-life balance to women succeeding in health professions. Dr. Freischlag has dedicated her career to serving as a role model for her students, a respected colleague across health professions, a strong community leader, and a national voice for improving health and healthcare.
Matthew M. Hutter, MD, MBA, MPH, FACS
Dr. Hutter is a general and gastrointestinal surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where his clinical work focuses on advanced laparoscopic, foregut and bariatric surgery. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, completed his surgical training and a fellowship in advanced laparoscopic and bariatric surgery at MGH. He is a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and earned a masters in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health and a master’s in business administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management He is director of the MGH Weight Center and the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery and also serves as an executive director of the MGH Department of Surgery Quality and Safety Program.
Dr. Hutter was elected by membership to be the president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) in 2019-20. He has been the chair of the Data Committee for the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP®) and has helped to lead the development and implementation of the national data collection system for bariatric surgery since its inception in 2005. Dr. Hutter has served as a member of the Board of Governors for the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, as chair of the Health Care Quality and Outcomes Committee for the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and as member of the Board of the Fellowship Council.
His overall academic focus is on the development, implementation, and responsible use of data collection systems in surgery, with a focus on assessing and improving the quality of surgical care.
Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS
Dr. Kaiser currently is a managing director in the Health Care Division of Alvarez and Marsal, an international consulting firm. Until January 1, 2020, he was the leading health sciences executive at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where he served as president and chief executive officer of the Temple University Health System, senior executive vice president of Health Affairs, and the Lewis Katz Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Prior to joining Temple University, Dr. Kaiser was the president of UTHealth, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Kaiser graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1977 and completed his residency in general surgery as well as a fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then completed a residency in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto. Following that, he held positions as thoracic surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and assistant professor of surgery at Cornell University Medical College (New York), and as an associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis).
At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Kaiser held a variety of positions, including chief of general thoracic surgery, founder and director of the university’s lung transplantation program, and director of its Center for Lung Cancers and Related Disorders. In 1996, he was named the Eldridge Eliason Professor of Surgery and in 2001 was named the John Rhea Barton Professor and chair of the department of surgery, as well as surgeon-in-chief for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Dr. Kaiser’s clinical interests include lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma, and mediastinal tumors. He is the author or co-author of 16 books and more than 300 original papers, and he serves on multiple editorial boards. Dr. Kaiser has served in a number of leadership capacities for professional societies and associations and has been a director of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. In 2005, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Melina R. Kibbe, MD, FACS, FAHA
Melina R. Kibbe, MD, is Dean, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science, and Chief Health Affairs Officer at UVA Health. Prior to arriving at UVA, she was Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and Colin G. Thomas, Jr. Distinguished Professor and an adjunct professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Before UNC, Dr. Kibbe was faculty at Northwestern University.
Clinically, Dr. Kibbe has significant experience with both open and endovascular surgery. Dr. Kibbe’s research interests focus on developing novel therapies for patients with vascular disease. She co-founded and is the chief medical officer for VesselTek BioMedical, LLC, a company that specializes in the development of medical devices to treat vascular disease. She has been continuously funded for her research since 2005 and her research was recognized by President Obama with a PECASE Award.
Her bibliography includes more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters. She has authored or co-authored more than 240 nationally and internationally presented abstracts. She has received numerous awards, including the Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) Lifeline Research Award, SVS Women’s Leadership Award, AMWA Gender Equity Award, AMSA Women Leaders in Medicine Award, Northwestern University Tripartite Award, Thomas Sheen Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, Presidential Citation from the Association of VA Surgeons, and the University of Chicago Distinguished Service Award. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. In recognition of her passion and dedication for education, she has received 24 awards for teaching excellence as faculty member.
Dr. Kibbe graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994. She completed her internship, residency, and research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and her vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kibbe completed a fellowship in The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Kibbe has assumed many national positions of leadership including acting as the current Editor in Chief for JAMA Surgery, as well as previously serving as president for the Association for Academic Surgery, Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, Association of VA Surgeons, and Surgical Biology Club II. In 2016, she was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine.
Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, FRCSI(Hon), FRCS(Hon), FRCSEd(Hon), FWACS(Hon), MAMSE
Dr. Pellegrini is a surgeon with expertise on surgical education, simulation, professionalism, and leadership. He is a pioneer in the development of technological surgical advancements and a world leader in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery. The son of two physicians, Dr. Pellegrini spent his childhood years in rural Argentina. He attended the University of Rosario Medical School and remained there for surgical training until 1975 when he emigrated to the U.S. and completed a second surgical residency at the University of Chicago. In 1979, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco. He remained there until 1993, when he moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, WA to become chair of the department of surgery. In his 23 years as department chair, he assumed many leadership roles in the highest decision-making bodies across UW Medicine and chaired many committees overseeing a vast array of work, including continuous professionalism improvement, diversity, and multidisciplinary practices.
In 2015, Dr. Pellegrini was appointed as the first chief medical officer of UW Medicine and as vice president for medical affairs, University of Washington to provide senior leadership for clinical practice standards across all UW Medicine sites of practice, a position he held until December 2018. As he retired from UW Medicine Dr. Pellegrini decided to apply his experience of more than 4 decades as a mentor, teacher, advisor, and trusted colleague, to help healthcare providers develop to their full potential, with emphasis on leadership skills. To that end, he obtained additional training at SeattleCoach and became an executive coach who focuses on coaching/mentoring healthcare executives.
Dr. Pellegrini is a Past-President of the ACS and the American Surgical Association. He participates in the highest leadership roles in regional, national, and international surgical societies. His bibliography includes more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, editorials, and books.
Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, FACS, MAMSE
Dr. Soper graduated from the University of Iowa School of Medicine; completed a residency in general surgery, including a year of laboratory investigation at the University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City, UT; and spent two years as an NIH-funded fellow at the Digestive Disease Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He joined the faculty of the department of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in 1988 and rose to the rank of professor of surgery. Dr. Soper was director of minimally invasive surgery at Washington University and he was one of the first academic surgeons performing laparoscopic surgery, which has defined his subsequent career. He was director of the Washington University Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery. In December 2003, Dr. Soper assumed the position of professor of surgery, vice chair for clinical affairs, and director of MIS at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In July 2007, he was appointed the Loyal and Edith Davis Professor and chair of the department of surgery at Northwestern University and surgeon-inchief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and he resigned from this position in 2019. He is currently the Chair of the Department of Surgery at Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix, as well as the Physician Executive Director.
Dr. Soper’s research interests have revolved around the applications of minimally invasive surgery for gastrointestinal disease, gallstones, and benign esophageal disorders. More recently, he has been involved in the early clinical experience with natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, including peroral esophageal myotomy (POEM) for achalasia. He has published more than 200 manuscripts, edited 17 textbooks, and authored more than 100 book chapters. Dr. Soper is on the editorial boards of Annals of Surgery, Surgical Endoscopy, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, and Surgical Innovation. He has been named in The Best Doctors in America from 1991 through the present and has lectured extensively. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including Alpha Omega Alpha, the ACS (including its Board of Governors), the American Surgical Association, Society of Clinical Surgeons, and the Society of University Surgeons. Dr. Soper is past-president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the International Society of Digestive Surgery, the Central Surgical Association and the St. Louis Surgical Society. Dr. Soper was elected as a Founding Member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2018.
Beth H. Sutton, MD, FACS
Dr. Sutton has been in the private practice of general surgery since 1981, when she completed a surgical residency at Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. She participates in the call schedule for the Level II trauma center and acute care surgery service at United Regional Health Care System in Wichita Falls, Texas where her practice is located. She has served on almost every hospital committee and the hospital board and is a past-president of the medical staff. She has been Secretary and President of the Texas Surgical Society and President of the North Texas Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. She has been on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors and is a past Chair of the Board of Regents. She currently serves on multiple ACS Committees.
Gary L. Timmerman, MD, FACS, MAMSE
Dr. Timmerman hails from the upper Midwest and contributes to an active surgical practice in his home state of South Dakota. He completed his medical training at Washington University, St. Louis, MO, and surgical residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, IL. He worked in private practice in his hometown of Watertown, SD, for nearly ten years. Dr. Timmerman is professor and chair, department of surgery, USD Sanford School of Medicine, Sanford Medical Center, Sioux Falls, SD. For 15 years, he has served as his hospital’s Level II trauma director, past chief-of-staff for Sanford Medical Center, surgeon physician advisor, been on numerous hospital boards and committees, and is the past South Dakota state trauma director. He was recently appointed the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Medical Director for his entire health care network. With the assistance of his medical center and the ACS, he helped lead the creation of a new general surgery residency program in South Dakota to train rural and community general surgeons. Dr. Timmerman volunteers extensively with the ACS, having served as President of the South Dakota Chapter, Governor of both the South Dakota Chapter and the Association of Surgical Education, member and Chair of the Committee on Young Surgeons, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Board of Governors, and on the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery. He is the past chair of the Health Policy and Advocacy Group (HPAG) and a member of the Board of Regents.
Guest Speakers
David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, MAMSE
Dr. Hoyt served as ACS Executive Director for more than 10 years, until his retirement in 2021. During his tenure at the ACS, he led the establishment and development of numerous innovative programs with lasting national impacts in areas of quality, verification, advocacy, and education, and he guided the organization through a period of unprecedented growth.
Dr. Hoyt received his undergraduate degree with honors from Amherst College, and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University. After completing his surgery residency and research fellowship at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Scripps Immunology Institute, Dr. Hoyt joined the faculty at UCSD and immediately became involved in the trauma service, where his role as director lasted from 1989–2006. In 1995, he was appointed professor of surgery and was awarded The Monroe E. Trout Professorship in Surgery at UCSD. In 2006, Dr. Hoyt was appointed chair, department of surgery at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the John E. Connolly Professor of Surgery. In 2008, he was appointed executive vice dean for the UCI School of Medicine. Dr. Hoyt distinguished himself within the UCSD and UCI departments of surgery, delivered numerous named lectures, and received multiple significant awards while serving in positions of leadership. He remains emeritus professor of surgery at UCI.
A nationally recognized trauma surgeon, Dr. Hoyt is a member of the American Surgical Association, Surgical Biology Club, Western Surgical Association, Society of University Surgeons, and other surgical organizations. He is past president of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Society of General Surgeons of San Diego, and the Shock Society, and also served as past chairman of the ACS Committee on Trauma, and past medical director of Trauma at the ACS. He has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions nationally and internationally and is an editorial board member of six journals. Dr. Hoyt consistently received significant public research funding and is the author of over 700 publications and 3 books.
Lenworth M. Jacobs, MD, MPH, DSc(Hon), FACS, FWACS(Hon), MAMSE
Dr. Jacobs is a trauma surgeon at Hartford Hospital, a professor of surgery, and a professor of traumatology and emergency medicine at the University of Connecticut. He graduated from the University of the West Indies Medical School in 1970 and received his surgical training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and at University and Boston City Hospitals. He received a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Jacobs became the director of emergency medical services for the city of Boston and the Trauma Center at Boston City Hospital in 1976. In that role, he designed and implemented the Basic and Advanced Life Support Prehospital Service for the city of Boston. He then moved to Hartford Hospital, where he implemented the LIFE STAR Air Medical Service and started the hospital’s trauma center. He later inaugurated a new Department of Traumatology and Emergency Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Dr. Jacobs is the chair of the Hartford Consensus, Joint Committee to Increase Survival from Active Shooter and Intentional Mass Casualty Events, leading to the implementation of the Stop the Bleed program, which is in 120 countries and has trained more than 1.5 million people. He is currently on the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons and formerly served on the Executive Committee of the Governors of the ACS. He is a past director of the American Board of Surgery; a founder and past president of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST); past vice president of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST); past president of the American Trauma Society; and a member of the Defense Health Board, which advises the U.S. secretary of defense on health affairs.
Dr. Jacobs has lectured extensively in the U.S. and around the world. He has more than 250 publications, including numerous books and book chapters. He is the founder of the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course and the editor of the ATOM textbook, which is available in 73 sites in the U.S., Canada, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Italy, and Brazil. ATOM has trained more than 5,400 surgeons.
Dr. Jacobs was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) degree by the Council and Senate of the University of the West Indies. He was awarded an honorary fellowship in the West African College of Surgeons and received the Connecticut American College of Surgeons Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Jacobs has also been recognized by his peers for his contribution to the surgery of trauma and has been the recipient of the Meritorious Award of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. The American College of Surgeons, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and National Safety Council presented him with the Surgeons’ Award for Service to Safety. Dr. Jacobs received the Dr. Norman E. McSwain Jr. PHTLS Leadership Award for contributions and continued commitment to the care of the injured patient especially to their pre-hospital care. The governor of Connecticut presented him an award for dedicated service to the state of Connecticut, and he was awarded the Bigelow Medal by the Boston Surgical Society for contributions to surgery of the greatest value.
Staff Consultants
Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, FACS, FRCSC, FSACME, MAMSE
Director, ACS Division of Education
Patrice Gabler Blair, DrPH, MPH
Associate Director, ACS Division of Education
