Program Committee
Chair: LTC Danielle Holt, ESS President
Co-Chair: Col. Jeremy Cannon, ESS Vice-President
Executive Council Member: Entire Executive Committee
The Program Committee has spent the last 18 months developing what we think will be a fitting in-person reunion for our organization during the 2022 ESS Symposium and ACS Clinical Congress. The theme this year, Military-Civilian Partnerships to Overcome the Peacetime Effect, fits very well with the timely newsletter article by ESS Secretary Tadlock and ESS Members Gavitt, Yelon, and Brown on the same topic. We have streamlined the program a bit to allow ample time for networking and just catching up with friends and colleagues. Please provide us feedback on this format as you input will absolutely inform future programs.
Thanks to Dr. Knudson’s efforts, the Excelsior Surgical Society Symposium is now formally part of the ACS Clinical Congress program. This will greatly increase the visibility of the Excelsior Surgical Society and will hopefully bolster opportunities for our members to connect with others in the ACS community for networking and mentoring by civilian surgeons. In the program this year, you will see an expanded “Military Track” that will include any/all Clinical Congress sessions with relevance to ESS members. We will also continue to also emphasize key events with military relevance in an “ESS-Clinical Congress Military Highlights” format including such marquee events such as the Churchill Lecture and the Scudder Oration.
Finally, we have now more formally implemented our annual webinar series. In September, the Executive Council will present the state of the ESS in a working business meeting fashion. This will include the status of our bylaw amendments proposed last year along with several additional proposed amendments. We will be prepping the battlefield (so to speak!) for a final vote on these items on Saturday, October 15 during our in-person business meeting the day before the Symposium. We will then resume our cycle of webinars in November with a presentation from our Research Committee. If you would like to lead a webinar in 2022-2023, please reach out to us by emailing excelsior@facs.org.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee
Chair: Maj. Michelle Buehner
Co-Chair: MAJ Chonna Kendrick
Executive Council Member: CDR Tamara Worlton
This committee serves to address issues unique to minority surgeons serving in the Armed Forces and to promote an inclusive military surgical culture. In June 2022, our Committee hosted a webinar and panel discussion entitled “Recognizing and overcoming the challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion within ACGME programs.” We had a presentation by LTC Joseph Jones followed by an insightful and stimulating panel discussion. The panel members included COL Vance Sohn, MD, Col Kerry Latham, MD, LTC Joseph Jones, MD, CDR Matthew Bradley, MD, and LCDR Marvin Dingle, MD. LTC Jones shared his experience in a military ACGME program and provided a perspective on the challenges that underrepresented minorities (URM) face during residency training. The panel discussion underscored strategies for members to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within their practices and residency programs.
Membership Committee
Chair: COL Jamison Nielsen
Co-Chair: LTC Edward Coleman
Executive Council Member: MAJ Mary T. O’Donnell
This past year the Membership Committee (formerly the Finance Committee) expanded its efforts this year to increase membership in surgical specialties outside of General Surgery and among medical students. We have also focused on growth and an improved member experience. Working with representatives from the American College of Surgeons we saw a more streamlined and accessible membership/dues process. This, year ESS members who have paid their membership fees will have membership ribbons at the 2022 Clinical Congress! We have seen a 13% increase in membership, compared to FY21, and Excelsior membership has doubled since 2019! In June, the Membership Committee organized and moderated a webinar entitled “Clinical and Career advice for the Military Surgeon,” which addressed unique aspects of the military surgeon's career including minimizing deployment interruptions to your practice, ways to increase surgical volume, and colorectal surgery topics for the general surgeon. As we look to the future, we anticipate continued collaboration with the philanthropy arm and Treasurer of the ESS. As the membership process itself has become simplified, we hope to expand options for participation, align with the interests of members, and provide new avenues for equitable growth.
Mentorship Committee
Chair: LTC Sue Gillern
Co-Chair: LCDR Matt Nealeigh
Executive Council Member: MAJ Maggie Gallagher & Col (ret) Carey Hill
The membership committee continues its charter, developing surgeons along the spectrum of clinical and leadership growth from medical student through senior executive. Potential surgery applicants from medical schools around the country are connected with volunteer mentors across surgical specialties for individual coaching and career advice. Graduating residents find particular benefit from mid-career surgeons who assist in the transition from learner to practicing surgeon--especially when deployed in an austere environment as a newly-graduated attending. We continue to seek a diverse cadre of senior surgeons, both in and out of uniform, to contribute by mentoring those seeking career advancement in clinical, academic, and executive leadership positions.
Outreach Committee
Chair: Maj. James Wiseman
Co-Chair: LTC Dawn Coleman
Executive Council Member: CAPT Matthew D. Tadlock & CPT Kal Gunashingha
Greetings from the Outreach Committee! This year one of the primary goals of the Outreach Committee was to increase the visibility of the Excelsior Surgical Society on social media. This centered primarily on the Twitter and LinkedIn platforms. If you have not been following the Excelsior Surgical Society Twitter or LinkedIn accounts, you are missing out! The ESS followership has grown to more than 1,600, and CPT Kal Gunasingha at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center both initiated and has been doing an outstanding job of providing timely and interesting content on the ESS LinkedIn company page!
The Outreach Committee also spearheaded the April Webinar entitled, “Academic Productivity in Resource-Constrained Settings: Doing Research in Non-academic Duty Stations.” This featured STELLAR presentations by Lt Col Andrew Hall (USAF) and LTC John Lundy (USA)! The time was packed with sage words of advice on conceiving, initiating, and executing projects in deployed and non-academic environments. If you weren’t there for the live event, make sure to check out the recording on YouTube. It’s been a great year, and we are grateful to have served!
Research Committee
Chair: CDR Matthew Bradley
Co-Chair: CDR Diego Vicente
Executive Council Member: Col Scott Zakaluzny & CDR Jacob Glaser
This year's research committee's goal was to maximize opportunities for military-civilian partnerships and funding to military surgeons and surgeons in training. The Excelsior Research Committee has been active in setting up the ACS Committee on Trauma Military Resident Paper Competition and a research webinar to maximize funding opportunities and involvement in surgical societies. In addition, the research chairs will be the discussants for the ACS Committee on Trauma Paper Competition with COL Jennifer Gurney. In an effort to expand military-civilian partnerships, the research committee chairs have initiated the development of a central repository of military and civilian global surgery outreach locations. Within the constraints of operational security, this central repository will help both military and civilian global surgery groups identify surgical assets in austere environments.
