Program Committee
Chair: Colonel (Retired) Jeremy W. Cannon, MD, SM, FACS, USAFR, ESS President
Co-Chair: Colonel Jennifer Gurney, MD, FACS, ESS Vice-President
Executive Council Member: Entire Executive Committee
The Program Committee had a busy 2022–2023 working on the 2023 ESS Symposium and curating a series of webinars that ideally will set the thematic pattern for webinars going forward.
The 2023 ESS Symposium theme this year, The Expeditionary Surgeon: Applying Military Skills and Abilities in Civilian Mass Casualty and Disaster Response, will springboard from last year's discussion on overcoming the peacetime effect into a discussion of "what right looks like" for the well-prepared surgeon ready to handle any and all surgical challenges in an austere setting. This year, we have further streamlined the program by moving the annual ESS Business Meeting to Sunday morning immediately preceding the symposium. So, if you want to have a say in the business of our society, please come early on Sunday. We have also created a break-out lunch with our consultants so that you can spend some quality time discussing service-specific issues with these individuals.
Similar to last year, again thanks to Dr. Knudson’s efforts, the Excelsior Surgical Society Symposium is now formally part of the ACS Clinical Congress program. And again this year, you will see an expanded “military track” that will include any/all Clinical Congress sessions with relevance to ESS members. We will continue to also emphasize key events with military relevance in an “ESS-Clinical Congress Military Highlights” format including marquee events like the Churchill Lecture and the Scudder Oration.
In June this year, the Program Committee hosted a webinar, “The Recent History of Military Surgical Societies.” In this webinar, archival content was presented from the original Excelsior Surgical Club and early meetings from the society. Some of this content will be posted on the web page, so please watch for this very interesting material.
Once again, in September, the Executive Council will present the state of the ESS in a working business meeting fashion. We will review any proposed bylaw amendments and lay the groundwork for a final vote on any business items that will occur during the morning of our ESS Symposium on October 22. If you have any business items for consideration, please reach out to us by emailing excelsior@facs.org.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Chonna Kendrick, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Ken Wilson, MD, FACS
Executive Council Member: Commander Tamara Worlton, MD, FACS
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee serves to increase awareness, identify issues related to diversity and inclusion within the military healthcare system, and foster a climate to allow the free exchange of ideas in patient care, collegial interactions, and leadership within the military surgical community.
This year our committee expanded, and we welcomed a new co-chair, Lieutenant Colonel Ken Wilson, MD, FACS, along with three additional members: Dr. Robert Kurtz, Dr. Elise Hill, and Shannon Alsobrooks, MS3. In May 2023, our committee hosted a webinar, “Diversity State of the Union for Military Surgery and Levers to Increase Diversity.” We reported on the demographics of surgeons in the Air Force, Army, and civilian sectors. We identified several levers to increase diversity, and this webinar specifically focused on pipeline programs. The featured speaker was Abdullah Pratt, MD, chief executive officer and founder of Medical Careers and Exposure and Emergency Preparedness Pipeline Program.
Membership Committee
Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Edward Coleman, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Major Omar A. Rokayak, DO, FACS
Executive Council Member: Major Mary T. O’Donnell, MD, FACS
Over the past year, the Membership Committee has expanded its efforts to increase ESS membership across all surgical specialties. Toward that, we launched the ESS Membership Recruitment Booth Initiative at major national conferences where prospective members can learn more about ESS from active members and easily submit a membership application. The first implementation of this initiative was successfully completed at the Annual ACS Committee on Trauma Meeting. Upcoming ESS recruitment booths are scheduled for the ACS Clinical Congress in October 2023, as well as the annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) in September 2023. We look forward to expanding this initiative to multiple additional annual conferences spanning the spectrum of surgical specialties.
Additionally, we continue to work on streamlining the membership dues collection and tracking processes. We have proposed the reduction of annual dues for Resident Members by 50%. This proposal will be voted on in the upcoming ESS meeting in October of 2023. To further improve the overall ESS membership experience and demonstrate our appreciation for our members, members of all categories who are in good standing will receive an ACS ESS Membership Certificate in 2023.
In April 2023, the Membership Committee organized and moderated a widely attended webinar titled Impactful Military Contributions to Civilian Medicine and Surgery: Past, Present, and Future, which featured guest speaker Colonel (Retired) Warren Dorlac, MD, FACS. Moving forward, we look to continue the process of optimizing the ESS experience by bringing the greatest benefit and growth possible to all our members and the organization.
Mentorship Committee
Chair: Lieutenant Commander Matt Nealeigh, DO, FACS
Co-Chair: Major James Wiseman, MD, FACS
Executive Council Member: Lieutenant Colonel Maggie Gallagher, MD, FACS
The Mentorship Committee focuses on interested medical students, surgical residents, and early-practice attending surgeons for their growth and development as military surgeons. During the 2022-2023 academic year, the Mentorship Committee emphasized two main engagements:
- Medical Student Webinar: The annual February Mentorship Committee webinar focused on third-year medical students about to enter the surgical residency match cycle. Several program directors from all services, including both in-service and civilian programs, hosted "fireside chat" style breakout sessions with more than 75 participants. Several students linked with attending surgeons in the weeks after the webinar to provide longitudinal mentorship through the sub-internship and application cycles. We thank the program directors for their contributions, particularly as this webinar comes soon after the military GME match cycle.
- Welcoming our new attending surgeons: Congratulatory letters were sent from the Excelsior Society president to our graduating chief residents, acknowledging the momentous achievement of residency graduation, welcoming them to the collegiality of military surgeons, and inviting these individuals to join Excelsior as full members. In conjunction with the Outreach Committee, we solicited graduation photos from our military program directors to post on social media as further recognition and welcome to the graduating chiefs. Continuing our welcome efforts into pragmatic mentoring, we are developing a "first job pearls" presentation for these new attending surgeons. This focused on practical aspects of their transition into attending roles, including hints on leadership positions, incorporating research and academic promotion into daily work, suggestions for successful deployments, and other relevant topics.
Outreach Committee
Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Dawn Coleman, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Commander Daniel Hammer, DDS, FACS
Executive Council Member: Captain Matthew D. Tadlock, MD, FACS, and Captain Kal Gunasingha, MD
This year we continued to expand the visibility of the Excelsior Surgical Society on social media. With gratitude we recognize our hard-working social media ambassadors who have made this possible:
- Kal Gunasingha, MD, who completed general surgery residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will be stationed at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Liberty North Carolina.
- Michelle Roper, who will be matriculating into colorectal surgery fellowship in Atlanta at Georgia Colon and Rectal Associates.
- Lyndsey Wessels, who will be matriculating into cardiothoracic surgery fellowship in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia.
With the diligent support of these ambassadors, the ESS has expanded its visibility beyond Twitter/X and LinkedIn platforms to Instagram in 2022. Our Twitter/X following has grown to 1,885, and the #WhyEscelsior campaign has featured several prominent ESS leaders describing why they engage with the ESS and how this membership has supported mentorship, connection, and community.
We are also excited to report the WarDocs-Excelsior Collaboration, mentioned earlier in this report, as we aim to leverage our synergistic ethos and expand outreach opportunities for ESS membership, speakers, and webinar content.
The Outreach Committee also hosted the March 2023 Webinar Cultivating and Evaluating Military Surgeon Readiness: Past, Present, and Future. Dean Eric Elster, MD, FACS, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Graybill, MD, FACS, and Colonel Jennifer Gurney, MD, FACS, discussed surgeon readiness, KSA Blueprints, scorecards and courses, and the future of JTS’s JKSA Branch, empowering hospitals and combatant commands with KSA data to improve readiness.
For those unable to attend the live event, you can access the recorded webinar online. Thanks to all the expert speakers for sharing their time and insight on this important topic!
Research Committee
Chair: Commander Diego Vicente, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Sabino, MD, FACS
Executive Council Member: Colonel (Retired) John Oh, MD, FACS
The Research Committee has been an active and productive group for the 2022-2023 Excelsior Surgical Society. This year we hosted the annual research webinar on January 20 and heard from prominent military researchers, including Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Vreeland, MD, FACS (Surgical Oncologist, Brooke Army Medical Center), Thomas Davis, PhD (Uniformed Services University, Vice-Chair of Research), and Captain Travis Polk (Director of the Combat Casualty Care Research Program).
This summer, Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Sabino, MD, FACS (Plastic Surgeon, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), will be presenting on her contributions to Combat Casualty Care in collaboration with our UK colleagues. At the ACS Clinical Congress 2023, the Research Committee Chair and Co-Chair will be moderating the Committee on Trauma and Scientific Forum military sessions.
