Program Committee
Chair: Captain Matthew D. Tadlock, MD, FACS, ESS President
Co-Chair: Captain Matthew J. Bradley, MD, FACS, ESS Vice-President
Executive Council Member: Entire Executive Council
The Program Committee had another busy year coordinating the monthly ESS webinars and planning the 2025 ESS Symposium. The 2024–2025 series of webinars featured a diverse range of topics: Updates from the Joint Trauma System; the Military Surgery Program Director Meet-and-Greet where military medical students interact with residency program directors; subspecialty surgical emergencies for the deployed general surgeon, featuring real-life deployed cases and subspecialty tips and tricks involving pediatric surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and urology; and far forward–surgeons supporting special operations.
Notable highlights from this series of webinars include: “Readiness and Resilience are Shared Responsibilities—Strategic Role of MHSSPACS in Military Civilian Partnerships and Bridging Trauma System Preparedness,” given by MHSSPACS Medical Director Colonel (Retired) Brian Eastridge, MD, FACS, US Army; “Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From Rural Boyhood to Distinguished Surgeon,” in which ACS History and Archives Committee (HAC) member Gordan Telford, MD, FACS, focused on Dr. Martin’s experiences during World War I; “Surgical Innovation at the Frontline: AI, Machine Learning, and Data-Driven Care,” featuring surgical innovators such as Colonel (Retired) Greg Beilman, MD, FACS, US Army, and Teodor Grantcharov, MD, PhD, FACS.
The 2025 ESS Symposium continues to build on the themes of previous symposia (2022: Military Civilian Partnerships to Overcome the Peacetime Effect, 2023: The Expeditionary Surgeon: Applying Military Skills and Abilities in Civilian Mass Casualty and Disaster Response, and 2024: The Agile Surgeon: Navigating Uncertainty & Seizing Opportunities). The theme for 2025 is The Military Surgeon as a Leader: Adaptive Surgical Leadership to Combat the Peacetime Effect. As in previous years, the 2025 ESS Symposium will host the ACS Committee on Trauma Region 13 paper competition. New for 2025, the Mentorship Committee will host a formal mentorship event at lunch during the ESS symposium, as well as other informal events throughout the Clinical Congress.
This year also marks the inaugural “Lest We Forget Lecture,” which will be delivered by Colonel (Retired) Warren Dorlac, MD, FACS, USAF. Colonel (Retired) John Oh, MD, FACS, USA will give the Major John P. Pryor Memorial Lecture. A special thanks to ESS member Commander Diego Vicente, MD, FACS, USN for helping the Program Committee develop the ESS Symposium’s afternoon Panel Session: “Adaptive Surgical Leadership in Action: Tactical & Strategic Leadership Improving Military and Civilian Surgical Care.”
After the ESS Symposium, on Monday October 6, Commander (Retired) C. William Schwab, MD, FACS, USN will give the Edward D. Churchill Memorial Lecture, and the ESS, ACS Committee on Trauma, and the HAC will co-sponsor the Panel Session, War, Surgery, and Remembrance: 80th Anniversary of World War II.”
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 6. If you have any business items for consideration, reach out to us by emailing excelsior@facs.org.
Membership Committee
Chair: Major Daniel Lammers, MD
Co-Chair: Major Joshua Dilday, DO
Executive Council Member: Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Sabino, MD, FACS
Continuing with efforts of previous years, the Membership Committee has worked to increase Excelsior Surgical Society (ESS) membership across all surgical specialties and branches of military service. Email-based recruitment efforts have expanded, and we have been in collaboration with other ESS committees regarding optimal ways to target more junior-level membership participants. We have developed an ESS poll for junior members in effort to help better understand and identify what specific goals and benefits ESS can provide to junior members (as well as to future members). Toward that goal, it is increasingly important to help build mentorship, provide research opportunities, discuss clinical and professional lessons learned, and gain valuable insights into the workings of military medicine to help mitigate the “Walker Dip.”
To date, we have 649 members, which is an increase of 99 individuals from last year. The breakdown of member status of our current members is approximately: 68% Fellow, 5% Associate Fellow, 12% Resident, 11.6% Student, 0.3% Affiliate, and 3.1% Other. We continue to mail membership certificates to all members, including 249 certificates sent out this past year, which means that all members who joined prior to 2024 have been sent their certificates.
We are looking forward to the upcoming ACS Clinical Congress and ESS Symposium, where we will once again have an ESS membership recruitment booth to allow prospective members to learn more about ESS and readily submit a membership application.
In June 2025, the Membership Committee organized and moderated a widely attended and engaging webinar titled, “Readiness and Resilience are Shared Responsibilities: Strategic Role of MHSSPACS in Military Civilian Partnerships and Bridging Trauma System Preparedness,” which featured guest speaker Colonel (Retired) Brian Eastridge, MD, FACS, US Army. Dr. Eastridge is the Medical Director of the Military Health Systems Strategic Partnership American College of Surgeons (MHSSPACS). View the webinar on the ESS Webinars page.
Moving forward, we look to expand ESS membership and help to optimize the benefits ESS provides to both current and prospective members.
Inclusive Excellence, Subcommittee of the Membership Committee
Chair: TBD
Co-Chair/Executive Council Liaison: Major Elise (Hill) Fannon, MD
We are excited to share the new development of this committee and are actively looking for a chair. Please send an email to excelsior@facs.org if you are interested in this position.
Mentorship Committee
Chair: Major James Wiseman, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Krell, MD, FACS
Executive Council Member: Colonel (Retired) Jeffrey A. Bailey, MD, FACS
The Mentorship Committee focuses on fostering development in medical students, residents, and early career surgeons.
This year, the committee expanded its reach by welcoming two new international members, establishing a tricontinental and tri-service presence. These international relationships create unique transcontinental mentorship opportunities and will further the ESS’s global reach.
A signature event for the committee was the winter residency program director webinar, which connected 137 medical students with 18 tri-service program directors and featured a keynote address from Lieutenant Colonel Jason Radowsky, MD, FACS, a US Army trauma/critical care consultant.
The committee is continuing the tradition of congratulating chief residents of the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) on behalf of the ESS.
Mentorship Committee members also developed a story— "Commemorating the Heroes at Abbey Gate,"—describing the experience of friends and colleagues who responded to the injured and wounded at the Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which appears in this issue of the ESS newsletter.
This year, the Mentorship Committee members are excited to organize structured breakout sessions during the lunch hour of the 2025 ESS Symposium. These sessions will offer valuable information and networking opportunities for ESS members at any stage of their careers
Moving forward, the Mentorship Committee plans to expand its relationship-building mission through local/grassroots mentor-mentee initiatives and national meeting events. Members have already begun establishing medical student pipeline relationships at their home stations and with the Uniformed Services University. The committee is also organizing inaugural mentorship programming for the upcoming 2025 ESS Symposium, with further details to be announced soon.
The Mentorship Committee has been busy and will continue expanding the Society’s reach as we recruit, foster and develop the next generation of military surgeons.
Outreach Committee
Chair: Major Rathnayaka (Kal) Gunasingha-Bailey, MD
Co-Chair: Commander Michelle Roper, MD, FACS
Executive Council Member: Lieutenant Colonel Maggie Gallagher, MD, FACS
The ESS continues to expand its social media presence with more than 3,000 followers across Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This is an increase of more than 160 followers from 2024. We have also started collaborating with the Mentorship Committee to identify what the ESS can provide to different member groups.
The Outreach Committee hosted the May 2025 webinar, "Far Forward: Surgeons Supporting Special Operations," featuring Richard Betzold, MD, FACS, and Jack Brandau, DO, FACS. They discussed the pathway to becoming surgeons in this unique group and the skills that helped them succeed. The webinar was attended by more than 60 participants.
We look forward to incorporating more members into the Outreach Committee in the coming year.
Research Committee
Chair: Captain (Retired) Travis Polk, MD, FACS
Co-Chair: Commander Matt Nealeigh, DO, MHPE, FACS
Executive Council Member: Commander Diego Vicente, MD, FACS
The ESS Research Committee focuses on one of the core original tenets of the ESS’s mission, improving education of its members and preventing loss of lessons hard-earned in current and prior battles.
Chair of the Research committee, Dr. Polk, hosted the annual research competition at the ACS 2024 Clinical Congress in San Francisco, California, highlighting excellent research by military and US Department of Veterans Affairs clinicians.
In March, incoming co-chair Dr. Nealeigh hosted the Research Committee webinar, which highlighted the Battlefield Shock and Organ Support Research Program laboratory at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine. Led by Major Patrick Walker, MD, FACS, this is one of the leading trauma laboratories in the world, integrating the scholarly productivity of defense, academic, and industry partners, and most importantly, life-saving lessons in trauma physiology. Commander John Maddox, MD, FACS, shared lessons learned from his work with the global health engagement capabilities of the US Department of Defense, and he discussed the benefit of international cooperation at the individual surgeon level, military-to-military collaboration, and how to improve the interoperability of trauma systems and governments around the world.
