One Mace to Rule Them All: Past-Secretary Dr. Tyler Hughes Reflects on the Weight of the ACS Great Mace

Few objects impart the sense of history and collegiality so core to the ACS as the Great Mace, which was given as gift of goodwill from 61 British surgeons who worked alongside American surgeons in World War I. Now presented annually during the ACS Clinical Congress Convocation procession by the ACS Secretary, it has great weight to it—both physical and metaphysical, as Past-ACS Secretary Tyler G. Hughes, MD, FACS, describes in the November/December issue of the Bulletin.

In this short video, Dr. Hughes discusses just what the Great Mace means to the College, new Initiates, and the Secretaries tasked with holding it.

As Dr. Hughes says, “The Great Mace of the American College of Surgeons is a symbol of years of training, the pride of parents, loved ones, children, and teachers, and the passage over the threshold to hard-won dreams.”