Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Armstrong Is Elected Vice Speaker of AMA House of Delegates
Trauma surgeon John H. Armstrong, MD, FACS, recently was elected vice speaker of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). In this position, Dr. Armstrong will assist in presiding over the HOD—the legislative and policymaking body of the AMA.
Since 1989, Dr. Armstrong has participated regularly in the AMA HOD as a member of several delegations representing the voices of surgeons, physicians-in-training, hospital-based physicians, and Army physicians. He has been a tireless advocate for the priorities of the College and advancement of the field of surgery within the AMA’s efforts, serving as member and eventually chair of the ACS Representatives in the HOD.
In the ACS, Dr. Armstrong serves as a member of the Health Policy and Advocacy Committee, an Advisory Member of the ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC Board, Legislative Committee Member, and Chair of the Committee on Trauma Advocacy Pillar. He was a Governor from 2010 to 2016 and has held all major leadership positions—Secretary, Treasurer, and President—in the Florida Chapter.
Dr. Armstrong is professor of surgery at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa and adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition, he served as Florida’s Surgeon General and Secretary of Health from 2012 to 2016, where he helped achieve the lowest infant mortality rate in the state’s history.
Eastridge Is New ACS Military Director
Trauma surgeon and retired US Army Colonel Brian Eastridge, MD, FACS, has been named the new ACS Medical Director, Military Health Systems Strategic Partnership, succeeding M. Margaret Knudson, MD, FACS.
Dr. Eastridge is a professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Trauma and Emergency General Surgery at The University of Texas (UT) Health San Antonio. He also holds the Jocelyn and Joe Straus Endowed Chair in Trauma Research, is vice-chair of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, and is an appointed member of the Texas Governor’s EMS and Trauma Advisory Council.
While he was in medical school at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Dr. Eastridge was commissioned in the US Army Reserve. After completing his residency in general surgery at the University of Maryland, fellowship training in surgical critical care at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, a faculty appointment in general surgery at UT Southwestern, and—concurrently—17 years of reserves service, Dr. Eastridge transitioned to active duty in the Army Medical Corps. He deployed six times to combat operations in Southwest Asia, during which he helped lead the development and implementation of the Joint Trauma System, designed to improve trauma care and patient outcomes after battlefield injury.
Dr. Eastridge left active service in 2012 and returned to UT Health San Antonio. An ACS Fellow since 2000, he has a long history of service to the ACS Committee on Trauma, for which he currently is the Trauma Systems Pillar Chair.
Hicks Assumes Role as ACOG President
Gynecologic surgeon Verda J. Hicks, MD, FACS, FACOG, has started a 1-year term as president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a 60,000+ member organization and leading authority on gynecology and obstetrics. She succeeds Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, FACS, FACOG, in the role.
Most recently, Dr. Hicks served as chief of gynecologic oncology at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and medical director of gynecologic oncology for Hackensack Meridian Health Center in New Jersey. She also previously worked in faculty positions at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She continues to serve as a locums tenens surgeon.
Gregg Chairs Department of Surgery in Connecticut
Trauma and general surgeon Shea C. Gregg, MD, FACS, is the new chair of the Department of Surgery at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Dr. Gregg joined Hartford HealthCare in 2022, where he was a trauma surgeon at Hartford Hospital, the Hospital of Central Connecticut, and Backus Hospital. He previously held a position as chief of the Section of Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care at Bridgeport Hospital. Dr. Gregg will continue to serve as chair of the Connecticut State Trauma Committee as he transitions to his new role.
Pomfret Is New ASTS President
Elizabeth A. Pomfret, MD, PhD, FACS, has started her term as president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), a 2,000+ member organization dedicated to advancing the science of transplant surgery. She succeeds William C. Chapman, MD, FACS, in the role.
Dr. Pomfret is chief of transplant surgery and professor of surgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. As previous chair of the Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Diseases at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, she guided the department to become the largest live-donor adult liver transplant program in the US.
Velanovich Leads International Surgery Organization
General surgeon Vic Velanovich, MD, FACS, was named president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), an international organization dedicated to advancing the practice and science of gastrointestinal surgery. He succeeds Jean Nicolas Vauthey, MD, FACS, in the role.
Dr. Velanovich is professor and vice-chair for education in the Department of Surgery and the Vivian Clark Reeves/Joy McCann Culverhouse Endowed Chair for Pancreatic Cancer and Digestive Disorders at the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa.
Within the ACS, Dr. Velanovich served as a Governor from 2018 to 2021 and as Chair of the Florida Chapter Credentials Committee from 2012 to 2020.
Have you or an ACS member you know achieved a notable career highlight recently? If so, send potential. contributions to Jennifer Bagley, MA, Bulletin Editor-in-Chief, at jbagley@facs.org. Submissions will be printed based on content type and available space.
