The largest individual gift in the ACS Foundation’s 20-year history—$2 million—was contributed by Pon Satitpunwaycha, MD, FACS, earlier this year to support the long-term priorities of the ACS Executive Director and CEO and help advance the College’s mission “To Heal All with Skill and Trust.”
A reception and dinner held July 16 at the historic Rainier Club in Seattle, Washington, honored “Dr. Pon,” as he prefers to be called, and his decades-long generosity and unprecedented contributions to the ACS Foundation.
The event drew 20 invited guests, including ACS Past-Presidents Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS (2013–2014), and Ronald V. Maier, MD, FACS (2018–2019), ACS Regents Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd, and Sanjay R. Parikh, MD, FACS, and other ACS dignitaries. Patricia Zundel, MD, Dr. Pon’s daughter and an anesthesiologist, and Roger S. Zundel, MD, Dr. Pon’s son-in-law and a general and pediatric otolaryngologist, also attended the gathering.
“Dr. Pon is, by any estimation, an exemplar, even among philanthropists, for his enormous generosity,” said ACS Executive Director and CEO Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, who is also the Foundation President. “His giving is extraordinarily impactful because his lifelong commitment to patients and our commitment to patients are in such close alignment. I am grateful for how his commitment to patients reflects and deepens my own.”
Dr. Pon’s current gift of $2 million is one of 17 gifts he has given to the ACS Foundation over the years, with a total of more than $5.1 million in donations to the College.
“Although he has been incredibly generous to the College, Dr. Pon remains very humble and unassuming about his support,” said H. Randolph Bailey, MD, FACS, Chair of the ACS Foundation. “I have asked him about his motivation to support the ACS, and one theme seems to emerge. He feels like surgery and the College have been very good to him and he wants to give back. He says that when we were practicing surgery, we took good care of our patients. Now, we need to take good care of our profession.”
After investing in the stock market in 2008, at the suggestion of a patient, and having success, Dr. Pon was in a position to make large-scale gifts to the ACS. His generosity has helped fund trauma surgery education, provide research fellowships and scholarships to burgeoning female surgeons in Africa, and create opportunities for surgeons to better understand and effectively integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into surgical practice.
“The healthcare situation in the US is very complex, and for a young surgeon, it takes a long time to become established,” said Dr. Pon. “I support the College to ensure that future surgeons have the same opportunities that I had.”
