Leadership Summit Prepares Surgeons to Navigate Rapidly Changing Profession

The surgical profession is moving through a highly demanding, crossroads moment characterized by widespread burnout and a projected workforce shortage, along with reimbursements being under pressure, administrative burdens continuing to mount, artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping clinical workflows, and a policy environment shifting in ways that will have lasting consequences for how surgeons practice.

But ask surgeons what they're doing about it, and increasingly, the answer is, “showing up.”

This year, a near record-breaking 520 surgeons did exactly that, gathering in Washington, DC, at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel for the ACS Leadership & Advocacy Summit, February 28–March 3, to build the skills, relationships, and strategic clarity needed to lead through these times.

"Leadership in surgery today requires more than clinical excellence. It demands engagement, and that’s what makes this summit so meaningful—the collective resolve in the room. Surgeons are facing extraordinary challenges, but when we gather with shared commitment, we rediscover our voice and our strength,” said Michael J. Sutherland, MD, MBA, FACS, Senior Vice President, Member Services, who opened Sunday's general session.

Building Your Brand

Ahead of the summit, special preconference workshops were offered, including “Building Your Leadership Brand to Increase Impact,” presented by Kimberly A. Whitler, MBA, MS, PhD, from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in Charlottesville.

Dr. Whitler outlined a process for building a leadership brand, starting with identifying the target audience, defining the primary impact one wants to have, and articulating the tangible value and proof points that demonstrate that value. Also important is activating the brand through specific, deliberate choices and behaviors that reinforce the intended brand.

According to Dr. Whitler, there are two sides to building a brand: style and substance.

“A brand is built on both. We've all seen the research and data that say the first 30 seconds you interact with someone matters a lot: Your eye contact, your ability to shake their hand effectively, the way you dress, the way you look. Style matters. It absolutely does, but it's easier to change,” she said.

On the other hand, the substantive elements, like one's expertise, values, and character are more complex when developing an effective leadership brand.

“What is it that you stand for? Are you an intellectual? Are you a leading influencer? Those elements take time to build. All of you have a realized brand. Right here, right now, I could ask anyone who works with you, and they would tell me what you stand for,” said Dr. Whitler. “How do you get that brand? It comes from everything you do and say. We call that activation. When we show up at work, when we work with a patient, when we’re working with colleagues, we're activating our brand.” 

Trust as the Foundation

The Leadership Summit kicked off Sunday morning with a general session on building cultures of trust and excellence. Amy Vertrees, MD, FACS, from Columbia Surgical Partners in Tennessee, set the tone early, framing culture-building not as a soft skill but as a hard strategic imperative.

Dr. Vertrees emphasized that trust is a feeling that leaders must cultivate, and excellence is about intentional action and creating ideal results. Understanding one's own thoughts, emotions, and stress responses, as well as those of the people around them, are crucial to building a culture of trust and excellence.

“It starts with you. Leaders build teams; they don’t just assemble ready-made parts. You can’t inspire something you don’t know how to do for yourself,” she said.

In the presentation, Dr. Vertrees also provided strategies such as assessing one's own strengths and values, finding the best version of others, setting boundaries, and focusing on improvement rather than judgment or punishment.

“Finding the best version of a person and the best version of you takes planning ahead,” she said. “Use your imagination and manifestation to find the best version of the human in front of you and interact with that person. You may have to dig through layers to find this version, but that will change interactions. If you're the best version of you, and you find the best of them, you have automatically brought to the conversation neutral respect.”

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd, from the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, followed with a session on executive coaching, further emphasizing that excellence in surgery now requires emotional intelligence, intentional culture-building, and leadership development, not just technical mastery.

When it comes to executive coaching, Dr. Wood made the case that coaching is not remediation; it is a leadership development tool. The best leaders, in surgery as in other high-performance fields, invest continuously in self-awareness and team dynamics.  

Following in the footsteps of his mentor Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, Dr. Wood trained as an executive coach and saw the value in using a coaching approach to help faculty develop and improve communication, conflict management, and leadership skills.

In turn, the UW Department of Surgery has embedded a full-time coach who provides longitudinal and spot coaching for faculty, staff, and residents, covering a range of professional development topics. The coaching program has been well-received across the department, with the goal of supporting faculty growth, reducing burnout, and improving the department's overall culture. In the first 6 months, more than 340 sessions were conducted for 73 clients.

Coaching can help surgeons at all stages of their careers, from new faculty members developing confidence and self-regulation, to mid-career faculty managing work-life balance, to senior leaders planning for retirement and succession, according to Dr. Wood.

“What do we mean by the coaching mindset? This Ted Lasso slide sums it up. I learned that the benefits of coaching are slowing down, being curious, and asking questions. It’s about nonjudgmental curiosity in exploring what someone needs, focusing on managing a situation while helping an individual find their own solutions, and creating an environment that allows time for people to develop self-awareness and their own plans for how they want to solve an issue or how they want to develop their career,” he said.

Leading Through Advocacy—and Meaning It

One of the most energetically received sessions of the morning came from Callisia N. Clarke, MD, MS, FACS, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Dr. Clarke reinforced the paradigm shift in leadership detailed earlier by Dr. Wood: Excellence in surgery now depends on emotional intelligence, advocacy, mentorship, and the ability to influence culture—not simply positional authority.

“Our trainees, our colleagues, even our patients want coaches rather than bosses,” Dr. Clarke said.

In the session “Leading Through Advocacy,” Dr. Clarke also highlighted that advocacy is essential for success as a leader, as it involves championing and empowering others, driving systemic change, and collaborative action.

“Advocacy is leadership in action, and in today's current climate, it's really not optional," she said.

Dr. Clarke encouraged attendees to identify their circle of influence and take small, actionable steps toward advocacy, underscoring the importance of storytelling and leveraging platforms like professional societies to drive systemic change.

“Leadership is influence,” she said. “Surgeons are trusted voices, and advocacy is a lane we must stand in. If we're silent, then we're missing the opportunity to make a difference.”

From Private Practice to AI Frontier

Two of the day's most practically instructive sessions illustrated the remarkable range of environments in which surgeons are now leading.

D. Rohan Jeyarajah, MD, FACS, from Texas Christian University Burnett School of Medicine in Fort Worth, Texas, shared an honest, experience-grounded account of what it takes to build a program from the ground up in a community setting, absent the infrastructure and brand recognition of a large academic medical center.

Dr. Jeyarajah discussed the importance of efficiency, measurement, and outcomes in private practice, as well as the value of accreditation programs like those offered by the ACS in helping to help establish interdisciplinary teams and improve patient outcomes.

“If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it,” he said.

In addition, Dr. Jeyarajah highlighted the integral role of education, research, and clinical excellence in building a thriving private practice. Also important are stronger partnerships between private practitioners and academic colleagues, with Dr. Jeyarajah encouraging private surgeons to remain engaged in scholarly dialogue and urging academic institutions to better understand the operational realities of private practice.

While Dr. Jeyarajah focused on leadership within the operational realities of private practice, the next session shifted the lens to a different—and rapidly accelerating—frontier: leading through technological transformation.

The hour-long session on leading through technology changes, moderated by Dr. Sutherland, with panelists Genevieve Melton-Meaux, MD, PhD, FACS, ACS Chief Health Informatics Officer, and Jack T. King, MBA, ACS Chief Information Officer, demonstrated that AI technology is something surgical leaders must actively shape, or risk being shaped by.

From AI in clinical decision-making to data governance and electronic health record optimization, the session challenged attendees to develop a more sophisticated fluency with the tools now embedded in every corner of surgical practice.

Dr. Melton-Meaux suggested that surgeons should be proactive in understanding AI capabilities and approach the technology with a balanced mindset—being interested but cautious, and focusing on high-return, low-risk opportunities that can improve efficiency and free up time for higher-level tasks. However, concerns around deskilling, liability, and the rapid pace of AI innovation will require ongoing vigilance and advocacy from the surgical community.

“This is a mega trend. It cannot be ignored. The capabilities of it are evolving faster than anything I've ever seen in 35 years of technology,” King said.

View from the Top

The afternoon sessions brought a notable shift in register—from practical instruction to broader strategic vision.

ACS President Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH, FACS, from George Washington University in Washington, DC, delivered a session on unity in advocacy and self-leadership, drawing on his long experience in surgical practice and organizational leadership. He explained that the surgeon's capacity to lead externally depends on first leading internally.

“All surgeons possess innate leadership qualities that surface daily as we care for patients, particularly in the OR. The captain of the ship remains alive and well in surgery,” he said.

Like Dr. Clarke, Dr. Sidawy emphasized that advocacy must be grounded, principled, and sustained—not merely reactive or episodic—and that surgeons are uniquely positioned to serve as powerful advocates.

“We understand urgency, consequences, and responsibility. We are trained communicators under pressure, and we see the entire system: patients, teams, structures. We are natural problem-solvers, and we enjoy public trust and are deeply motivated by purpose and goals,” said Dr. Sidawy. “We also understand that silence is not neutral. If we do not speak for our patients and our profession, others with less insight will shape the future of healthcare.”

Caprice C. Greenberg, MD, MPH, FACS, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, continued the conversation on evolving leadership by highlighting how the traditional path to leadership, focused on personal achievement and expertise, is no longer sufficient in the complex healthcare environment. Instead, leaders must develop a broader set of competencies, including understanding the business of healthcare, effective communication, conflict resolution, and the ability to build and develop teams.

In her presentation, “The New Face of Surgical Leadership: Redefining Pathways for the Modern Surgeon,” Dr. Greenberg outlined two key phases in the path to leadership: first, becoming an expert in a specific area, and second, defining one's legacy by finding joy in having a significant impact. She emphasized the importance of self-awareness, continuous learning, and observing effective leaders as ways to develop the necessary skills, while also delving into the differences between management and leadership, with the latter requiring a more proactive, forward-looking, and people-focused approach.

“I love this quote from Peter Drucker: Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things,” Dr. Greenberg said.

Masterclass in Healthcare Leadership

The afternoon panel, "Surgeons Leading the Future of Healthcare," brought together leaders from some of the most consequential health systems in the country: Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD, PhD, FACS, from Beth Israel Lahey Health in Burlington, Massachusetts; Bruce L. Gewertz, MD, FACS, from Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California; David L. Callender, MD, MBA, FACS, from Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Texas; Conor P. Delaney, MD, MCh, PhD, FACS, from Cleveland Clinic in Florida; and Craig T. Albanese, MD, MBA, FACS, from Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California.

The conversation these surgeon-leaders modeled—itself a masterclass in healthcare leadership—was candid, high-level, and focused on what it actually takes to run large, complex organizations with surgical sensibilities intact. They provided valuable insights into their leadership journeys and perspectives, offering guidance and inspiration for surgeons aspiring to take on greater leadership responsibilities.

Reflecting on a challenge that tested both his resolve and capacity, Dr. Gewertz described his transition from a clinical role to a chair of surgery position when he was 42 years old, frankly addressing the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that can arise—even for accomplished surgeons.

“Every single section chief was 10 years older than me, and I was paddling furiously under the surface to keep up. The city we were in had a bad malpractice environment, and the costs were increasing significantly. I couldn't sleep at night. I just couldn't imagine how we could come up with these additional millions of dollars,” he shared. “One day, I realized there were 10 other people who were equally concerned about this—my section chiefs. I had somehow left them out of the loop and never involved them in the angst over this. We eventually solved the problem together. The real lesson for me was that I was not in this by myself, and that was a profound thing for me to appreciate. It changed the way I lead.”

The panelists drew attention to the need to balance productivity demands with clinician well-being and burnout, including strategies like empowering teams, leveraging technology, and promoting work-life integration rather than just "balance."

“With the lives we lead in healthcare, particularly when it comes to caring for patients, sometimes it's going to be almost all about work, and some days it's not,” Dr. Callender explained. “It’s not always predictable, but there's great joy that comes with that over the course of time. Acknowledging, understanding, and promoting that, and helping people establish what their work-life integration norms are—I think that is an important responsibility for us as leaders.” 

Importantly, the panelists also offered advice about taking on more leadership responsibility and being more thoughtful about influencing the future of healthcare. 

• Step up despite uncertainty: Take on leadership roles even without feeling fully prepared; the skills can be developed along the way.
• Embrace the "happy warrior" mindset: Approach challenges with enthusiasm rather than complaint. The satisfaction and rewards of leadership can be immense.
• Leverage clinical expertise: Bring your frontline perspective as a surgeon to healthcare problem-solving; don't lose that critical viewpoint.
• Be a perpetual learner: Seek mentors, stay curious, and recognize that leadership is situational and context-dependent.
• Follow what excites you: Pursue opportunities aligned with your passions rather than chasing titles or positions.

Dr. Albanese offered one last thought to the young leaders in the room: “I often talk about Mr. Potato Head. You get the eyes and nose, and you mix and match. Over the years, you take the good, the bad, put it all together, mix it up, and you have your own style. I’m excited for this moment we’re in. Put your hand in the air. We need leadership more than ever.”  

Executive Director’s Update

Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, ACS Executive Director and CEO, delivered an update, outlining the College's current priorities and multifaceted efforts to support surgeons and improve patient care.

In a comprehensive address, Dr. Turner outlined the ACS’s strategic priorities, emphasizing its commitment to advancing patient-centered care, modernizing surgical education, and accelerating innovation. She highlighted a transformative clinical data strategy integrating AI and real-time electronic health record data to strengthen quality improvement while reducing reporting burdens. Additional initiatives include guidance on optimal working conditions, expanded support for rural and locum tenens surgeons, and enhanced well-being resources.

Dr. Turner also underscored the power of coordinated advocacy, noting that member outreach helped prompt bipartisan legislation to halt cuts to surgical work relative value units. Reaffirming the College’s unifying mission, she reminded attendees, “We are The House of Surgery^® for all surgical specialties.”

Hear insights from Dr. Sutherland and other presenters about the 2026 Leadership Summit in an upcoming episode of The House of Surgery^® podcast at facs.org/houseofsurgery.

The 2027 Leadership & Advocacy Summit will be April 10–13 in Washington, DC.

Read more about the Advocacy portion of the 2026 Leadership & Advocacy Summit.

Jennifer Bagley is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin and Senior Manager in the ACS Division of Integrated Communications in Chicago, IL.