Eight Distinguished Surgeons Receive Honorary ACS Fellowship

Honorary Fellowship in the ACS was conferred on eight prominent surgeons from around the world at Convocation during Clinical Congress 2026 in Washington, DC.

The granting of Honorary Fellowship is one of the highest honors bestowed by the ACS. Brief summaries of the 2026 recipients’ careers follow.

Jorge Daes, MD, FACS

Bogotá, Colombia

Dr. Jorge Daes is a general surgeon who is globally recognized for achievements in laparoscopic, bariatric, and hernia surgery. He is the academic director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Department at Clinicas Portoazul and Iberoamerica, in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Dr. Daes has contributed to improved perioperative pain and symptom control by developing autonomic neural blockade for minimally invasive surgery, particularly in bariatric and upper gastrointestinal procedures. He is also the originator of the enhanced-view Totally Extraperitoneal approach for hernia repair. He has contributed to the standardization of minimally invasive inguinal hernia repair.

While leading the ACS Colombia Chapter, he launched a program helping high-performing surgical residents in Colombia attend Clinical Congress at no cost. He has also served as a member of the ACS Board of Governors and ACS International Relations Committee, as well as a leader of several other surgical organizations.

Dr. Daes has received awards from the American Hernia Society, Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgery, and other organizations.

Paolo De Coppi, MD, PhD, FMedSci

London, United Kingdom

Dr. Paolo De Coppi is an internationally renowned leader in pediatric surgery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Dr. De Coppi is the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Professor and Nuffield Chair of Paediatric Surgery at the University College London (UCL) Institute of Child Health, as well as head of the Surgery Unit in the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Section of the Developmental Biology and Cancer Programme at the UCL Great Ormond Institute of Child Health in London, England.

Dr. De Coppi’s translational research has included a landmark discovery of stem cells in amniotic fluid, which has facilitated research in regenerative medicine for severe congenital anomalies. His research has also broken new ground in tissue engineering and organ decellularization. He pioneered the use of minimally invasive surgery for congenital diaphragmatic hernia and esophageal atresia and helped perform the first successful transplant of a tissue-engineered trachea in a child.

Dr. De Coppi was named to the 2024 TIME100 Health List, was the first pediatric surgeon named a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and has received many other awards.

Christian Gerber, MD, PhD, Zürich

Zürich, Switzerland

Dr. Christian Gerber is a leader in orthopaedic surgery and expert in musculoskeletal medicine.

Dr. Gerber is a former professor, former chair, and current chair emeritus of the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Zürich, as well as the former medical director of Balgrist University Hospital in Zürich, Switzerland.

Dr. Gerber’s contributions have focused on the shoulder. These include establishing tendon transfer surgery for rotator cuff disease, understanding subscapularis tears and muscle fatty infiltration after tendon tears, and clarifying the etiology of and introducing new treatment methods for shoulder osteoarthritis and instability, including locked shoulder dislocations.

He is a founder of the private foundation ResOrtho and helped establish Balgrist Campus, a private musculoskeletal research center in Zürich with more than 200 researchers that has received Swiss governmental recognition. ResOrtho’s outputs include funding for orthopaedic fellowships and chairs, the Harvard-Balgrist Intercontinental Shoulder Fellowship, and the Meyer Award for Discovery, Innovation, and Disruption in Orthopaedics.

Dr. Gerber is a highly cited researcher, a prominent past leader of several healthcare societies, and the recipient of numerous awards.

Rosa Maria Jorba Martín, MD, PhD

Tarragona, Spain

Dr. Rosa Maria Jorba Martín is a renowned academic gastrointestinal surgeon and surgeon-leader. She is the clinical director of the Surgery Department at Joan XXIII University Hospital and an associate professor at Rovira i Virgili University, both in Tarragona, Spain.

Dr. Jorba Martín has developed Joan XXIII University Hospital as a center for robotically assisted pancreatic and biliary surgery, complex gastrointestinal surgery, and general surgery with a focus on advancing minimally invasive technologies. Additionally, her expertise in laparoscopic choledocholithiasis has made the hospital a national benchmark in Spain.

Her prolific research career has included participation in 53 trials; she has been principal investigator for eight. Dr. Jorba Martín is also a member of the Infection and Immunity (INIM) Research Group and the MoBioFood Research Group and head of the Research in General and Digestive Surgery group at the Biomedical Research Institute of Catalonia South, among other positions.

Dr. Jorba Martín has championed the inclusion of women in surgery in Spain. Among her many leadership achievements, she was the first female president of the Catalan Society of Surgery.

Abhay Rane, OBE, MBBS, MS, FRCSGlasg(Urol)

Surrey, United Kingdom

Dr. Abhay Rane is a urologist known for his pioneering work in laparoscopic surgery.

A consultant urological surgeon and professor of surgery at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, England, Dr. Rane is a prolific researcher. He also led the team performing the first single-port nephrectomy, which led to development of the single-port robotic surgery platforms used widely today.

Dr. Rane has a long-standing affiliation with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG). He currently serves as Registrar and previously served as surgical vice president and international associate director. He presided over the first meeting of the RCPSG in the US.

Dr. Rane helped found the Southern Laparoscopic Urology Group (SLUG), an English organization that provides laparoscopic and robotic training to urological surgeons. A US-based version, SLUGFEST, has enjoyed popularity at the American Urological Association annual meeting.

Dr. Rane has won many awards. For his services to laparoscopic surgery, he is one of very few urologists to be made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Jean-Baptiste Ricco, MD, PhD, FEBVS

Poitiers, France

Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ricco is a prominent emeritus professor of vascular surgery with notable achievements in humanitarian surgery.

Dr. Ricco spent his career at the University of Poitiers in Poitiers, France, where he became a tenured professor and chief of the Department of Surgery, then emeritus professor of vascular surgery and chair of educational affairs.

A prolific researcher, he is also a former editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (EJVES) and EJVES-Cases, which he cofounded, and a current member of the National Jury for Research Grants of the French Ministry of Health.

Dr. Ricco has delivered humanitarian clinical care in Africa and Ukraine. He founded an academic exchange between the University of Poitiers and Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, providing 2-year fellowships in France for Vietnamese residents to train in vascular surgery.

Dr. Ricco has received several awards, including being made a Commander in the Legion of Honor of the French Republic for his humanitarian contributions.

Norbert Senninger, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCS

Münster, Germany

Dr. Norbert Senninger is an innovator in transplantation and complex gastrointestinal oncological surgery.

While serving as a surgeon at Heidelberg University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, Dr. Senninger performed the first pancreas transplant in that city.

As director and chair of the University Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery at the University of Münster in Münster, Germany, he established a center that completes transplants of the pancreas, small bowel, liver (including split and domino transplants), and kidneys (including single, double, and live-donor transplants). It was also one of the most active centers in esophageal surgery in Germany, and contributed to safety through the early adoption of endovac sponge therapy for esophageal anastomotic leaks.

In Münster, Dr. Senninger trained more than 200 surgeons, of whom 26 are now chief surgeons throughout Germany.

As a leader, he has served as a member of the ACS International Relations Committee and a leader of the ACS Germany Chapter, as well as president of multiple surgical organizations. For his work, he has received numerous awards, including becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Han-Kwang Yang, MD, PhD, FACS

Seoul, Korea

Dr. Han-Kwang Yang is an acclaimed gastric cancer surgeon and global leader in the management of cancers of the stomach.

Dr. Yang has held various leadership roles at Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea, for more than 30 years, including serving as chair of the Department of Surgery and Cancer Research Institute, director of the Gastric Cancer Center, and general director of the Seoul National University Cancer Hospital. Under his leadership, the center completed 1,000 gastric cancer procedures per year, of which Dr. Yang performed 250 himself.

A prolific surgeon-scientist, Dr. Yang has led several national and international randomized clinical trials, published more than 400 research articles, presented more than 420 lectures, and led several prominent conferences.

He is the president of the National Cancer Center of Korea and the secretary general of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Asian Oncology Society. He also has served as president of the Korean Society of Surgical Oncology and on the editorial boards of six academic journals, including the Annals of Surgery.

For his work, Dr. Yang has been recognized with honorary fellowships from the American Surgical Association and European Surgical Association, as well as the Boryung Award for Cancer Research.

View the full citations and sponsors for the Honorary Fellows, plus the list of all Fellows inducted during Clinical Congress, in the 2026 Convocation program at facs.org/convocation.