Six Surgeons Are Honored for 2026 ACS/Pfizer Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards

The ACS Board of Governors Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards Workgroup announced the recipients of the 2026 ACS/Pfizer Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Awards. These prestigious honors recognize and celebrate ACS Fellows and other members whose altruism, vision, leadership, and dedication serve as models for others and whose contributions have made a lasting difference to caregivers and patients around the globe. The awards are administered through the ACS Health Outreach Program for Equity in Global Surgery (ACS H.O.P.E.^®).

The contributions of the six award recipients are briefly summarized in this article and will be formally recognized at Clinical Congress 2026 in Washington, DC. Clinical Congress attendees are invited to hear the honorees speak on their experiences at the Panel Session, “Humanitarian Surgical Outreach at Home and Abroad: Reports of the 2026 Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Award Recipients,” on Sunday, September 27.

Academic Global Surgeon Award

Juan Carlos Puyana, MD, FACS

For more than 3 decades, Dr. Juan Carlos Puyana has transformed trauma care and surgical education in some of the world's most resource-limited settings. Through enduring partnerships across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, he has strengthened trauma systems, advanced emergency surgical care, and cultivated generations of surgeon-leaders whose work continues to improve the lives of patients and communities long after his involvement has ended.

An internationally recognized trauma surgeon, critical care specialist, educator, and humanitarian, Dr. Puyana serves as a professor of surgery and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, and as the O'Brien Chair of Global Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin. Throughout his career, he has combined clinical excellence with a steadfast commitment to building sustainable systems of care. His collaborative efforts have strengthened trauma programs, expanded blood transfusion services, established trauma registries, and supported the development of national treatment protocols that have improved patient outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

Education and mentorship have been central to Dr. Puyana's work. Supported by decades of National Institutes of Health-funded global health research and training programs, he has mentored more than 25 international trainees who have gone on to lead hospitals, academic departments, trauma programs, registries, and ministries of health throughout Latin America and Africa. By investing in local expertise and leadership, he has created a lasting ripple effect that continues to strengthen surgical care far beyond the institutions where he has served.

Dr. Puyana's influence extends well beyond the operating room and classroom. Through leadership in the Panamerican Trauma Society, instruction in Advanced Trauma Life Support^® (ATLS^®) program and Definitive Surgical Trauma Care programs worldwide, and advocacy for equitable access to surgical care, he has helped shape education, research, and policy on a global scale. His career exemplifies the mission of academic global surgery, demonstrating how research, education, and sustained international collaboration can build local capacity, strengthen health systems, and improve surgical care for generations to come.

International Surgical Volunteerism Award

Steven M. Roser, DMD, MD, FACS

For more than 50 years, Dr. Steven Roser has dedicated his surgical expertise to restoring lives and expanding access to care for children born with cleft lip and palate deformities in underserved communities worldwide. Over decades of volunteer service, he has combined compassionate patient care with a steadfast commitment to education, creating sustainable partnerships that continue to improve surgical care long after each mission ends.

An internationally respected oral and maxillofacial surgeon, educator, and humanitarian, Dr. Roser is the Delos Hill Chair of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, a professor of surgery, and the residency program director at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, also in Atlanta.

Beginning with Project HOPE in China and continuing through annual volunteer missions across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, he has led multidisciplinary surgical teams that have provided life-changing care to children with cleft lip and palate deformities. Since 1992, he has organized and directed recurring outreach programs in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Rwanda, helping provide reconstructive surgery to more than 3,000 children.

Recognizing that lasting impact depends on local expertise, Dr. Roser has made education and mentorship central to every volunteer effort. He has trained more than 60 US surgical residents and 30 international trainees while working alongside local surgeons and healthcare teams to establish enduring cleft care programs. His collaborative approach has fostered long-standing partnerships, strengthened residency education, and expanded access to specialized surgical care in communities where these services were once limited or unavailable.

Beyond his volunteer missions, Dr. Roser has championed global surgical equity through leadership in the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the G4 Alliance, and the ACS Health Outreach Program for Equity in Global Surgery (ACS H.O.P.E.). His many honors, including multiple humanitarian awards, an honorary doctorate from Bolivia, the Beckman Mentoring Award, and induction into the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, reflect a lifetime of service, mentorship, and the building of sustainable surgical capacity. His career embodies the spirit of international surgical volunteerism by demonstrating that the greatest legacy of service is not only the patients whose lives are changed today, but also the clinicians and communities empowered to provide care for generations to come.

Domestic Surgical Volunteerism Award

Ingrid M. Lizarraga, MBBS, FACS

A nationally recognized breast surgical oncologist, health services researcher, educator, and advocate, Dr. Ingrid Lizarraga serves as medical director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center Breast Health Center and program director of the multidisciplinary breast fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. She also serves as the medical director of the Iowa Cancer Affiliate Network. Her commitment to rural healthcare was shaped by her early experience as a rural general surgeon, where she witnessed firsthand the barriers faced by patients and hospitals with limited access to specialized cancer services.

Through extensive volunteer service with the ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC), including her leadership as Iowa State Chair, Dr. Lizarraga has partnered with hospitals across the region to achieve CoC accreditation, implement evidence-based quality standards, establish multidisciplinary cancer programs, and improve access to comprehensive cancer care closer to home. Her efforts have enabled rural hospitals to deliver higher-quality care while reducing the burden of travel for patients and families facing a cancer diagnosis.

Education and mentorship have remained central to Dr. Lizarraga's service. She has trained fellows, residents, surgeons, nurses, cancer registrars, and hospital leaders, fostered local expertise, and strengthened multidisciplinary systems of care throughout the region. Her leadership also helped shape the CoC’s Rural Accreditation pathway, extending innovative approaches to rural cancer care to communities nationwide.

Honored with the CoC Outstanding State Chair Award and the Iowa Cancer Champion Award, Dr. Lizarraga has demonstrated how volunteer leadership can transform healthcare far beyond a single institution. Through her unwavering commitment to quality improvement, mentorship, and equitable access to cancer care, she has strengthened communities, empowered healthcare professionals, and improved outcomes for countless patients throughout rural America.

Military Surgical Volunteerism Award

Brian Gavitt, MD, MPH, FACS

Throughout his military career, Colonel Brian Gavitt has demonstrated that surgical volunteerism extends far beyond providing care during times of crisis. By building trauma systems, strengthening international partnerships, and investing in sustainable medical education, he has improved access to high-quality surgical and trauma care while creating lasting benefits for the communities he serves.

A distinguished military surgeon, trauma leader, and humanitarian, Dr. Gavitt has combined clinical excellence with a commitment to strengthening healthcare systems through collaboration, innovation, and service. Among his most significant volunteer contributions was serving as the inaugural trauma director for the US military's embedded Trauma, Burn, and Rehabilitation Medicine team in the United Arab Emirates. From 2019 to 2023, he worked alongside civilian clinicians at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City in Abu Dhabi to establish a comprehensive trauma program that measurably improved survival after injury. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also led the hospital's critical care response while continuing to advance trauma quality improvement initiatives.

Working in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Health, Dr. Gavitt authored the nation's first trauma center standards, enacted in 2023, establishing the foundation for a regional trauma system that continues to strengthen trauma care today. His collaborative approach emphasized local leadership, education, and sustainable system development, ensuring that improvements would endure long after his direct involvement.

Since 2024, Dr. Gavitt has led the US Air Force's medical engagements across Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Beyond deploying medical teams in support of shared global health objectives, he has fostered enduring partnerships among Ministries of Health, local physicians, and nongovernmental organizations to develop sustainable solutions that expand access to surgical care. His leadership has transformed short-term humanitarian missions into long-term collaborations that strengthen surgical capacity, improve trauma care, and build locally led solutions to complex healthcare challenges.

Through his volunteer service, humanitarian leadership, and commitment to sustainable health system development, Dr. Gavitt has demonstrated the profound impact military surgeons can achieve when they partner with communities to build local expertise, strengthen healthcare systems, and improve patient care for generations to come. His career embodies the spirit of the Military Surgical Volunteerism Award through service that extends well beyond the mission itself, leaving a legacy of collaboration, resilience, and improved surgical care.

Resident Surgical Volunteerism Award

Phillip J. Hsu, MD, PhD

Even as a surgical resident, Dr. Phillip Hsu has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving access to surgical care through service, innovation, and education. Over the past decade, he has developed programs that expand care for underserved communities, strengthen local surgical capacity, and create sustainable educational partnerships both in the US and around the world.

A general surgery resident at the University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor, Dr. Hsu earned his medical degree and doctorate from The University of Chicago in Illinois before completing advanced global surgery training through Harvard Medical School's Program in Global Surgery and Social Change in Boston, Massachusetts, and the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty Global Health Fellowship. Following residency, he will continue his commitment to caring for children as a pediatric surgery fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Hsu's dedication to volunteer service began long before residency. As co-founder and director of the Bridgeport Free Clinic in Chicago, he led teams of physicians and students in providing screening and urgent care services to economically disadvantaged immigrant families while connecting patients with long-term healthcare resources. He also co-founded the Chicagoland Free Clinics Consortium, bringing together 14 student-run clinics to share expertise, improve collaboration, and expand access to care across the region.

During residency, Dr. Hsu broadened his impact through sustained work in Afghanistan, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and other low-resource settings. Among his most significant contributions is ADEPT Rwanda, a Ministry of Health-supported educational initiative that equips general practitioners to recognize and manage pediatric surgical conditions while building long-term teaching capacity through a train-the-trainer model. By emphasizing locally led education and sustainable systems, the program continues to strengthen pediatric surgical care beyond the direct involvement of international partners.

In addition to his volunteer service, Dr. Hsu has established himself as a researcher, educator, and advocate for global surgery. His publications on pediatric surgical outcomes, surgical systems strengthening, and global surgical education, together with his leadership in the ACS, the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery, and other international organizations, reflect a deep commitment to advancing equitable surgical care. Through vision, initiative, and sustained service, Dr. Hsu represents the next generation of surgeon leaders whose work is already improving patients' lives and strengthening surgical systems worldwide.

Surgical Humanitarian Award

Stephen M. Kelley, MD, FACS

Since 1996, Dr. Stephen Kelley has made southeastern Bangladesh his home, devoting nearly 3 decades to providing surgical care for patients who would otherwise have little or no access to lifesaving treatment. His career reflects an extraordinary commitment to humanitarian service, combining exceptional surgical skill with an unwavering dedication to expanding access to care, strengthening local healthcare capacity, and serving communities facing poverty, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises.

After graduating from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, and completing his general surgery residency and thoracic surgery fellowship through the US Air Force, Dr. Kelley answered a call to long-term missionary service at Memorial Christian Hospital. There, he expanded the scope of surgical care available in the region by introducing the region's first laparoscopic, thoracic, vascular, and advanced endoscopic procedures. Guided by the needs of the community, he broadened his expertise to include trauma and orthopaedic surgery while continuing to provide comprehensive general, pediatric, thoracic, urologic, gynecologic, and emergency surgical care.

Over the course of his service, Dr. Kelley has performed more than 30,000 operations while investing just as deeply in the people who will carry the work forward. He has mentored generations of Bangladeshi physicians and healthcare professionals and helped establish training programs for nurses, medics, operating room technicians, and surgical trainees. By developing local expertise and sustainable care systems, he has created a legacy that extends far beyond his own clinical practice.

As medical director of Memorial Christian Hospital, Dr. Kelley also led the planning, fundraising, and construction of a modern 125,000-square-foot replacement hospital, a transformative undertaking completed after more than 20 years of perseverance. During the Rohingya refugee crisis, he directed emergency expansion efforts that enabled the hospital to care for hundreds of wounded refugees while coordinating international volunteer teams to meet an unprecedented humanitarian need.

Dr. Kelley has chosen service over comfort and commitment over convenience, dedicating most of his professional life to caring for some of the world's most vulnerable patients. Through compassionate care, visionary leadership, and an enduring investment in the people and communities he serves, he has transformed countless lives while leaving a sustainable foundation for future generations. His career represents the very essence of the Surgical Humanitarian Award.