BOSTON: The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Foundation acknowledges exemplary investment in the mission of the College by presenting the Distinguished Philanthropist Award to two remarkable recipients at the upcoming ACS Clinical Congress 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. This award is the ACS Foundation’s highest and most significant honor.
The Distinguished Philanthropist Award, established in 1989, celebrates outstanding individuals who have significantly supported the ACS Foundation's mission to advance surgical practices, research, and patient care. This year's recipients are Retired Colonel Kirby Gross, MD, FACS, the 2023 awardee, and Kenneth W. Sharp, MD, FACS, who receives the 2022 award. Dr. Sharp’s recognition was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Distinguished Philanthropist Award recipients serve as an inspiration for all donors and motivates others to support the Foundation,” said Beth White Carona, CFRE, Director of the ACS Foundation. “The recipients embody the true spirit of giving selflessly and impact the College in a meaningful and lasting way through their philanthropy.”
Over the past 10 years, Distinguished Philanthropist Award recipients — along with thousands of other philanthropic Fellows and friends of the College — have contributed more than $23 million to support ACS initiatives, including scholarships and fellowships, awards promoting surgical and outcomes research, and lifelong learning.
Dr. Sharp is currently the Regental Liaison to the ACS Foundation Board after having served for 9 years on the Foundation Board as a Director. Working closely with Foundation leadership, Dr. Sharp has enhanced visibility of the Chapter Programs Fund and has assisted several ACS chapters to start their own fund, including his home chapter in Tennessee.
“Quite frankly, I feel good when I give,” admitted Dr. Sharp, when asked what inspires him to be a long-time supporter of the ACS Foundation. “The ACS has given me an extraordinary amount of support in my career. So much of the satisfaction I’ve had in dealing with organized medicine and surgery has centered on the efforts of the College to represent me on Capitol Hill, teach me new skills, and help me learn how to teach my students and residents. And, it has helped me improve the care of surgical patients.”
A highly respected surgical educator and mentor, Dr. Sharp is a professor of surgery and vice-chair of the department of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
For more than 25 years, Colonel Gross has been a consistent and generous donor to the ACS Foundation, an endeavor partially inspired by the other Distinguished Philanthropist Awardee honored at this year’s Clinical Congress — Dr. Sharp.
“Kirby was one of my trainees 20 years ago at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,” recalled Dr. Sharp. “I did very little hands-on training with him, but I was one of the professors there, and he knew who I was. What is particularly interesting is that probably 10 years or so ago, after he finished his training, Kirby came back to Vanderbilt to visit, and he had a cup of coffee with me. We talked about the ACS Foundation. I remember him saying that the College had been a really important part of his career — so he started giving, and I will tell you, he gave generously.”
Colonel Gross is the first active-duty member of the military to serve on the ACS Foundation Board, which he said gave him the opportunity to encourage fellow military colleagues to acknowledge the value of the College.
