CHICAGO — Renowned surgical oncologist Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, FACS, was elected as the 2025-2026 President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently during the ACS Clinical Congress 2025 in Chicago. Sharon M. Henry, MD, FACS, and Robert P. Sticca, MD, FACS, also were elected as First Vice-President-Elect and Second Vice-President-Elect, respectively.
Dr. Eberlein is the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor, director of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, and senior associate dean for cancer programs at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Eberlein also served as the Bixby Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at Washington University for 24½ years.
Dr. Eberlein has been active within the ACS for more than 30 years. He served as a member of the Board of Governors, Chair of the Board of Regents, and longstanding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS) (2004–2025). For his numerous achievements, he received the Rodney E. and Thomas G. Sheen Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the ACS and the ACS Owen H. Wangensteen Scientific Forum Award.
Dr. Eberlein also has held leadership positions at the American Board of Surgery, Advisory Committee to the Board for Surgical Oncology, Board of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Society of Surgical Oncology, Society of Surgical Chairs, American Surgical Association, and the National Cancer Institute. A prolific researcher and editorial board member, he served as associate editor of the Annals of Surgical Oncology for 17 years. He was also elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Eberlein called becoming President-Elect of the ACS “the epitome of my academic career in surgery,” further commenting on his wish to “work tirelessly to help the College and its Fellows.”
“Dr. Eberlein has served the American College of Surgeons in many important ways for decades, among them his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of JACS, his 9 years of service as a Regent, ultimately as Chair of the Board, and his current role as President-Elect. His surgical excellence and dedication to the ACS will position him well to lead our members as President next year,” said ACS Executive Director & CEO Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS.
After earning his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, he completed his internship and residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, including a year as chief resident. After training, Dr. Eberlein joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School and rose to become the Wilson Professor of Surgery at Harvard and vice chair of the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before moving to St. Louis.
Vice-Presidents-Elect
Dr. Henry, the Anne Scalea Professor of Trauma Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, is the First Vice President-Elect. Dr. Henry has been active within the ACS for many years in numerous roles, including with the Committee on Trauma and Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®), where she has contributed to worldwide promulgation and the development of the newly launched ATLS 11.
Dr. Sticca is the Second Vice-President-Elect. He is an emeritus professor of surgery at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Grand Forks. Dr. Sticca has focused his career on surgical oncology and serving rural populations via diverse means. He helped establish the only surgical residency program in North Dakota, improving care access for people in the Great Plains. A past member of the Board of Governors and the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery, he also contributed for many years to the Commission on Cancer and ATLS program.
