I was fortunate enough to be selected as an International Scholar to attend Clinical Congress 201 of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), which took place in San Francisco, CA, in October 2019. It was an honor to be selected. It was a wonderful event to experience.
I met surgeons from all over the United States and had an opportunity to attend some very informative talks on my chosen specialty of otolaryngology. I recently finished my fellowship in the subspecialty of pediatric otolaryngology in Boston Children’s Hospital, and there were some very good talks on issues within this field, such as a panel discussion on the changing management of button battery ingestion, during which the latest advances and newest techniques in treating this critical, and increasingly common, problem.
The Clinical Congress took place in the impressive Moscone Conference Center in downtown San Francisco. I was taken aback by the scale of the meeting itself and the sheer number of specialties catered for. The trade floor was also a pleasure to peruse where state-of-the-art equipment was on full display and I took part in some interactive demonstrations.
My contact in the ACS was Jeremy Kauffman, secretary of the RAS-ACS Membership Committee. He was a wonderful host and accompanied me to the International Scholar Luncheon as well as the ACS evening reception. Both were excellent networking opportunities and allowed me to interact with Matt Roberts, the other International Scholar from Australia. The similarities between Irish and Australian training allowed me and Matt to share similar thoughts and have a great discussion on the comparison between our training and the American system. I also took time to attend the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s chapter meeting, where I met up with former colleagues that I had not seen in many a year.
As a host city, San Francisco had so much to offer. It is a very historic place that is set in an amazing natural environment with the Pacific Ocean and all that has to offer right on its doorstep. Time spent outside the conference center was time well spent and was a cultural experience all.
I would like to extend my warmest gratitude to the ACS and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland for selecting me as an international scholar allowing me to attend this amazing congress. I came away from it with new knowledge and the experience helped me from both an academic and career progression perspective.
