Update
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the American College of Surgeons (ACS) leadership has decided to defer this award until the year 2021. New applications will not be reviewed for 2021. This page will be updated and new applicants will be considered for 2022 as soon as more information is available.
Purpose
The International Relations Committee of the American College of
Surgeons (ACS) is pleased to announce travel awards for surgeons
aged 30 to 50. These awards, in the amount of $4,000 each, provide
international surgeons with the opportunity to attend and participate
fully in the educational activities of the ACS annual Clinical Congress.
They are proposed to specifically assist surgeons who work in
community or regional hospitals or clinics in countries other than
the United States and Canada, or who are from poorly resourced
academic departments of surgery in poorly resourced countries.
A new Community Surgeon Travel Award has been donated through
the generosity of the Doctors Duremdes family designated for Filipino
surgeons. It gives preference to meritorious applications from Iloilo
Province, Panay Island, and non-urban Philippine communities.
Each awardee will receive gratis registration to the annual Clinical
Congress and to one available postgraduate course held during the
Clinical Congress. Assistance will be provided to obtain preferential
housing in an economical hotel in the Clinical Congress city. In
2020, the Clinical Congress takes place in Chicago, IL, October 4–8.
Basic Requirements
- Applicants must be graduates of schools of medicine
who have completed their surgical training.
- Applicants must be at least 30 years old, but under 50,
on the date that the complete application is filed.
- Applicants must submit their applications from their intended
permanent location. Applications will be accepted for
processing only when the applicants have been in surgical
practice, teaching, or research for a minimum of one year at
their intended permanent location, following completion of
all formal training (including fellowships and scholarships).
- Applicants must show evidence of commitment to high
quality surgery, to surgical teaching, and to improving
access to surgical care in their community.
- Applicants must submit a fully completed application form
provided by the College on its website. The application
and accompanying materials must be submitted in English.
Submission of a curriculum vitae only is not acceptable.
- Preference will be given to applicants who have not already
experienced training or surgical fellowships in the U.S. or Canada.
- Applicants must submit independently prepared letters
of recommendation from three (3) of their colleagues.
One letter must be from the chair of the department
in which they hold a clinical or academic appointment
or from a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
residing in their country. The chair’s or the Fellow’s letter
is to directly address the applicant’s commitment to high quality
surgery, surgical teaching, and improving access to
surgical care locally. Letters of recommendation should be
submitted by the persons making the recommendations.
- The Community Surgeon Travel Awards must be used in the
year for which they are designated. They cannot be postponed.
- Awardees are expected to provide a written report
upon their return home, specifically focusing on the
value of the visit to the awardee and the potential
beneficial effect to patients in the country of origin.
- Unsuccessful applicants may reapply only twice and
only by completing and submitting a new application
together with new supporting documentation.
Financial Support
Each awardee will receive gratis registration to the annual
Clinical Congress and to one available postgraduate course held
during the Clinical Congress. In order to qualify for consideration by
the selection committee, all of the requirements must be fulfilled.
Apply Online
All applications for the year 2019 and all of the supporting
documentation must be received online no later than
July 1, 2019, in order for an applicant to receive consideration
by the selection committee. All applicants will be notified of
the selection committee’s decision in November 2019.
Applicants are urged to submit their completed applications and
supporting documents as early as possible in order to provide
sufficient time for processing.
Questions about and application materials for this
award should be sent to kmccann@facs.org.
Requirements and overview
All applications for the year 2020
Community Surgeons Travel Awardees (2012-2018)
Past Scholar Reports