Academic Surgery

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The Section of Academic Surgery (SAS) was formed in 2002 and now has more than 100 members throughout Australia and New Zealand. The overall goal is to promote academic surgery and to develop the scholar/teacher professional competency. The Section also provides an increasingly important link between the College and university departments of surgery.

Objectives
  • To develop and monitor standards in academic surgical departments in Australia and New Zealand.
  • To enhance career pathways in academic surgery and to encourage younger surgeons to pursue opportunities in academic surgery.
  • To develop an Australasian curriculum for undergraduate surgery, which could be utilized to provide advice to Australian and New Zealand medical schools regarding appropriate surgical content, and which is appropriate for continuation to surgical education and training.
  • To advise Council on professional and policy issues related to academic surgery, as well as issues of relevance to surgery in general.
  • To respond to requests from Council for consideration of relevant issues.
  • To establish and maintain a registry of academically active members in order to support the Section's activities and plan appropriate workforce issues.
Membership

Membership is open to Fellows or Trainees who are interested in academic surgery. Application for membership entails submitting a completed application form and emailing it to scholarships@surgeons.org

Functional relationships

Through linkages within the College and through representation on the Executive Committee the Section of Academic Surgery has functional relationships with the:

Key activities and dates

Association for Academic Surgery (AAS) Fall Courses - USA

These courses are of interest to junior faculty, Fellows, residents and medical students.  For more information, visit the Association for Academic Surgery and select Fall Courses.  If you have any questions, please contact the AAS Registrar at registration@aasurg.org or call +1 310-437-1606, ext 128.

2012 Developing a Career in Academic Surgery (DCAS) Course - Kuala Lumpur

Sunday 6 May 2012, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia

This course targets SET Trainees, prevocational doctors, medical students and younger Fellows who want to develop their research and teaching competencies.  This year it is being held on Sunday 6 May 2012, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia.  Download the Provisional Program (PDF 45kB).  Register online via the ASC website

There are 15 complimentary spaces available for interested medical students.  Download the application form for medical students (PDF 15kB)

Section of Academic Surgery (SAS) - Annual Meeting of Academic Departments

This annual meeting is designed to bring academic surgeons together to discuss issues of common interest. Past themes have been Revitalising Academic Surgical Departments (2008), Becoming and Surviving as Academic Surgeons (2009), Developing RACS - University Collaborations (2010) and Improving Training Pathways for Academic Surgeons in Australia and New Zealand in 2011.  There will be the opportunity to attend a dinner on the Thursday evening.

The 2012 meeting is being held on Thursday 8th November 2012, in Adelaide.  More details to be provided at a later date.

Annual Scientific Meeting of the Surgical Research Society of Australasia (SRS)

The SRS has a long history and has provided the best forum for the presentation of original research by Trainees and is strongly supported by the Section of Academic Surgery. A Young Investigator Award of A$4000 will be offered to sponsor the recipient to attend the Association for Academic Surgery Annual Scientific Meeting in the United States to present their work.  In addition, 4 travel grants (A$750 each) will be offered as well as an award to attend the Developing a Career in Academic Surgery (DCAS) Workshop at the ASC.

The 2012 meeting is being held Friday 9th November 2012, in Adelaide.  More details to be provided at a later date.  

Abstracts from previous meetings can be seen on the The Australasian Surgical Research Society page on the  ANZ Journal of Surgery website.

Fostering the relationship with the Association of Academic Surgery

One of the missions of the Association of Academic Surgeons (AAS) is to promote academic surgery around the world. Through the generous support of Johnson & Johnson Medical it has been possible to have AAS visitors to the DCAS course, the Younger Fellows Forum, the Annual Scientific Congress, and to several centres around ANZ. At the 2010 College ASC the 6 visitors contributed 14 talks in a range of specialty groups. Furthermore, the AAS invites a member of the SAS to give a state-of-the-art lecture and they invite the winner of the SRS Young Investigator Award to give their winning presentation at the AAS Annual Scientific Congress.

Fostering the relationship with medical students

A number of Surgical Interest Groups have developed in Schools of Medicine and these are being linked by the Surgical Interest Network (SurgIN). The Australian Medical Student's Association and New Zealand Medical Students Association Association have been invited to nominate one person to represent them on the Executive Committee. A number of registrations will be provided to the DCAS course.

Committee 

After the 2011 Annual Business Meeting of the SAS, the following Committee was endorsed:
Chair - Professor John Windsor
Vice Chair -  Professor Guy Maddern
Members:
Professor Chris Christophi
Professor Mark Smithers
Professor Russell Stitz
Mr Richard Hanney
Research, Audit and Academic Surgery (RAAS) Board Chair: Professor Julian Smith
Developing a Career in Academic Surgery (DCAS) Representative: Asssociate Professor Andrew Hill
Surgical Research Society of Australasia (SRS) Representative: Professor John McCall
Younger Fellows Representative: Dr Jason Chuen
Trainees' Association (RACSTA) Representative: Dr Zoe Wainer
Board of Surgical Education and Training (BSET) Represenative: Mr Simon Williams
Academy of Surgical Educators Respresentative: Professor Bruce Barraclough
Observer:
Medical student representative: Falk Reinholz 

Contact

Section of Academic Surgery Secretariat
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
199 Ward Street
North Adelaide SA 5069 Australia

Telephone: +61 8 8219 0900
Fax: +61 8 8219 0999
Email: academic.surgery@surgeons.org