INSIDE: ACSCC25

October 10, 2025

This year the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) annual Clinical Congress was held in Chicago from October 4th through the 7th. Stanford Surgery could be found everywhere inside the 2.67 million square foot convention center from the podium to the exhibition hall.

Dr. Sherry Wren, who serves as ACS secretary, kicked off the ceremony by leading the processional, holding the great mace. She also led the new fellows in the pledge, including our own Drs. Karl Bruckman (Plastics), Lizzie George (Vascular), Cassie Sonntag, and Ken Perrone (General Surgery). Highlights included:

General Surgery

• Surgical Metrics was back again for the 4th straight year. This year, the TECI center acquired data on a variety of procedures including robotic surgery, trauma simulation, and ultrasound.

• Dr. Mardi Karin taught the class (literally) on nipple-sparing mastectomy while Dr. Fred Dirbas moderated the session on advances in breast cancer screening.

• Residents Drs. Norah Liang, Paulina Gutkin, David Lee, and Baylee Bakkila all presented their research. Drs. Daniel Ahn and Leon Naar also competed in the Surgical Jeopardy competition.

• Dr. Brendan Visser spoke on a panel about Colon Cancer Liver Metastases, Dr. Wren gave the civilian perspective on the Challenging Combat Trauma: Case Records of the Joint Trauma System Expert Panel, and Dr. David Spain presented his perspective on learning today at the Association of Program Directors in Surgery session.

Pediatric Surgery

• Rimla Khan, a researcher in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, whose abstract “Evaluative Concomitant Procedures and Clinical Predictors of Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter Failure” received the highest scoring procedure in the Clinical Research Category from the Committee on Medical Student Education.

• Researchers Drs. Carly Cellebrezze, Ben Pham, Siavash Shariatzadeh, Humza Thobani, and Anam Ehsan all presented at research from the Khan, Dunn, and Hyun Labs.

Plastics

• PhD candidate Jen Parker presented the latest research from Hagey Lab on wound scarring.

Surgical Education

• Stanford took over the Surgical Education Session with three presentations (two by former Surgical Education Fellow Dr. Connie Gan). The session was also moderated by General Surgery Residency Program alumna Dr. Sushmita Ahmed.

Global

• Dr. Tom Pham presented at the Global Engagement panel on his work to bring kidney transplants to Lusaka, Zambia as part of the ACS HOPE program.

• SASH Scholar Dr. Abdourahmane Ndong gave a podium and a poster presentation on surgery in Senegal.

• Drs. Tom Weiser was senior author on two global surgery publications: “Enhancing Surgical Antimicrobial Stewardship Through a Training-of-Trainers Approach to Scale Knowledge and Practices in Four Rwandan Hospitals (Quick-Shot)” and “Enhancing Surgical Antimicrobial Stewardship Through a Training-of-Trainers Approach to Scale Knowledge and Practices in Four Rwandan Hospitals (Quick-Shot)”

Next year’s Clinical Congress will take place in Washington, D.C. from September 26-29, 2026.

Media Contact

Director of Communications

(650) 723-2301

rebaker@stanford.edu

Bio

As the Director of Communications for Stanford Surgery, Rachel Baker tells the stories of her department's faculty, staff, and trainees. With the help of an amazing team of content creators, she produces and curates original articles, photos, videos, graphics, and podcasts. She works with each division, center, program, and lab within her purview to define their audience and reach their goals while maintaining a consistent brand voice. She also offers both 1:1 and group education on a variety of topics including media training, using social media to advantage, and presentation refinement. Rachel holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism with a focus on photography from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Maryland.

About Stanford Surgery

The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:

• pioneering cutting-edge research,
• developing the next generation of leaders, and
• healing through incomparable surgical skills and compassion.

To learn more, please visit surgery.stanford.edu

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