Newswise — CHICAGO (November 8, 2021): Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH, FACS, MAMSE, was elected Chair, and Linda G. Phillips, MD, FACS, was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) during the virtual ACS Clinical Congress 2021, October 23-27.
Dr. Sidawy is Professor and the Lewis B. Saltz Chair of the Department of Surgery at the George Washington University. He assumed this position in 2010 after completing a 14-year tenure as the Chief of Surgery at the Washington DC VA Medical Center in Washington, DC.
In his role as Chair, Dr. Sidawy will work closely with the ACS Executive Director and will chair the Regents’ Finance and Executive Committees. The College’s 24-member Board of Regents formulates policy and ultimately is responsible for managing the affairs of the College. The Board’s diversity and variety of experiences and interests among its members enable the Regents to represent views related to myriad issues in contemporary surgery.
Dr. Sidawy has been a member of the ACS Board of Regents since 2015. He previously served six years on the ACS Board of Governors, was President of the ACS Metropolitan Washington Chapter, and Chair of the ACS Committee on Chapter Activities. He is an inaugural member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators (AMSE) and now serves on its Steering Committee. He chaired a group within the Academy that documented and shared experiences from institutions in the midst of the COVID-19 surge in 2020, and now serves as Consulting Editor of the AMSE Cutting Edge of Surgical Education, an online portal recently established to publish peer-reviewed educational material. Portal content will include novel curricula, new educational assessment techniques, or reports of surgical educational innovations to disseminate surgical educational knowledge across the house of surgery. He also recently led an effort with ACS Executive Director David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, to establish a vascular surgery quality verification program as a collaboration between ACS and the Society for Vascular Surgery.
Furthermore, Dr. Sidawy has contributed his health policy expertise while serving on the ACS Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee and the Surgical Quality Alliance, a collaborative of over 20 surgical and anesthesia specialty societies united to define the principles of surgical quality measures, collaborate in the development of meaningful tools for quality improvement, and provide a forum for shared and coordinated efforts among the specialties to monitor and respond to federal and private sector initiatives.
Dr. Sidawy has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, over 55 chapters, numerous abstracts, and made several national and international presentations; his work spans the clinical, research, and educational fields. In addition, Dr. Sidawy served a 7.5-year term as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, at the time the premier journal in the specialty ranking first among its peers in the U.S. and across the world. During his term as editor, Dr. Sidawy launched the Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders in 2013 and the Journal of Vascular Surgery-Cases in 2015 and served as their founding editor-in-chief. Further, he has edited three textbooks: the Basic Science of Vascular Disease (1997), Diabetic Foot, Lower Extremity Arterial Disease, and Limb Salvage (2006), and, along with Dr. Bruce A. Perler, the 9th edition of Rutherford’s Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy in 2018, a two-volume text often called the bible of the specialty. He and Dr. Perler were appointed editors of the 10th edition of this textbook.
His previous positions included: director of the Vascular Surgery Fellowship Program at the Georgetown University and the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.; a member of the Vascular Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery; the chair of the Distinguished Fellows Council of the Society for Vascular Surgery; and the president of the Society for Vascular Surgery, the largest national professional organization in the specialty. He also served as president of the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, the Eastern Vascular Society, and the Chesapeake Vascular Society.
He is the recipient of a number of awards and honors, including The LaSalle D. Leffall Award for “Outstanding contributions to the profession of surgery and to the entire metropolitan Washington community” from the ACS Metropolitan Washington Chapter.
Dr. Phillips is Truman G. Blocker, Jr., MD, Distinguished Professor and chief, department of surgery, division of plastic surgery, and professor, school of medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
As Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents, Dr. Phillips will become Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents Finance Committee, Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee, and Regental Liaison to the ACS Board of Governors Executive Committee. Further, in the absence or inability to act of the Board of Regents Chair, the Vice-Chair will perform the duties of the Chair.
Dr. Phillips has been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) since 1988 and has served as an ACS Regent since 2015. She is the Chair of the Central Judiciary Committee (2016-2021) and has been a member of the Advisory Council for Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery since 2000 and served as Chair (2004-2008); a member of the Nominating Committee of Fellows (2006-2009), and Chair (2009); a member (since 2001) and consultant (2007-2011) for the Women in Surgery Committee; and an active member of the Southern Texas Chapter of the ACS (since 2013) among numerous other involvements with the College.
Throughout her career, Dr. Phillips has received numerous accolades. She has been included in the Best Doctors in America database, was listed in the Guide to America's Top Surgeons, was named a Texas Top Doc, and was recognized by Texas Monthly as a Texas Super Doctor. She was honored with the Young at Heart award from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Plastic Surgery Foundation.
In addition to her work, Dr. Phillips is a prolific writer and has authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and over 45 book chapters in surgical textbooks.
“FACS” designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
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About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 84,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
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