WI Surgeon John A. Weigelt, MD, DVM, FACS, Receives 2015 Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Surgeons

Newswise — CHICAGO (October 5, 12:01 am CT): John A. Weigelt, MD, DVM, FACS, a trauma surgeon from Milwaukee, Wis., received the 2015 Distinguished Service Award (DSA) of the American College of Surgeons last night during the Convocation ceremony that preceded the opening of the College’s 2015 Clinical Congress, one of the largest international meetings of surgeons in the world. The DSA is the highest honor bestowed by the ACS.
Dr. Weigelt was honored for his contributions to the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and the fields of trauma care, and surgical education. The ACS Board of Regents presented the DSA to Dr. Weigelt “in appreciation of his continuous and devoted service as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons” and “in recognition of his superb skills in synthesizing and applying surgical knowledge and conveying effectively critical concepts to learners that have positively impacted the practices of numerous surgeons.”
A Fellow of the American Colllege of Surgeons (FACS) since 1982, Dr. Weigelt is the Milt & Lidy Lunda/Charles Aprahamian Professor of Trauma Surgery; professor and chief, division of trauma and critical care. He most recently completed 10 years of serving as both the associate dean for quality at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), Milwaukee and medical director of quality at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, Milwaukee (2005-2015).
In his more than 30 years as a Fellow, Dr. Weigelt has been very involved in ACS’s trauma-related activities. He has been a member of the ACS Committee on Trauma (COT) since 1992 and, in that time, served as COT Chair (1994-1998) and COT Membership Committee Chair (1998-2004). He was also chief, COT Region 6 (1989-1992), and has been on the National Faculty of the Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS) program since 1983. In addition, Dr. Weigelt has been active in many of the College’s educational pro-grams. He began serving as an author of the Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program (SESAP®) during SESAP VII, joined the Advisory Committee during SESAP IX, and has served as Medical Director of SESAP since 2001. He helped to start the General Surgery Review course at the Clinical Congress in 2007 and has functioned as Course Director of the lauded Comprehensive General Surgery Review Course since its beginning in 2010. Dr. Weigelt has also been a member of the Committee on Education and the Committee on Video-Based Education, as well as a member of the Committee on Medical Motion Pictures (2002-2004).
At the state level, Dr. Weigelt became a member of the North Texas Chaper in 1983 and served as Chair, North Texas Chapter COT, and Council Member, North Texas Chapter (both 1983-1989). He has also been a member of the ACS Chapters in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Dr. Weigelt joined the faculty of MCW in 1999 and has since been a member of its Residency Education and Evaluation Committee (1999-present); Executive Committee (2001-present); Peer Review Committee (2004-present); Society of Teaching Scholars (member, 2006-present and chair in 2007); among many others. He remains a practicing general surgeon with specialty interest in trauma and critical care at Froedtert, where he chairs the trauma committee (1999-present) and the joint quality committee (2004-2015). Earlier faculty appointments include positions at numerous universities and medical centers in Dallas, TX; Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hastings, MN; and Osceola, WI. While at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Weigelt’s clinical activities were acknowledged by the Weigelt-Wallace Award in 1991, which was established to recognize clinical excellence and dedication to patient care. In 2012, he received the Smallwood Award from the medical staff at Froedtert Hospital for excellence in patient care. Dr. Weigelt has been recognized as a premier surgical educator, twice earning the Wangensteen Award for Excellence in Teaching (1993, 1999) while at the University of Minnesota, as well as the Association for Surgical Education Outstanding Teacher Award (2002). Since joining MCW, he has twice received the Teacher of the Year Award (2004, 2010). In 2013, Dr. Weigelt was elected to the Giants in Surgery by the Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Hospital, both in Dallas.
Dr. Weigelt is or has been a member of many other honorary and professional societies, including the Western Surgical Association as a past-vice-president and the Parkland Surgical Society, American Medical Association, as a founding member. He has presented more than 150 local, regional, and national lectures in his career, as well as 20 international lectures in locations from Istanbul, Turkey to Bejing, China.
Dr. Weiglet is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Surgical Education; and the audio Practical Reviews in General Surgery. He was editor of the Journal of Surgical Outcomes (2002-2007), as well as associate editor with Selected Readings in General Surgery (SRGS) while it was published at Southwestern Medical Center (1989-1996). He has published more than 150 medical journal articles, written more than 50 book chapters, has been a contributing or associate editor of more than 60 entries in SRGS.
Dr. Weigelt’s research interests include surgical infections, clinical outcomes, and educational approaches to training surgeons. He has been awarded 19 research grants during his career. His most recent research interests focus on quality of care issues, working closely with the Wisconsin Collaborative of Healthcare Quality.
About John A. Weigelt, MD, DVM, FACSDr. Weigelt graduated from Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, with a bachelor of science, and earned his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the same institution. He completed his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), Milwaukee, WI, and his internship and residency at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. He completed his master’s degree in hospital administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, he is the Milt & Lidy Lunda/Charles Aprahamian Professor of Trauma Surgery; professor and chief, division of trauma and critical care.
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About the American College of SurgeonsThe 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 all 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 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.