Leadership — Featured News

Awards, national roles recognize faculty accomplishments

Brunt address highlights SAGES accomplishments

L. Michael Brunt, MD, chief of the Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery, combined his administrative responsibilities and a busy clinical year with many duties and initiatives as president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) in 2014-15.

Brunt joined SAGES in 1992, when the organization was 11 years old and laparoscopic surgery was in its infancy. Since then, the organization has grown to more than 6,300 members with a mission of promoting patient care and safety in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery through education, research and innovation.

In his presidential address at the SAGES 2015 Annual Meeting on April 17 in Nashville, Tennessee, Brunt reflected on the organization’s past and how SAGES came to lead the laparoscopic revolution in the early 1990s. He noted that this year, SAGES had awarded the 10,000th certificate in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery Program and had recently implemented the Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy Program to promote operative safety. Brunt also has created a Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force to reduce biliary injuries.

Brunt spoke of the opportunities SAGES had given him and encouraged members to take full advantage of the opportunities before them to make a difference in the surgical world and to their patients.

Brandt heads American Board of Plastic Surgery

Keith Brandt, MD, the William G. Hamm Professor of Plastic Surgery, became executive director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) on Aug. 1, 2015. As executive director, he will carry out the decisions of the ABPS board of directors, manage the ABPS board office in Philadelphia and run the written, oral and maintenance of certification examinations for the board. He will represent the board at society meetings and training programs. Brandt also serves as the liaison between the ABPS and the American Board of Medical Specialties — the umbrella organization of the 24 member boards — and as liaison to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Plastic Surgery Residency Review Committee.

Lai honored with Zimskind Award

Washington University urologic surgeon-scientist Henry Lai, MD, won the 2015 Paul Zimskind Award from the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction for his research and leadership in the field of chronic pelvic pain. The award was first given in 1979 and honors Zimskind, a renowned urologic researcher and educator who served as chairman of the urology department at Jefferson Medical College. Lai has conducted his research as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network, established by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). He has been principal investigator of a MAPP discovery site grant since 2014. Lai received the American Urological Association Rising Stars in Research Award in 2014.