President
Patricia Sylla, MD, New York, NY
Dr. Sylla has served on the SAGES Board since 2015, previously chaired the SAGES Conflict of Interest Task Force and Colorectal Committee and was the 2019 Annual Meeting Program Chair. She currently serves on the Awards, Colorectal, Continuing Education, Finance, Hernia, Membership, Research & Career Development Committees, the Sustainability in Surgical Practice and Surgical Data Science Task Forces, as well as both the Education and Technology Councils. She won the SAGES IRCAD Fellowship Travel Award in 2008, SAGES Young Researcher award in 2013, and was the SAGES sponsored recipient of the SUS Leadership Agility Program in 2019. She previously served as co-chair of the NOSCAR Joint Committee with ASGE and subject editor for Surgical Endoscopy.
President-Elect
Christopher Schlachta MD, London, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Schlachta has served on SAGES Board since 2011, and served as SAGES Treasurer from 2019-2023. He currently chairs the SAGES Technology Council and serves on the Artificial Intelligence and Surgical Data Science Task Forces, as well as on the Education Council. He is a founding officer of SAGES Ingenuity Inc. He has served the SAGES program for years as a speaker and faculty instructor, as well as chaired numerous courses/sessions. In 2010, he was program co-chair (CAGS) of the 12th World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery (Washington, DC), chair of the SAGES Project 6 Summit (Los Angeles, 2015), Chair of the Next Big Thing Summit (Houston, 2020) and Chair of SAGES Innovation Weekend (Houston, 2021, 2022). He brought SAGES resident workshops to Canada, with 31 offerings (over 500 attendees) since 2008.
Immediate Past President
John D. Mellinger, MD, Cleveland, OH
Dr. Mellinger served as SAGES President for the 2022-2023 year, and serves on the Community Practice, Educational Resources, Finance, Membership, and Nominating Committees, as well as the RPS and Surgical Data Science Task Forces. He previously Co-Chaired the FES and RAFT Committees. He was formerly SAGES liaison to the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) and recipient of the SAGES Jeffrey L. Ponsky Master Educator in Endoscopy Award.. Dr. Mellinger is Vice President of the American Board of Surgery (ABS). He previously served as APDS President and was prior Chair of the ABS Board of Directors as well as the ABS General Surgery Residency Committee.
Vice Presidents
Jon Gould, MD Milwaukee, WI
Dr. Gould has served on the Board from 2014-2020 and 2021-present. He was former Chair of the Program Committees, currently serves as Chair of the Foregut Committee and as a member of the Education and Technology Councils, Awards, Program and TAVAC Committees as well as on the Surgical Data Science Task Force. He was Program Chair of the SAGES 2019 Annual Meeting in Baltimore. He won the Brandeis award in 2014.
Dana Telem, MD, Ann Arbor, MI
Dr. Telem has served on the SAGES Board of Governors since 2016. She served as Program Chair for the 2021 SAGES meeting, and previously Chaired the Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force and the Diversity and Leadership and Professional Development Committee (formerly We R SAGES). She is a member of the Education Council, Program and Finance Committees, as well as a member of the Surgical Data Science Task Force. She was the recipient of the SAGES Researcher in Training Award (2012), Career Development Award (2014), Young Researcher Award (2016) and Advocacy Summit (2017) Award. She also serves as a Subject Editor for Surgical Endoscopy.
Treasurer
Robert B. Lim, MD, Tulsa, OK
Dr. Lim has served on SAGES Board since 2015, is currently Treasurer and Chair of the Immunofluorescence Task Force. Dr. Lim currently serves as a member of the Technology Council, Military and Oncology Committees and the Acute Care and Sustainability in Surgical Practice Task Forces. In response to the COVID crisis, he co-authored the SAGES primer on mechanical ventilation management and the SAGES repository for safe smoke evacuation. He was Program Co-Chair for the World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery in 2018. He represents SAGES on the Emergency General Surgery Task Force of the ACS. He has served six Combat Duty tours and earned the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, Combat Medic Badge and Combat Action Badge, as well as the Military Alpha Designator, the military’s highest academic award. He won the SAGES Excellence in Clinical Care (Arnold P. Gold Foundation) Humanism award in 2015 and the SAGES Military Service Award in 2021.
Secretary
Brent D. Matthews, MD, Charlotte, NC
Dr. Matthews has served on SAGES Board since 2013. He is an active member of the Acute Care Surgery Task Force, Finance, Diversity, Leadership and Professional Development and RAFT Committees. He previously Chaired the Bylaws and RAFT Committees and was Co-Chair of the Program Committee. He received the SAGES Young Investigators Award in 2003 and the Inaugural SAGES Excellence in Medical Leadership Award in 2011. Dr. Matthews is co-founder and on the Board of Directors for Surgical Outreach for the Americas, a nonprofit organization that provides surgical services in developing countries of Central America. Surgical Outreach for the Americas has completed 19 brigades and performed more than 1,630 operations in partnership with Hospital Santo Hermano Pedro in Catacamas, Honduras, Hospital Maternidad La Divina Providencia in Santiago Texacuangos, El Salvador and ILAC in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.
Adnan Alseidi, MD, EdM-San Francisco, CA
Dr. Alseidi serves as a member of the Education Council, RPS & Program Committees, Surgical Data Science & Sustainability in Surgical Practice Task Forces and previously chaired the SAGES HPB/ Solid Organ Committee. He co-chaired the SAGES 2021 Annual Meeting.
Dr. Alseidi attended medical school at Pennsylvania State University and completed his general surgery residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He then served as a general/trauma/thoracic surgeon in the US Navy and as Co-director of the Surgery Department at the US Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan. Dr. Alseidi completed a HPB and advanced GI fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, MO and earned a master’s degree in surgical education at Southern Illinois University/University of Illinois-UC.
Dr. Alseidi is an attending surgeon on the HPB and Endocrine Surgery Service. Nationally, he serves in multiple leadership roles including: the President of The Fellowship Council, the Immediate Past President of the Association for Surgical Education (ASE), and membership on multiple education and leadership committees within AHPBA and ACS.
Maria Altieri, MD, MS-Philadelphia, PA
Within SAGES, Dr. Altieri currently serves as the SAGES Membership Committee chair since 2020 and serves on several committees including Research and Career Development, Artificial Intelligence Task Force, and the Surgical Data Science Task force. She was the co-chair of the poster session for the program for SAGES 2021 and the chair of the poster session for the program for SAGES 2022. She has participated in multiple other committees, task forcesand sub-committees; among them: Alternative Funding, FUSE, Candidate member, WeRSAGES (currently the Diversity, Leadership and Professional Development Task Force). Dr. Altieri also served as the candidate member to the Board of Governors from 2018-2020.
*Horacio J. Asbun, MD-Miami, FL
Dr. Asbun has served on SAGES Board since 2006 and was the president of SAGES for the 2020-2021 year. He was Program Co-Chair for the 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, and previously chaired the HPB/Solid Organ task force, Global Affairs Committee and Educational Resources Committees. He was an active participant in the Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force, and also serves on the Finance Committee. He previously served on the Development, Humanitarian, Communications, Conflict of Interest and Open to MIS committees, and contributed largely to the Top 14 Procedures, Web-Quizzes and Pearls Video Projects. He was also the SAGES representative and founding Board Member of G4 Alliance. Dr. Asbun is currently the Chair of the Re-imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force and serves on the HPB/ Solid Organ and Nominating committees
In other professional activities, Dr. Asbun is the Editor-in-Chief of the American College of Surgeons Multimedia Atlas of Surgery, he has served in the Executive Council of AHPBA and was the Chair of the AHPBA Development Committee. He has also chaired the Video-Based Education Committee of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Asbun is on the Editorial Board of Surgical Endoscopy and is an ad-hoc peer reviewer for several surgical journals. Dr. Asbun is a member of over 20 surgical societies including American Surgical Association and holds honorary membership of several international surgical associations. He is also a panel member of NCCN Pancreas Cancer guidelines group.
Dr Asbun is a member of multiple international expert’s surgical initiatives and expert study groups. Among them, International Study Group of Pancreas Surgery (ISGPS), Tokyo Guidelines (TG 18), European Guidelines on Laparoscopic Liver Surgery (EGMLLS), International Consensus on Laparoscopic Liver Resection (ICLLR), International Consensus on Prevention of Bile Duct Injury. He currently serves as the Chair of the Evidence-Based, International Guidelines in Minimally Invasive Pancreas Resection (IG-MIPR).
Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, MHPE-St. Louis, MO
Dr. Awad is Chair of the Resident and Fellow Training (RAFT) Committee, co-chair of the Education Council Curriculum Committee, and serves on the Awards Committee. He received the SAGES Career Development Award in 2011, the Young Researcher Award in 2014 and was SAGES rep to the Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE).
Dr. Awad’s academic interests are primarily in the fields of surgical and medical education, surgical ergonomics and laparoscopic, robotic and endoscopic foregut surgery. In surgical/medical education, he has focused on the reformation of surgical residency training in the United States and the transition from medical school to residency. At Washington University in St. Louis, he has served as the Program Director for the General Surgery Residency, Surgery Clerkship Director, and Associate Dean for Medical Student Education, and now serves as Director of the Washington University Institute for Surgical Education (WISE), WISE Education Fellowship Director and Director of Robotic Surgery at BJC HealthCare. Nationally he has held leadership positions in the American Board of Surgery (ABS), and the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS). He is the current president-elect of the Association of Surgical Education (ASE).
Marylise Boutros, MD-Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Within SAGES, Dr. Boutros is currently serving as the Program Co-Chair for the 2024 Annual Meeting in Cleveland, OH. She is the Co-Chair for the Colorectal Surgery Task Force, a sub-committee lead and member of the Research Committee, and a member of both the Program Committee and the Education Council. Dr. Boutros has previously been a member of the OpiVoid Taskforce (2019-2021). She made many contributions to SAGES through her committee work and annual participation in the scientific meeting for over 15 years. Dr. Boutros had a leading role in the first SAGES/EAES Diverticulitis consensus and is now leading the update of this guideline. Dr. Boutros is involved in the development of the Colorectal Masters Pathway. She is also currently leading a sub-task force to create a SAGES membership Research interest database.
In other professional activities, Dr. Boutros is the Program Director for Colon & Rectal Surgery at McGill University and she is an active member on the McGill General Surgery Residency Program Committee for over 10 years. Dr. Boutros is a member of the ASCRS Guidelines committee, and has served on the video committee and self-assessment committee within ASCRS. She is the Research Chair for the Canadian Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (CSCRS), where she serves on the executive council, and is the Program Co-Chair for the Canadian Surgical Forum in 2024 and 2025. Dr. Boutros served on the Editorial Board of Surgical Endoscopy (2018-2022) and is on the editorial advisory board for Colorectal Disease (2020 to present). She is an active ad-hoc peer reviewer for over surgical journals. Dr. Boutros is a member of over 10 surgical societies including the American College of Surgeons and an expert panelist in multiple international consensus projects.
Scott Davis, Jr. MD-Atlanta, GA
Dr. Davis has been a SAGES member since 2004 and previously served as Chair of the Publications Committee. He currently serves on the Education Council and Communications & Continuing Education Committees and is a mentor for the Publications Committee. He is the 2019 Annual Meeting Poster Co-Chair, 2020 Annual Meeting Poster Chair, and previously served as Learning Center Chair.
Dr. Davis has several editorial roles for our society, serving as the Foregut Surgery Subject editor for Surgical Endoscopy. He is also a member of the Joint Journal Committee overseeing the editorial process for the journal. In other professional activities, Dr. Davis is Editor of Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy, and Percutaneous Techniques, and serves on the Editorial Board for Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.
Locally at Emory, he is the Director of the Emory Endosurgery Unit, the longest standing fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery, and is Co-Medical Director of Perioperative Services for Emory University Hospital, overseeing operations and strategy for the operating rooms and endoscopy suites. He also is Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs for the Department of Surgery.
Jonathan M. Dort, MD-Falls Church, VA
Dr. Dort currently serves on the Guidelines Committee and the Re-imagining the Practice of Surgery & Surgical Data Science Task Forces. He previously served as the Chair of the SAGES Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Safety Committee, and continues to mentor the committee. Additionally, he is the Chair of the ADOPT Program of the Continuing Education Committee and has participated as faculty and course chair for the LapCo Train the Trainer program designed to standardize mentorship for this program and beyond. Recently, he served on the SAGES Rapid Response Task Force during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outside of SAGES, he serves on the Finance Committee and as the Chair of the Mentorship Committee of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS). He also serves on the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons and is the President-elect of the Virginia Chapter of the ACS.
Christopher DuCoin, MD, M.P.H.-Tampa, FL
Within SAGES , Dr. DuCoin serves as Chair of the Research and Career Development committee. This committee oversee the allocation of grants and funded awards and oversees Taskforces specific to 1) Medical Student Research Awards, 2) Extramural Funding, 3) SAGES Research Network, and 4) Multi-Society Studies. It is the mission of this committee to bring research to the forefront of SAGES in a meaningful way to, while furthering the belief of innovation through collaboration with our membership and industry. Dr. DuCoin has served (or is serving on) the Membership Committee, Foregut Committe, Resident & Fellow Training Committee, Technology Council, the Surgical Data Science Task Force, and on the Technology Council’s Fluorescence Imaging Task Force. Dr. DuCoin has contributed to the Next Big Thing and multiple endoscopic courses held by SAGES. His journal of choice is, of course, Surgical Endoscopy for his publications and he is a Reviewer of Distinction for the journal. Dr. DuCoin was also a SAGES recipient for the Brandies Leadership Program for Health Policy and Management Award.
In other professional activities Dr. DuCoin is on the Governors’ Council for the Young Fellows and serves as their Chair of Communications Committee
Kevin El-Hayek, MD, MBA-Cleveland, OH
Dr. El-Hayek has been active with SAGES since he joined as a resident member in 2006. He joined the HPB/Solid Organ Committee in 2018 and was named chair in 2023. Dr. El-Hayek joined the Communications Committee in 2020 and the Education Council in 2021. In these roles he guided the development of the pancreas master’s pathway and is a co-editor of the upcoming textbook, The SAGES Manual of Evolving Techniques in Pancreatic Surgery. He is also a founder and co-host of SAGES Stories—the official podcast of SAGES. Dr. El-Hayek is also a member of the Foregut Committee.
Outside of SAGES, Dr. El-Hayek is a member of over 10 surgical societies, and he served as the President of the Cleveland Surgical Society from 2021-2022. Dr. El-Hayek has a passion for education and is currently the third-year medical school clerkship director for both CWRU and NEOMED. He also works closely with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) and GEANCO. Through these organizations, he travels regularly to Africa to provide free surgical care while training local surgeons and residents in both minimally invasive and HPB Surgery.
Robert D. Fanelli, MD, MHA.-Sayre, PA
Dr. Fanelli has been a SAGES member since 1988, and has served on numerous SAGES Committees, including the Board of Governors, Guidelines (former Chair), Ethics, FES, Flexible Endoscopy, ERAS, Legislative Review, TAVAC, the Resident and Fellow Training Committee, and the HPB Solid Organ Committee. He previously served as Chair of the Program Committee and was a member of the Education Council. He helped launch the Safety in Cholecystectomy Project in coordination with then President L. Michael Brunt, MD. Dr. Fanelli was involved with EPA creation for the Fellowship Council and other organizations and was the Program Chair for the SAGES 2016 Annual Meeting in Boston. He has been awarded SAGES Leadership Coins and has received the SAGES Brandeis Scholarship Award. Dr. Fanelli has represented SAGES on joint projects with ASMBS, ASGE and ASCRS, served as the SAGES liaison with the AGA in planning two consecutive GI Technology Summits held jointly by SAGES and the AGA, and currently is leading a SAGES sponsored project around training, assessment, and credentialling in GI endoscopy that involves ten professional societies. Dr. Fanelli currently serves as a Director for the American Board of Surgery, Inc., and formerly served as the inaugural Chair for the Component Board in General Surgery. As a member of the ABS Council, he served roles on the Education and Training Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Certifying Examination Committee, and formerly was Chair of the General Surgery Advisory Council.
*Liane S. Feldman MD-Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Dr. Feldman served as SAGES President from 2021-2022 and previously served on the Executive Committee as Treasurer and as Vice President. She is past Chair of the Finance Committee, was the inaugural Chair of the SMART Enhanced Recovery Task Force and is past cochair of FUSE and of the Quality, Outcomes and Safety committees. She Co-Chaired the 2018 World Congress in Seattle. In addition to the Board she currently serves on the Finance, Nominating and Governance Committees, the Education Council and the Re-Imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force, Dr. Feldman is also co-chair of the Surgical Data Science Task Force.
Dr. Feldman is Chair of the Department of Surgery at McGill University and Surgeon in Chief at McGill University Health Centre. She was the James IV Traveller for Canada (2010) and received the Canadian Association for Medical Education Junior award for distinguished contribution to medical education (2008).
Denise W. Gee, MD-Boston, MA
Denise W. Gee, MD is a busy advanced laparoscopic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive foregut and bariatric surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to her clinical and academic roles within the Department of Surgery, she also serves on the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) Executive Committee and the MGH General Executive Council. She was recently selected to be part of the MGPO Physician Leadership Development Certificate Program.
Dr. Gee brings her expertise onto a national level by serving in various leadership roles in SAGES, Association for Surgical Education (ASE), and the Fellowship Council (FC). Within SAGES, Dr. Gee serves as co-Chair of the Resident and Fellows Training Committee, where she specifically oversees fellowship programming/certification, and Co-Chair of the Assessment and Program Evaluation Committee (within the SAGES Education Council) where she is currently leading societal efforts to develop video-based assessment of key laparoscopic procedures. Most recently, she represents SAGES as the Chair of the newly created Foregut Fellowship Committee comprised of members from three societies: SAGES, ASMBS, and SSAT. Finally, she is the SAGES representative to the SCORE (Surgical Council on Resident Education) committee. Outside of SAGES, Dr. Gee served as Chair of Simulation Committee in ASE (Association of Surgical Education) last year and remains an active member of the group. She is currently Vice-Chair of the ASE Awards Committee and was recently selected to be on the ASE Program Committee. Dr. Gee is the SSAT Representative to the Fellowship Council serving on the Accreditation Committee and is also an active member of the FC Education and Curriculum Committee and Curriculum Redesign Task Force.
Ross F. Goldberg, MD-Miami, FL
Dr. Goldberg has had an interest and passion focused on health policy and advocacy on both the state and federal level since medical school. He has held multiple local, state, and national positions while lecturing at all levels on a variety of topics, ranging from clinical surgical issues to advocacy and health policy, and have actively lobbied on behalf of patients and fellow physicians for over the past 20 years.
Dr. Goldberg served as the Chair of the SAGES Advocacy & Health Policy Committee until 2023 and continues to serve as a mentor to the committee, as well as continuing to be a member of the Technology Council. Dr. Goldberg is the SAGES representative both to the Surgical Care Coalition and to the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchasers Coalition, serving as the first surgeon to sit on their Physician Executive Advisory Council. He received the 2014 Brandeis Award and the 2019 Excellence in Medical Leadership Award. Outside of SAGES, he is currently the Chair of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Board of Governors and serves on the American Medical Association’s Council on Legislation.
Jacob A. Greenberg, MD, EdM-Durham, NC
Dr. Greenberg currently Co-Chairs the Business and Technology arm of the Education Council, and also serves as the co-chair of the Resident and Fellow Training Committee and is a member of the Continuing Education and Program Committees. He previously served on the Publications Committee, the Hernia Task Force, and the Communications Committee. and has chaired several panel sessions for the SAGES annual meeting. He served as the Program Chair for the SAGES 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO.
In other professional activities, Dr. Greenberg is a Governor for the Americas Hernia Society and a Member-at-Large for the Executive Board of the Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative. He is also the AHS representative to the Board of the Fellowship Council. He is actively involved in the Association for Program Directors in Surgery as well as the Association for Academic Surgery and the Society of University Surgeons.
Caitlin Halbert, DO, MS-Wilmington, DE
Dr. Halbert previously served as Chair of the Community Practice Task Force and continues to serve as a mentor to the committee. She is also a member of the Membership and Program committees and serves on the Education Council. She has served on the SAGES Board of Governors since 2019. She was recently named co-chair of the SAGES Annual Meeting for 2024. Dr. Halbert was awarded the SAGES 2022 Excellence in Community Surgery Award.
Dr. Halbert is a Clinical Associate Professor at both the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson College and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is the current President of the Delaware Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. She serves on the Board of Directors and is the current Secretary/Treasurer for the Foundation for Surgical Fellowships. She has a passion for leadership education and is co-founder of the Women’s Leadership in Surgery Society. At ChristianaCare, she serves many administrative roles, including the Chief of Surgical Services at the Wilmington Campus, Medical Director of the Bariatric Surgery Program, and member of the Medical-Dental Executive Board.
Shaneeta Johnson, MD, MBA –Atlanta, GA
Dr. Johnson currently serves within the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) as the chair of the newly established Sustainability in Surgical Practice Task Force as well as a member of the Metabolic & Bariatric Committee, Education Council, and serves as a co-chair of the Diversity, Professional and Leadership Committee. She also serves as a member of the National Academy of Medicine Planning Committee for the Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the US Health Sector. She currently serves on the Board of the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, Executive Board of the Surgical Section of the National Medical Association, and the Board of Outstanding Atlanta. The American College of Surgeons has appointed Dr. Johnson to serve as the Director of the ACS Mentorship program, member of the Governing Council of the YFA, Liaison Representative to the Board of Governors International Chapter Workgroup, and the Health Policy Advisory Council. She currently serves as the President of the Georgia Chapter of ASMBS.
Dr. Johnson is a recipient of several awards including the 2021 inaugural SAGES Social Justice and Health Equity Award, 2021 induction as an Associate Member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, 2020 National Medical Association Emerging Leader Award, 2020 American College of Surgeons Claude Organ Jr. Traveling Fellowship, 2020 Top Women in Medicine honoree, 2019 BizWomen Outstanding Women Leaders in Healthcare, Excellence in Healthcare Award, 2018 Atlanta 40 under 40 award as well as many teaching awards.
Leena Khaitan, MD, MPH-Cleveland, OH
Dr. Khaitan was a candidate member of the SAGES Board of Governors from 2001-2004 and member of the Board from 2012-2016 and again since 2018. She served as Chair of the Resident Education Committee from 2009-2012 and is was previously Chair of the Foregut Committee. She has served as a member of several committees including the Membership Committee, Outcomes Committee, Research Committee, Publications Committee, Communications Committee, Continuing Education Committee, DLPD Committee, Guidelines Committee, FUSE Task Force, Flexible Endoscopy Committee, Metabolic & Bariatric Committee, Program Committee and Education Council. She currently serves as the SAGES liaison to the Bariatric Endoscopy committee for ASMBS. Dr. Khaitan has chaired and participated in numerous resident courses and fellow courses for the last 20 years. She has also served at the SAGES annual meetings as Hands on Equipment Czarina (2012) and as chair or cochair for several sessions in the topics of endoscopy, bariatric and foregut diseases. She has also helped to run several of the Hands on Courses and is Chairing the Bariatric Hands On Course at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Dr. Khaitan is Director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Nutrition Center at University Hospitals and Director of the Center for Esophageal and Swallowing Disorders. She serves on the Video Executive Committee for the American College of Surgeons. In 2006, Dr. Khaitan received the coveted Young Researcher Award from SAGES. In 2020, Dr. Khaitan cochaired the Annual Meeting and worked with Drs. Goldblatt and Pryor to plan an unprecedented virtual meeting for SAGES.
James R. Korndorffer, Jr., MD, MHPE-Stanford, CA
Dr. Korndorffer has been active in SAGES for over 20 years. He is currently serving as the co-chair for the SAGES Education Council-Curriculum Development and Instruction Group, and on the FES and FLS Committees. He has previously served on numerous SAGES committees including, Resident Education, Guidelines, Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery, Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery, and Development. Additional past service to SAGES includes Co-Chair and Chair of the Curriculum Task Force, a member of the OWLS task force, and Chair/Co-Chair or Faculty for numerous SAGES Annual Meeting Sessions and SAGES courses.
In other professional activities, Dr. Korndorffer is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Surgical Education, served on the editorial board of the Surgical Council on Resident Education, chairs of the research division for the Association for Program Directors in Surgery, and serves on the ACS Faculty. Development Committee. He is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Surgical Association and the Southern Surgical Association.
Matthew Kroh, MD-Cleveland, OH
Within SAGES, Dr. Kroh is currently serving as Chair of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Committee, a position held since 2018. He has previously served as Co-Chair of the Endoscopic Bariatric Surgery Task Force and he was core member of the group that created the BE-SAFE (Bariatric Endoscopy Skills Acquisition Focused Exam) didactic and hands-on curriculum, a co-sponsored program by SAGES and the ASMSBS. He also currently is a member of the Education Council, and he actively serves on the Publications and Foregut Committees.
In other professional activities, Dr. Kroh is the Vice Chair of Innovation and Technology in the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is the Division Chief of Foregut Surgery and Surgical Endoscopy in the Department of General Surgery, and Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He most recently served as Chair, Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, developing clinical, operational, educational, and research programs in the United Arab Emirates. He has previously held the positions of the Program Director for the Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery and Flexible Surgical Endoscopy Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, the Clerkship Director for Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and the Surgical Director of both the Advanced Endoscopy Center and the Esophageal Center. He has also held the role of Director of the Center for Advanced Skills Training in the Cleveland Clinic Simulation Center. He is a member of multiple surgical societies, including the American Surgical Association.
Jose M. Martinez, MD-Miami, FL
Jose Martinez, MD, is a Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Minimally Invasive Training and Educational Center, Director of the Hernia Center and the Director for the MIS/Flexible Endoscopy Fellowship Program at University of Miami.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, as well as a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Surgeons (SAGES). He is active on the SAGES Fundamental of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) Program, is a member of the Resident and Fellow Training (RAFT) Committee as well as the Flexible endoscopy committee. Served as prior co-chair to the Flexible endoscopy committee as well as member to Go Global committee. He also has been a member under several committees for the Fellowship Council, including, research, accreditation, communications, case log and currently serves in the Board for the Fellowship Council.
Ozanan R. Meireles, MD-Boston, MA
Dr. Meireles is a bariatric, foregut, and advanced endoluminal surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Meireles has been practicing surgery at MGH for more than 10 years, where he has been responsible for the introduction of new technologies and techniques, including Artificial Intelligence, Tele-mentoring, and new MIS and endoluminal procedures.
At SAGES, he serves as Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force, and on the Educational Resources Committee, Education Council, Technology Council and Surgical Data Science Task Force. He also serves as an ad-hoc consultant for the United States Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Medicine in Artificial Intelligence in Health Care.
Dean J. Mikami, MD-Honolulu, HI
Dr. Mikami is currently a Board of Governors of SAGES, and serves on the Education Resource, FUSE, Quality Outcomes and Safety and Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Committees. He won the SAGES Brandeis Award in 2017.
Dr. Mikami attended college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and medical school at the University of Kansas. He completed his general surgery training and minimally invasive fellowship at The Ohio State University and remained on the faculty at Ohio State from 2004 to 2016. He returned home to be Chief of Surgery for the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2016. Dr. Mikami has continued his work in minimally invasive surgery of the GI tract, hernia repair, bariatric surgery and advanced endoluminal therapies. In addition to SAGES, he is an active member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, and serves as Chair of the ASMBS Flexible Endoscopy committee. Dr. Mikami is also Editor in Chief of Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care.
Jaisa Olasky, MD-Cambridge, MA
Dr. Olasky is Chair of SAGES FUSE Committee and serves on the Communications & FLS Committees, as well as on Education Council and in the Education Council’s Assessment and Program Evaluation Group. She has been at Mount Auburn Hospital since finishing fellowship in 2013. At MAH her clinical areas of expertise and focus include GI Surgery, hernia surgery, benign biliary surgery and foregut surgery. She created a GERD Task Force at MAH to bring together MIS/Bariatric/Thoracic surgeons, GI physicians, and support staff to improve care in this area, and is now expanding this center to add on more endoscopic procedure options for patients.
Dr. Olasky is also the Co-Associate Clerkship Director for the BIDMC Harvard Medical School students and a lecturer for the MIT Health Science Technology Introduction to Clinical Medicine program. She serves on several hospital committees that are involved with IT and EHR related decisions.
Ankit Patel, MD-Decatur, GA
Within SAGES, Dr. Patel has been active in several areas. He is currently a Co-Chair of the Robotics Committee focusing on Robotics Courses and has served on the Committee since it started as a task force. He is also an active member of the Publication Committee, Foregut Committee, and Education Council. He is currently the director for the SAGES Robotics Courses.
In other professional activities, he is a member of the American College of Surgeons Video-Based Education Committee. He is on the editorial boards for Surgical Laparoscopy Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques and Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care. He is Vice President for the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Eric M. Pauli, MD-Hershey, PA
Dr. Paul is currently chair of the FES Committee, and serves on the Program Committee, Education Council and Re-imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force. Dr. Pauli previously served as the chair of the SAGES Flexible Endoscopy Committee, where he continures to serve as a member and has led multiple projects in the training of flexible endoscopy for our membership. As a consequence of this role, he has also had the opportunity to interface with The Fellowship Council as a SAGES representative for multiple projects including the development of Entrustable Professional Activity based curriculum, redefining flexible endoscopy fellowships and re-designing the case log system. He continues to serve as member at large for the FC Executive Committee. He has additional leadership roles at the Americas Core Health Quality Collaborative and Americas Hernia Society.
Rebecca P. Petersen, MD, MSc.-Seattle, WA
Rebecca Petersen MD, MSc, FACS is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington. Dr. Petersen specializes in advanced minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery and was one of the founding members of the UW Medicine Hernia Center. She serves as an Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Program and is the Medical Student Director at Northwest Hospital. Dr. Petersen has been an active and highly engaged member of SAGES since she was a resident. As a fellow she was awarded the SAGES Research in Training Award. Over the years she has been a member on a variety of committees, contributed to several SAGES manuals, and has served as a reviewer for Surgical Endoscopy. She was previously the Chair of the Research & Career Development Committee and is a member of the Hernia, Program and the Resident and Fellow Training Committees.
Dr. Rebecca Petersen attended Oregon & Health Sciences University Medical School. During medical school she also received a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She went on to complete General Surgery Residency at Duke University Medical Center, after which she completed a minimally invasive fellowship at University of Washington Medical Center. Dr. Petersen’s clinical interests include advanced laparoscopy, gastrointestinal disorders, complex abdominal wall hernia repair and reconstruction, in addition to inguinal, femoral, sports and hiatal hernias.
Carla M. Pugh, MD, PhD-Stanford, CA
Dr. Pugh previously served as Co-Chair of SAGES Hernia Committee and is a current member of Governance Committee and Surgical Data Science Task Force. Dr. Pugh holds multiple patents on the use of sensor and data acquisition technology to measure and characterize hands-on clinical skills. Currently, over two hundred medical and nursing schools are using one of her sensor-enabled training tools for their students and trainees. Her work has received numerous awards from medical and engineering organizations, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama at the White House in 2011. In 2014, she was invited to give a TEDMED talk on the potential uses of technology to transform how we measure clinical skills in medicine. Recently, Dr. Pugh was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (April 2018), the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators (April 2019), as well as the American Board of Surgery Council (February 2020). She was also the 2022 President-elect for the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) and is an elected member of the Defense Health Board.
Alia Qureshi, MD, MSc.-Portland, OR
Dr. Qureshi is passionate about service and contribution and have been involved in SAGES since early in my surgical residency. A great deal ofher “free” time has been dedicated to learning how to contribute and be an engaged member of SAGES on multiple levels. In so doing, she has learned first-hand the rewards of fruitful collaboration and the value of engaging all members of the committees and societies’ that she has had the privilege of working with. She had the opportunity to be involved in many committees and growth opportunities from the beginning. A specific example of this; she enjoyed participating in the Co-Chair SAGES Multi-Society Consensus on Benign Foregut Disease. This was a 3-year effort that is culminating in our Consensus being presented in August, 2021 at the SAGES annual, reflecting collaboration of 5 multi-national surgical societies as well as in the field of gastroenterology. This has been a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow as a surgeon and life-long student of foregut surgery.
Dr. Qureshi has also had the honor to serve as the Chair of the SAGES DLPD (Diversity, Leadership and Professional Development Committee) and has observed the transformation of this surgical society from a resident member to a Chair of this Diversity Committee. In this capacity, she has learned strong lessons about the need for transparency and open dialogue. The committee is comprised of 60 members who themselves are section heads and Chairs of surgery across the nation and are very engaged in diversity on many levels; We all continue to be students of DEI as together, we grow and learn to both appreciate and challenge our own biases. Dr. Qureshi also serces as a member of the Education Council and the Foregut Committee.
E. Matthew Ritter, MD, MHPE-Indianapolis, IN
Retired Active-Duty Military Surgeon in the US Air Force. Served 3 tours in the Middle East in Direct Support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Founding Chair of the SAGES Education Council, and previous Chair of the Curriculum Task Force and Co-Chair of the FLS committee. Represents SAGES as the Co-Chair of the Unified Standards Committee of the Fellowship Council. Also serves on SAGES FES Committee, & Surgical Data Science Task Force. Previous service on SAGES Guidelines Committee and Hernia Task Force, and 2 previous 3 years terms on the SAGES Board of Governors from 2015-2021, becoming a member of the board again in 2023. Dr. Ritter also serves as a member of the FES Committee and the Surgical Data Science Task Force. In addition to SAGES, active member of ACS, APDS, ASE, and the American Hernia Society. Clinical practice focused on MIS GI and Abdominal wall surgery, at IU University Hospital and North Hospital in Indianapolis.
John R. Romanelli, MD-Westfield, MA
Dr. Romanelli currently Chairs SAGES Awards Committee, and previously Chaired SAGES Quality Outcomes Safety Committee. He also Chairs the NOSCAR Joint Committee. He serves as an active member of the Development and QOS Committees, as well as serving on the Reimaging the Practice of Surgery Task Force, and previously served on the Bariatric and Technology Committees. He serves on the Foregut and General Surgery Committee of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the Communications Committee of the Fellowship Council, and Co-Chaired and Chaired the International NOSCAR Summit on behalf of SAGES three times.
James C. Rosser Jr., MD-Davenport, FL
James C. “Butch” Rosser, Jr. MD FACS is a surgeon, educator, scientist, inventor, author, futurist, social advocate, television personality, playwright, video gamer, comic book collector, lover of cinema, and self-proclaimed terminal twelve-year-old. Dr. Rosser has described himself as the nexus where that which you think is frivolous meets that which you hold on high ground. He has given more than 350 invited lectures around the world, written over 60 peer reviewed articles, 16 chapters in books currently in print, and 11 digital books. Dr. Rosser has held Professor of Surgery academic appointments previously at Yale University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the Morehouse School of Medicine. He is currently Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Central Florida and University of Buffalo Schools of Medicine. Most recently, he has been a practicing general surgeon and Director of the Center for the Advanced Treatment of Heartburn at Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster, Wisconsin. Dr. Rosser has been an active member of the SAGES board for many years.
Bethany J. Slater, MD, MBA-Chicago, IL
Within SAGES, Dr. Slater is currently the chair of the guidelines committee and was co-chair of the pediatric committee, where she still serves as a member. She has also been on the program committee for the last several years. Dr. Slater is also a member of the Technology Council. In other professional activities, Dr. Slater has served as the chair of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) New Technology Committee, the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG) program chair for the annual meeting last year, as well as a member of several other committees. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of Laparoendoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques (JLAST) videoscopy and is an ad-hoc peer reviewer for many surgical journals including surgical endoscopy. She is also the PI for the Flourish Trial using rare earth magnets to treat Esophageal Atresia as well as the site PI for a NIH R21 grant entitled “Safety Assessment of Perioperative Pain Medications for Children (SAPPhire)”. She is also involved in a number of multiinstitutional clinical studies for various pediatric surgical conditions.
*Mark A. Talamini, MD, MBA-Stony Brook, NY
Dr. Talamini has served on the SAGES Board of Governors since 2001 and was President from 2008-2009. He was previously the Chair of the Finance and Publications Committees and continues to serve as a member of both. Dr. Talamini is also a member of the Nominating and Governance Committees. He also serves as the Director of The Division of General Surgery at UCSD. Dr. Talamini is widely published and is a member of many prestigious national surgical organizations, such as the American Surgical Association, The Halsted Society, The Society of University Surgeons, The Southern Surgical Association and The Society of Surgery for the Alimentary Tract. Dr. Talamini serves on numerous committees for the American College of Surgeons.
Shawn Tsuda, MD, MBA-Las Vegas, NV
Dr. Tsuda is a Minimally Invasive Bariatric and General Surgeon with a full-time private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada. After graduating from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii and attending general surgery residency at the University of Nevada, he completed a fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He returned to Nevada where he attained associate professorship and developed the residency Surgical Skills & Simulation Center. He has been active in SAGES, serving as chair of the Technology and Value Assessment Committee and participating in other committees and task forces, including the Re-Imagining the Practice of Surgery & Surgical Data Science Task Force, COVID-19 Response Team and Virtual ADOPT team. He decided to leave academia in 2017 to start a private practice and expand his education by pursuing a MBA in Healthcare Management at the UNLV Lee Business School, as well as serving as a board member and medical director of the Viticus Group, a 140,000 sq ft hands-on surgical and veterinarian training center. In his free time he enjoys spending time with my family and reading.
Michael B. Ujiki, MD-Evanston, IL
Dr. Ujiki has been a member of SAGES since 2007 and currently serves as Chair for the Educational Resources Committee. He previously served as co-chair from 2014-2020. He currently serves or has served on several other SAGES committees including the Education Council, Flexible Endoscopy, Foregut, Membership and Safe Cholecystectomy.
In other professional activities, Dr. Ujiki serves on the Executive Council for the Central Surgical Association, program committee for the Western Surgical Association, secretary of the Chicago Surgical Society, and is Vice President Elect for the Illinois Surgical Society. He also contributed to the International Consensus for the Prevention of Bile Duct Injury.
David R. Urbach, MD-Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Urbach served previously as Chair of SAGES Research & Career Development Committee, where he continues to serve as a member and Delphi Task Force, and currently serves or has served on the Advocacy & Health Policy, Awards, Communications and Flexible Endoscopy Committees, as well as the Extramural Funding and Re-Imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Forces. He is Past President of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons.
Melina C. Vassiliou, MD-Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Dr. Vassiliou is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Program Director of MIS Fellowship Program. She is a minimally invasive GI surgeon with a special interest in Foregut, hernias and interventional endoscopy. She just completed a seven-year term as the Program Director for the Surgical Foundations Program at McGill. She completed her Masters of Education at McGill in 2005. Dr. Vassiliou has won several educational awards, including the 2018 Canadian Association for Medical Education Certificate of Merit. She previously served as the chair of the SAGES FLS committee, and still serves as a mentor to the committee. Dr. Vassiliou is a current member of the Education Council and the Re-Imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force.
Andrew S. Wright, MD-Seattle, WA
Dr. Andrew S. Wright is an advanced minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgeon at the University of Washington, where he specializes in management of inguinal, incisional, hiatal and paraesophageal hernias, as well as complex esophageal and gastric disease like GERD (acid reflux), achalasia, and other esophageal motility issues. Dr. Wright is Director of the UW Medicine Hernia Center and Director of the UW Department of Surgery Minimally Invasive Surgery/Advanced GI and Foregut Fellowship. Dr Wright has been an active member of SAGES for more than 15 years and has been an active member of numerous SAGES committees. He is currently the Co-Chair of the Communications Committee, and also serves on the Continuing Education, Foregut and RAFT committees. As part of the Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force he helped guide the initial development of the Safe Chole program and authored two of the modules. Dr. Wright also helped found and organize the SAGES Mastery Facebook groups which now include over 6,000 members and was instrumental in coordinating a set of SAGES webinars to enhance online surgical education through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
AMA House of Delegates Representatives
Paresh C. Shah, MD, New York, NY
Dr. Shah previously served on SAGES Board from 2006-2012. He re-joins now as SAGES rep to the AMA House of Delegates. He currently serves or has served on the on the Advocacy & Health Policy, Awards, Conflict of Interest and TAVAC Committees, and is a co-chair of the ARtificial Intelligence Task Force. He is clinically active with a focus on GI oncology, MIS, and advanced endoscopy. He is also a member of many other surgical societies including SSAT, ACS and AHPBA. He previously served as SAGES rep to the CPT Editorial Panel as a Specialty Society Representative. He received the Excellence in Medical Leadership Award from SAGES Foundation and is an Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient.
Kevin Reavis, MD, Portland, OR
Dr. Reavis is a current member of the Advocacy & Health Policy, Flexible Endoscopy and Research & Career Development Committees, as well as serving on the Technology Council and the Re-Imagining the Practice of Surgery Task Force.
ABS Representative
*Aurora D. Pryor, MD, New Hyde Park, NY
Dr. Pryor served as president of SAGES from 2019-2020. She previously served as SAGES Treasurer from 2015-2018 and has been on the SAGES Board of Governors since 2009. She has served as Chair of Finance, Membership and the Research and Career Development committees. Other leadership roles have included serving as a committee member on the Awards Committee, Nominating Committee, Delphi Taskforce, Research and Career Development Committee, I3 Taskforce, Resident and Fellow Training Committee, Endolumenal Taskforce and Program Committees. She also served on the NOSCAR joint grant committee with ASGE and SAGES. She has co-Chaired the Research Committee and Taskforce on Young Surgeons. She was the Program Chair for the 2015 SAGES annual meeting in Nashville. In addition to these roles, Dr. Pryor is currently working with the Resident and Fellow Training Committee to rework the curriculum for MIS and Flex Endo fellows. She is also helping to develop a tool for video based assessment. She is the SAGES Representative on the Gastrointestinal Surgery Advisory Council for the American Board of Surgery and has served as the SAGES representative to the Fellowship Council Board from 2010-2016.
In addition to her work at SAGES, Dr. Pryor has been actively involved in several other surgical societies. She served the ASMBS on the Program and Emerging Technology committees, both of which she eventually served on as chair. She served on the Executive Council of the ASMBS as a Council person at Large from 2014-2017. In that role, she provided oversight for Emerging Technologies, Membership, and the Obesity Prevention committees. She is also co-chair of the General and Foregut Surgery committee. She is also the NY ASMBS chapter Treasurer. She has been active in the Fellowship Council Board where she served as Secretary/Treasurer, Second Vice-President and is now First Vice President. She is an Associate Editor for Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, previously was the Subject Editor for Bariatric Surgery for Surgical Endoscopy and serves on the editorial boards of Annals of Surgery and Bariatric Times. She has also been awarded the Stony Brook Surgery Attending of the Year Award and the Stony Brook Community Service Award.
ACS Representative
Jeffrey M. Marks, MD, Cleveland, OH
Dr. Marks was appointed to the Board in 2001, is a former Chair of SAGES Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) Committee and continues to serve the committee. He has served on the Conflict of Interest & Program Committees and is a current member of the Awards, Flexible Endoscopy and Nominating committees. He previously chaired the SAGES Resident Education and Flexible Endoscopy Committees. He has been a member of the SAGES Exec Committee since 2015 serving as secretary. He has chaired numerous courses at the annual meeting, and regional resident courses. He was Program Co-Chairman for the 2014 SAGES Annual Meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was President for the Cleveland Surgical Society in 2000 and Northeastern Ohio Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy from 2008-2010. He is the program director for the Case general surgery program and director of the GI Surgery/MIS Fellowship at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. In addition to running a complex clinical practice in minimally invasive surgery and advanced therapeutic endoscopy, Dr. Marks spearheads an active lab researching numerous endoscopic techniques and provides endoscopic training courses for surgeons, gastroenterologists, and allied health care. He serves on editorial boards for numerous medical journals, and leadership committees for many Surgical and GI organizations. In 2016 he was appointed the Jeffrey L. Ponsky, MD Professor of Surgical Education.
* Past President of SAGES