SAGES Member Spotlight

“I admire the way SAGES has adapted to advances in technology, the addition of robotics and the growing specialty of hernia repairs. I plan to be a member for life,” says Dr. Shirin Towfigh.

While Dr. Towfigh remembers her fellow UCLA surgery residents choosing specialties just to avoid laparoscopic surgery, she says she was always “super gung-ho” about laparoscopy. She took her first SAGES foregut course as a resident, taught by former SAGES president Dr. Jeff Peters.

At her first job at USC, Dr. Towfigh worked closely with multiple SAGES leaders and members, including Dr. Peters, along with Drs. Namir Katkhouda, Peter Crookes, Lee Sillin, and Cedric Bremner. When she moved to Cedars-Sinai, she worked with both Drs. George Berci and Edward Phillips, adding, “I am a great advocate of mentorship and learning from surgical history. I have been blessed to be in SAGES’ Los Angeles hub and thus being exposed to the greatest of the great.”

Since joining SAGES as a second year surgery resident, Dr. Towfigh has remained gung-ho in her participation, including as a member of the FLS committee helping to write FLS exam questions, co-editing the SAGES Manual of Groin Pain, working with the Hernia committee and her more current involvement with Community Practice Committee.

Dr. Towfigh’s favorite aspect of being a SAGES member? The Sing Off, of course. She says, “SAGES has a unifying event every year that is fun, relaxing, cultured, international and promotes a siblinghood among its membership that makes the society so special. I remain close friends with people I would have never met outside of SAGES. It’s a bond we share that I don’t see in most other societies. And this is unique because SAGES is not a regional meeting, yet still manages to instill such a sense of belonging and camaraderie among its members.”

As a mentor to students and residents, Dr. Towfigh adds, “I now enjoy seeing and promoting my past residents and fellows on the SAGES stage or on committees at SAGES. The cycle continues, and I love it!”

 

“So much excitement, so much energy, so much FUN” is how Dr. Amin Madani describes SAGES, adding that the “secret sauce” making SAGES truly special is the desire for surgical excellence through innovation to improve patient care.

Dr. Madani also points to SAGES’ investment in young doctors to provide them with a platform to build their career, and opportunities to serve on committees, lead task forces, apply for research grants as a principal investigator, and even take leadership roles to promote SAGES , as he’s done with SAGES FUSE program.

When he joined as a resident 10 years ago, Dr. Madani says, “My first true love was FUSE. During residency, I became a committee member and developed an electrosurgery hands-on FUSE workshop. I had the honor of traveling throughout Canada, the U.S, Japan and France to teach FUSE principles to thousands of surgeons and trainees.” He has since served on the Artificial Intelligence , HPB/Solid Organ and Reimagining the Practice of Surgery committees, as well as the Education Council. He is also  a Candidate representative to the SAGES Board.

A graduate of McGill University’s general surgery residency, Dr. Madani talks about the “wisdom, guidance and expertise” of several SAGES mentors who’ve inspired and supported him, especially Dr. Liane Feldman, who he trained with in residency and was his PhD supervisor. “When I find myself in difficult situations in the operating room or other clinical settings, I regularly ask myself, ‘What would Dr. Feldman do?’ and then I hear her voice in my head.”

A member of a SAGES international “friend group” dubbed #Rhmoboyz, Dr. Madani counts Drs. Philip Pucher, Yusuke Watanabe, Daniel Hashimoto, Maria Altieri and Adnan Alseidi among his closest friends. He says, “The best part of our friendship is that we are an international network of surgeon-scientists who collaborate on research projects, merging expertise in surgical education, simulation, artificial intelligence and outcomes to do what we love most: innovate and improve patient care.”

 

 

When Dr. Marian McDonald joined SAGES as a resident in 1995, she remembers “this new cool society doing avant garde surgeries.” Today she adds that SAGES has evolved into a “community of members always looking out for each other while putting innovation and compassionate patient care first.”

Over the years as an active member, Dr. McDonald has increased her own sense of community by  attending SAGES annual meetings, where she also oversees SAGES humanitarian efforts. She has been active on many SAGES committees, most recently serving on Education Council, Ethics, Global and Safe Chole. She worked closely with Dr. Michael Brunt and Dr. Daniel Deziel on the Bile Duct Injury Consensus Conference and the BDI Consensus Paper published in Surgical Endoscopy and Annals of Surgery.

Along with Dr. Brunt, who Dr. McDonald says “really allowed me to blossom at SAGES,” she counts her SAGES mentors as former SAGES president Dr. Jo Buyske, who was her fellow while she was a resident at Boston’s Lahey Clinic, and Drs. Vic Velanovich and Tonia Young-Fadok.

A graduate of the Penn State College of Medicine, Dr. McDonald has been a general surgeon with the St. Luke’s University Health Network for more than 20 years and is a clinical professor (adjunct) at the Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine. In addition to her work with SAGES, Dr. McDonald is passionate about actively living the SAGES mission to innovate, educate and collaborate to improve patient care. Throughout her career, she’s participated in many medical projects and traveled extensively to other countries, including Africa, Haiti and Peru, sharing her surgical expertise and knowledge as a way to help resource poor countries.

For Dr. McDonald, it’s all about “science, innovation and technology for the greater good of our patients. Being a SAGES member always motivates me to keep going and stay current so I can be the best surgeon possible.”