Welcome!
If you join just one more surgical organization in your life, make it SAGES! What is it about SAGES that is unique?
- Where science and emerging technology advance the practice of Surgery.
- Where educators teach using simulation, remote teleproctoring and immersive head mounter displays.
- The home for innovators and early adopters.
- SAGES is where members bring ideas, introduce new technology, get CPT codes and advocate for reimbursement.
- We celebrate Top Gun winners for their skills
- Surgeons volunteer give back locally and globally.
- SAGES is where community surgeons, professors, international experts, engineers, researchers, educators, nurses and industry partners share ideas.
- We don’t just have a mission statement, we have a mantra.
It is my honor and privilege to serve as 2017/18 President of this prestigious organization, representing our more than 6000 members around the globe.
The mission of SAGES is to improve the quality of patient care through education, research, innovation and leadership, principally in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery.
SAGES began with a small group of visionaries who recognized the importance of the endoscope. It was THE surgical organization to embrace and disseminate minimally invasive surgery and quickly became the second largest surgical organization in the United States after the American College of Surgeons.
We have several exciting initiatives which will build upon and strengthen our history of innovation and progressive thinking. New this year:
- The WRS and Community Task Forces. The We R SAGES (WRS) is our diversity and inclusion group charged with making sure there are no sticky floors or glass ceilings for any group. We are better because of our diversity.
- The Community Task Force is specifically focused on better understanding the educational needs and creative contributions from our members in private practice. Please complete email membership surveys when you receive them so we can better guide the organization.
- Along with our existing Acute Care, Bariatric, Flexible Endoscopy, Hernia and Robotic surgery committees and task forces, we are also adding additional Pathway Task Forces for Colon, Foregut and HPB.
- SAGES will continue to work with the American Board of Surgery to get trainees FLS and FES certified.
- The emphasis this year will be the Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy (FUSE). With nearly 400 OR fires and 50,000 iatrogenic thermal injuries annually in the Unites States, the SAGES Board recently voted that all Board members and Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs must be FUSE certified this year. We want to make it easy for all 6000+ SAGES members to become FUSE certified. To learn more, visit sages.org/fundamental-use-surgical-energy-fuse/
- This will be the “Year for Patient Safety.”
At the annual meeting, you will see more and more of the program and online educational content organized around the SAGES UNIVERSITY MASTERS Program. On a voluntary basis, members can follow eight pathways from competency to proficiency to the mastery curriculum. Deliberate, structured, lifelong learning will be so much better than SESAP for MOC. To learn more and to register go to www.sages.org/sages-masters-program . As a first step, we invite you to log onto our recently launched Facebook communities for Acute Care, Biliary, Bariatric, Hernia, Foregut, Colon, Flexible Endoscopy and Robotic Surgery. Present a video clip or pose a difficult clinical problem and crowd source the answer.
SAGES prides itself in harnessing the energy and creativity of young surgeons and training future leaders. To further leadership and career development, we hope to create a SAGES Mentors Match whereby we help SAGES members identify a formal mentor. SAGES will also be hosting one day “Health Care Policy & Leadership Program” November 18, 2018 at the Joseph Martin Center in Boston.
Many thanks to 2018 Program Co-Chairs Rob Lim, John Marks and Liane Feldman for what promises to be the best meeting ever, April 11-14, 2018. The 16th World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery is cosponsored by SAGES and CAGS. We expect to see the most advanced laparoscopy, endoscopy and robotic surgery from around the globe. Watch out for the new i3 Summit as part of the annual meeting, which will bring together innovators, investors and industry.
Don’t forget that “I Love SAGES” buttons are available through the SAGES Foundation. Your donation supports research grants and many of our committee projects. Thank you for your support.
See you in Seattle.
Daniel B. Jones, MD
President@SAGES.org