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Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
ACS
Awards

Martin Memorial Lecture Presenters

This lecture was established in 1946 to honor Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS, founder of the American College of Surgeons, and his wife, Isabelle Hollister Martin. Starting in 2008, the Martin Memorial Lecture became the keynote lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the Clinical Congress and is sponsored by the American Urological Association (AUA). The AUA previously sponsored the AUA Lecture scheduled in this time slot.

Nominations for this lecture come from the College’s Honors Committee with consultation by the Advisory Council for Urology.

1946

Edward D. Churchill

American Surgeon, A.U.S.

1947

Allen O. Whipple

Qualifications of the Surgeon and the Cancer Problem

1948

Clarence Craford

Some Aspects of the Development of Intrathoracic Surgery

1949

Sir James Learmonth

Collateral Circulation, Natural and Artificial

1950

Sir Geoffrey Jefferson

Balance of Life and Death in Cerebral Lesions

1951

Paul B. Magnuson

Remove Not the Ancient Landmark

1952

Donald C. Balfour

Hippocratic Principles in the Evolution of Gastric Surgery

1953

Sir James Paterson Ross

Science and Surgery

1954

Alan Gregg

Horizons at Half Century

1955

Grayson L. Kirk

Current Dilemmas for Doctors and Others

1956

Vannevar Bush

Professional Collaboration

1957

Hon. Robert Cutler

Fusing Together of Disciplines

1958

Leroy E. Burney

Physicians for Tomorrow

1960

Wendell M. Stanley

Proved and Prospective Relationships Between Viruses and Cancer

1961

Hyman G. Rickover

Education in a Free Society

1962

J. Irwin Miller

Where Do We Go from Here?

1963

Lauris Norstad

Atlantic Alliance in Review and Prospect

1964

Werner Von Braun

Space - The New Challenge

1965

Alfred M. Gruenther

Where Do We Stand in this Troubled World?

1966

Howard Pyle

Safety - Preventive Medicine

1967

Senator Lister Hill

That Magnificent Institution Called Surgery

1968

William G. Pollard

The Earth as a Spaceship

1969

George W. Beadle

Man's Inheritance: Biological and Cultural

1970

Elliot L. Richardson

We Cannot Strive for Anything Less

1971

Philip Handler

Science and Societal Expectations

1972

Governor Ronald Reagan

Socialized Doctors Have Socialized Patients

1973

Harry Schwartz

American Medicine after Watergate

1974

Rene Dubos

Medical Utopias and the Art of Living

1975

J. Englebert Dunphy

Look Back for Tomorrow

1976

Alexander Heard

Public Policy and the Paradoxes of Plenty

1977

Theodore Cooper

Federal Policy and Medical Practice

1978

John Lister

Medicine, Politics and Society

1979

Hon. Paul Rogers

Government in Health: Too Much or Too Little?

1980

Alton Ochsner

To Our Founder, Franklin H. Martin, with Reflections and Concerns

1981

Steven Muller

Higher Learning in America: For Whom and for What?

1982

A. Bartlett Giamatti

The Role of the Federal Government in Higher Education

1983

Alistair Cooke

An Hour (or less) of American Medical Humor

1984

Eli Ginzberg

American Medicine: The Power Shift

1985

Hon. Jeane Kirkpatrick

(No formal title submitted. The lecture dealt with current U.S.-international relations.)

1986

C. Rollins Hanlon

The Delusions of Unity

1987

No Lecture

(Invited lecturer unable to attend.)

1988

Albert R. Jonsen

Aesculapius as American Doctor

1989

J. W. Marriott, III

Mayo Cares

1990

J. Michael Bishop

Oncogenes: Bench to Bedside

1991

Robert M. Zollinger

Let's Improve Our Image

1992

Louis C. Lasagna

Is Medicine the New Dismal Science?

1993

W. French Anderson

Human Gene Therapy

1994

Philip Leder

The New Genetics: Hype and Hope

1995

John Rowe

Controlling Health Care Expenditures at the End of Life

1996

Mary-Claire King

From Families with Breast Cancer: Clues for New Therapies

1997

Senator William H. Frist

Operating Outside the Theatre: New Challenges for Leadership

1998

Uwe E. Reinhardt

Who Will “Manage” Health Care in the New Millennium?

1999

Sir Miles Horsfall Irving

Health Technology Assessment: The Way Forward for Surgery

2000

Harold T. Shapiro

High Anxiety: The Interface of Ethics, Biomedicine and Public Policy

2001

David B. Hoyt & Donald E. Fry

Unconventional Civilian Disasters: What the Surgeon Should Know

2002

Seymour I. Schwartz

From Mainz to Modem with Martin in the Middle

2003

Richard L. Cruess

Professionalism, The Profession, and Public Policy

2004

Leonard M. Shlain

The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: Brain Lateralization and Its Effect on History, Religion & Gender Relations

2005

Donald Kennedy

Science and Politics: How Rich a Mixture Do We Want?

2006

Catherine DeAngelis

Scientific Conflict of Interest - Facts and Friction

2007

Prof. Sir Richard G.A. Feacham

Fighting the Great Pandemics: Challenges and Opportunities

2008

Peter Neupert

Translating the Power of Software for Optimal Patient Care

2009

Glenn D. Steele, Jr.

Re-engineering Systems of Care – Surgical Leadership

2010

Anthony Atala

Regenerative Medicine: New Approaches to Health Care

2011

C. David Naylor

Too Big to Fail? Health Care Reform in the U.S. and Canada

2012

Michael R. Harrison

Surgical Innovation=What If + Why Not?

2013

David McCullough

Something New, Something Old, With Renewed Force: The Role of History and Innovation in Medicine

2014

W. Marston Linehan

Targeting the Genetic and Metabolic Basis of Cancer

2015

Paul E. Farmer

Addressing Unmet Surgical Need: The Role of Academic Surgery

2016

Delos M. Cosgrove

Doctors in Distress: The Burnout Crisis

2017

David R. Williams

Personal Best: Reflections of a Physician Astronaut on Leadership and Teamwork

2018

Francis S. Collins

NIH: The National Institutes of Hope

2019

Nina A. Totenberg

The Health of the Supreme Court

2020

Norman (Ned) E. Sharpless

Assuring Progress in Cancer Research During Challenging Times

2021

Anthony S. Fauci

COVID-19: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges

2022

David B. Hoyt

Reflections

2023

Gordon L. Telford

Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From Rural Boyhood to Distinguished Surgeon