Dear Members of the Excelsior Surgical Society, Friends, Colleagues:
It is my great honor to serve all of you as the 7th President of the re-invigorated Excelsior Surgical Society (ESS). As the house of military surgery within the American College of Surgeons (ACS), all of us have a role in fulfilling our 3-part mission: Preserving the lessons of the past, improving care in the present, and anticipating challenges of the future.
In Surgeon to Soldiers, Edward D. Churchill, MD, FACS, encapsulated his reasons for volunteering to serve in World War II by citing President Theodore Roosevelt: “…my power for good whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn’t try to live up to the doctrine that I have tried to preach.” Over this next year, our ESS leadership team will also strive to achieve this ideal.
For my part, as President, I commit to working with Vice President COL Jennifer Gurney, the ESS Executive Council and Committee Chairs, and our ACS Governor CAPT (ret) Gordon Wisbach to further strengthen our voice and influence as the military’s home within the ACS even as we continue to guard against the insidious peacetime effect. To this end, we want to make Churchill’s numerous insights readily available to all of you in the form of a 2nd printing of Surgeon to Soldiers. Stay tuned for further updates on this exciting ESS initiative!
I now challenge each of you to consider what contributions you will make to helping the ESS accomplish our mission. Here are some of the ways to get involved:
- Webinars: We will be continuing our monthly Webinar Series starting 16 DEC 2022 at 1530 Eastern and then continuing every 3rd Friday at the same time. This year, each committee will again organize and present one webinar. We will also host a “Case Records of the JTS” webinar and a new military surgical history presentation titled “From the ESS Archives.” Let us know if you have a topic and/or speaker of interest.
- Committee Membership: Consider volunteering to serve on one of our committees. John Trent will be sending out a call for volunteers soon. This is a great way to see first-hand how our maturing society functions and to make your voice heard more directly. Committee service is also a great entry point for those who hope to lead our organization in the future.
- SVS 2.0: We are working diligently towards re-animating the Senior Visiting Surgeon Program as “SVS 2.0.” In the original SVS program senior civilian surgeons spent two weeks working side-by-side with military surgeons in Landstuhl, Germany. These SVS rotations forged numerous partnerships and mentoring relationships. In the same spirit, we hope to establish a reciprocal visiting professorship between military and civilian surgical leaders. Please send your thoughts on partnering societies, potential participants, and valuable topics for SVS 2.0!
I thank you for the tremendous honor of serving this unique and important organization, and I look forward to working with all of you over the coming year to grow and strengthen our collective voice as we strive to improve the surgical care of our nation’s servicemembers and their families.
With great respect,
Jeremy W. Cannon, MD, SM, FACS
Col, USAF Reserve, MC
President, Excelsior Surgical Society
