About the Metropolitan Washington DC Chapter of the American College of Surgeons
Mission
The Metropolitan Washington DC Chapter of the American College of Surgeons was founded in 1972. Its goals since then have been:
To promote the aims, interests, ideals, and programs of the College in the metropolitan area of Washington, this includes DC as well as suburban Maryland and Virginia.
To hold itself responsible for and use its best efforts to attain the objectives of the College, which are to “elevate the standards of surgery, establish a standard of competency and of character for practitioners of surgery, to provide a method of granting Fellowship, and to educate the public and the profession to understand that the practice of surgery calls for special training and that the surgeon elected to Fellowship in this College has had such training and is properly qualified to practice surgery.”
To welcome new Fellows of the College into the Chapter and develop better acquaintances among local Fellows.
To stimulate interest in the Resident-Associate Society (RAS) among surgical residents and young surgeons.
All Chapter activities and affairs are managed by its Council, which consists of the officers of the Chapter, councilors elected by members of the Chapter, and governors and regents of the College residing in the area. Chairs of the Chapter’s special interest committees (such as the Young Surgeons Committee and the Award Committee), as well as the College’s Cancer Liaison and the local Trauma Committee Chair serve as ex-officio members of the Council and are asked to attend its meetings.
Officers of the Chapter include a president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, immediate past president, and six councilors. Officers serve one-year terms and are elected by the Chapter membership during the annual meeting – All Surgeons Day. Councilors also are elected during the annual meeting, and they serve three-year terms.
The Chapter is comprised of more than 400 members. These individuals are drawn from all the surgical specialties — from general surgery to plastic surgery, from urology to vascular. The membership is very diverse with significant representation from all local training centers, including the military.