Posters and Community Breakfast Will Highlight Broad Range of Surgical History

Exploring the rich history of surgery can offer valuable insights into the development of modern surgical advances and ongoing challenges. Some of those developments will be highlighted in this year’s History of Surgery Posters exhibit.

The exhibit will feature 20 posters exploring the origins of Advanced Trauma Life Support, surgery during historic Antarctic exploration, the evolution of resuscitative thoracotomy, and the history of women leaders in the ACS, among other topics.

In addition, 50 History of Surgery ePosters are available through Tuesday via the online meeting platform or at viewing stations in the Quick-Shot Presentation Hall.

The in-person posters are available from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm today and Monday, and 9:00 am to 2:00 pm on Tuesday in the Exhibit Hall. Presenters will be available this morning from 9:45 am to 12:30 pm, when judging will take place. Up to eight judges, all members of the ACS History and Archives Committee, will evaluate the entries and select the first- and second-place winners.

The winners will be announced tomorrow during the History of Surgery Community Breakfast at 7:00 am in Room 146ABC, Level 1, of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The authors of the two winning posters will be invited to write in-depth articles on their topics for a 2027 issue of the ACS Bulletin.

This year’s breakfast will also include two presentations on notable figures in surgical history.

The 2025–2026 Archives Fellowship Presentation by Roi Anteby, MD, MPH, will examine Edward D. Churchill and the transformation of surgical residency training from the Halstedian pyramidal model to the rectangular model. The keynote presentation will be delivered by Charles Balch, MD, FACS, who will discuss R. Lee Clark, MD, FACS, and his pivotal role in launching the Commission on Cancer from 1960 to 1965.