President: Najjia N. Mahmoud, MD
Dr. Najjia Mahmoud is Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. She currently serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee as President-Elect and previously served on the Research Foundation Board of Trustees. She is the current Dean of ASCRS U. Dr. Mahmoud is past President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.
President-Elect: Kirsten Wilkins, MD
Dr. Kirsten Wilkins went to medical school at Johns Hopkins University and completed her general surgery residency at Duke University. She has lived in New Jersey since completing her colon and rectal residency at Robert Wood Johnson in 2003. Since that time, she has been honored to train the colorectal residents of that same program. She currently serves as the Assistant Program Director and is head of Resident Research. She serves as the current President of the Eugene P. Salvati Alumni Society. Besides running a very busy clinical practice and training the fellows, she has been very active in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Societies of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. She is Past-President for both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Societies. She has served on numerous committees of the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS). She was the Program Chair for the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles in 2016. She served as the Chair of the ASCRS Self-Assessment Committee. She was the Vice-Chair of The ASCRS Leadership Task Force and also serves as a Dean for ASCRS U. She has served as Member-at-Large on the ASCRS Executive Council. She was the Chair of the ASCRS Finance Committee and the Treasurer for both ASCRS and the ASCRS Research Foundation. She is the current Vice-President for ASCRS. She enjoys boating and traveling in her spare time.
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Past President: Sonia Ramamoorthy, MD
Dr. Sonia Ramamoorthy is Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Professor of Surgery at UC San Diego Health System. She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at Washington University and her MBA at the Rady School of Management at UCSD. She serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee as President and previously as President-Elect, Vice President, Treasurer, and Member at Large. She is the past Chair of the Credentials Committee and New Technology Committee. She helped to establish the ASCRS Leadership and Professional Development Program (Surgical Leadership Institute), the NEW Tech Symposium, and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Committee.
Vice President: Charles M. Friel, MD
Dr. Charles Friel is Professor of Surgery, General Surgery Program Director, and Chief of the Section of Colorectal Surgery at the University of Virginia. A graduate of Harvard Medical School he did his general surgery training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center before completing his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He currently serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee as Secretary and is a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and the Membership Committee. Dr. Friel is also a member of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Dr. Friel previously served on the ASCRS Executive Council as a Member-at-Large from 2019-2022 in addition to being the former chair of the Self-Assessment Committee and the Committee on Committees. He also serves as Associate Editor for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.
Secretary: Elizabeth (Liza) C. Wick, MD
Dr. Elizabeth Wick (Liza) serves as the Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. She completed her training at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. She serves on the ASCRS Research Foundation Board of Trustees, the APP Task Force, DC&R Editor Search Committee, and the DISCOveR Task Force. She previously served as the ASCRS Research Foundation President. Additionally, Dr. Wick served as the inaugural chair of the NAPRC Quality Committee and now serves as the inaugural chair of the Commission on Cancer Quality Committee as well as the Commission on Cancer Executive Committee.
Treasurer: Scott Steele, MD, MBA
Dr. Scott Steele serves as the President of the Main Campus Submarket at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, Dr. Steele completed his medical school training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and general surgery residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota and received his MBA from the Weatherhead School of Business at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Steele served as Past President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and was lead editor for several volumes of the ASCRS Textbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery. He serves as a Co-Editor for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum and Editor of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery.
Members-at-Large
2023-2026
Karim Alavi, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery/Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Program Director of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship at University of Massachusetts Medical School. He also serves as the Director of Research for the Department of Surgery. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He is the Vice Chair of the Committee on Committees and the Council Representative to the Rectal Cancer Committee, Awards Committee and DEI Committee. Dr. Alavi serves on the Editorial Board of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum and is the Section Editor for Current Status Reviews.
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Sean J. Langenfeld, MD is a Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Texas in Houston and his general surgery fellowship at Kansas University-Wichita. He currently serves as member of the ASCRS Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee, Executive Council Representative to the Communications Committee and is the Section Editor of Selected Abstracts for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.
Kelly M. Tyler, MD is the Division Chief, Colorectal Surgery and a Professor of Surgery, at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School - Baystate. She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at Robert Wood Johnson/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Brunswick, New Jersey. She currently serves as a Member-at-Large of the Executive Council of the ASCRS, an Advisor to the ASCRS Healthcare Economics Committee, and a member of the Governance Committee. She also serves as the American Medical Association RVS Update Committee (RUC) Advisor for ASCRS.
2024-2027
Joshua Bleier, MD is a Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital and Program Director of the Colorectal Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He is a past Chair of the CREST Committee and currently serves on the Steering Committee on Pelvic Floor Disorders. He was a Program Vice-Chair for the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles in 2016. Dr. Bleier is a board member of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Treasurer of the Association of Program Directors for Colon and Rectal Surgery, and a member of the Colorectal Review Committee at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). He is a member of the Editorial Board of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum and serves as the Section Editor for Social Media and Readership Engagement.
Daniel Feingold, MD is a Professor of Surgery and the Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University and at the Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He completed his surgical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in 2000 and his colorectal surgery training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (The Salvati program) in 2004. Dr. Feingold is the immediate Past-President of the New Jersey Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and currently serves as an Associate Editor for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, an Annual Meeting Abstract reviewer, and as the Executive Council representative for the Continuing Education Committee and the Quality and Safety Committee.
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Erin King-Mullins, MD is a Founding Surgeon at the Colorectal Wellness Center in Fayetteville, GA. She completed her residency at Orlando Heath and her colorectal surgery fellowship at Georgia Colon and Rectal Surgical Associates / Northside Hospital. She currently serves on the Communications Committee, Young Researchers Committee, Professional Outreach Committee and the APP Task Force. Additionally, Dr. King-Mullins is an author and entrepreneur.
2025-2028
George J. Chang, MD, MS, MHCM is Chair ad interim and Professor in the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery, and Associate Vice President for Regional Surgery Strategy at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He also holds the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Chair and is adjunct Professor of Health Services Research. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of California and his Colon and Rectal Surgery fellowship at Mayo Clinic. He has extensive expertise in the multidisciplinary treatment of colon and rectal cancer, including advanced minimally invasive robotic surgery and exenterative surgery for locally advanced and recurrent disease. His research focus in clinical comparative effectiveness for cancer treatment and care delivery has informed treatment guidelines and national surgical quality standards. Dr. Chang has been a member of the ASCRS since 2003 and has been an active member of several ASCRS committees. He currently is a member of the Rectal Cancer Committee, Fundamental Task Force, and Abstract Reviewer for the Program Committee. He leads the NCI NCORP Cancer Care Delivery Research Program of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Network, is a past member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Steering Committee of the National Institute, the Commission on Cancer, and serves as co-chair for the American Joint Committee on Cancer Lower GI Panel. He has authored nearly 300 peer reviewed manuscripts, edited a textbook on rectal cancer, and serves on the editorial boards of several major journals.
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Brian R. Kann, MD is Chair of the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Program Director of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. He completed his Colon and Rectal Surgery fellowship at Ochsner in 2004. He has previously served on the Self-Assessment, CREST, IBD, Professional Outreach, and Program Committees, and he currently serves on the Residents Committee as Vice-Chair, as well as the Engagement Committee and the Surgical Leadership Institute Task Force. He was the Program Chair for the 2019 ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting in Cleveland. Dr. Kann is a Member-at-Large on the APDCRS Executive Council and is a Senior Examiner for the American Board of Colon & Rectal Surgery.
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David B. Stewart, MD, MHA is a Professor of Surgery and the Division Chief of General Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency training at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital followed by a colorectal surgery fellowship at Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital. During his career, Dr. Stewart has served the ASCRS as the past chair of the Young Surgeons Committee and the Conflict-of-Interest Management Committee; he is the current Vice-Chair of the Rectal Cancer Committee. Dr. Stewart’s research focuses on C. difficile infection, with prior and current funding from the ASCRS, Merck, and the NIH/NIAID. In addition, Dr. Stewart is an ad hoc reviewer for the NIH and the NSF and has served on the editorial boards of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Annals of Surgery, Surgery, and JAMA Surgery. He is also the co-editor-in-chief of Surgery Open Science. Dr. Stewart is a site reviewer for the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer, and he is a member of the Board of Governors for the American College of Surgeons.