Leadership

The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) is a community of health care professionals who are dedicated to advancing the understanding, prevention and treatment of disorders of the colon, rectum and anus. This mission could not be carried out without the dedication and commitment of the ASCRS Executive Council and committee members.

Executive Council

ASCRS Officers

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 and serves on the Research Foundation of the ASCRS Board of Trustees. She is the past Dean of ASCRS U. Dr. Mahmoud is a Past President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.

 Learn More About Dr. Mahmoud
 

President-Elect: Kirsten Wilkins, MD 

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 Past 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 is Chair of the Credentials Committee and Nominations Advisory Task Force. He currently participates as a mentor for the Research Foundation’s DISCOveR Program. He was 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 Research Foundation of the ASCRS Board of Trustees, the APP Task Force, DC&R Editor Search Committee, the DISCOveR Task Force and the Vice Chair of the Credentials Committee. She previously served as the Research Foundation of the ASCRS 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.   

Learn More About Dr. Steele

Research Foundation of the ASCRS President: Larissa K F Temple, MD
Coming Soon!





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 Chair of the Committee on Committees, a member of the Credentials Committee and the Executive Council Representative to the Committee on Cancer 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 a member of the ASCRS Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) Committee and is the Executive Council Representative to the Communications Committee and the Membership Committee. He is the Section Editor of Selected Abstracts for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.

Learn More About Dr. Langenfeld

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 and is a member of the Quality and Safety Committee, the Committee on Cancer and the Governance Committee. She is the Executive Council Representative to the Conflict-of-Interest Management Committee, and the Self-Assessment Committee. She also serves as the American Medical Association RVS Update Committee (RUC) Advisor for ASCRS.

Learn More About Dr. Tyler

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 a past member of 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 the Executive Council Representative to the New Technologies Committee and the Young Surgeons Committee. Additionally, 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.

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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 to the Continuing Education Committee and the Quality and Safety Committee. He serves as the Vice Chair for the Committee on Committees and a member of the History of ASCRS 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 Research Foundation Young Researchers Committee, Governance Committee, Engagement Committee, Credentials Committee and the APP Task Force. She is the Executive Council Representative to the Healthcare Economics Committee and the Professional Outreach Committee. Dr. King-Mullins is an Inaugural Gut Check podcast co-host and President-Elect of the Society of Black Colon and Rectal Surgeons. Additionally, Dr. King-Mullins is an author and entrepreneur.

Learn More About Dr. King-Mullins

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 an Abstract Reviewer for the Program Committee and is the Chair of the DC&R Editor Search Committee. He is the Executive Council Representative to the International Committee and the Steering Committee on Pelvic Floor Disorders. 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.

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, Program Committees, 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. He is the Executive Council Representative to the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) Committee, the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Committee and the Residents Committee. 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.

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 RF Young Researchers Committee, the Conflict-of-Interest Management Committee, and the Vice-Chair of the Committee on Cancer (formally Rectal Cancer Committee). He is the Executive Council Representative to the Engagement Committee, History of ASCRS Committee and the Video-Based Education 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.