News Items

The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) is proud to announce Brianna Mercker as the recipient of the prestigious 2023 Local Hero Award. This annual award was created to honor an individual from the host city of the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of colon and rectal disease.

Brianna Mercker, a resident of Seattle, has demonstrated remarkable dedication and made significant strides in raising awareness, promoting prevention, and improving treatment options for colon and rectal cancer. Despite her own personal battle with stage IV rectal cancer, Brianna has emerged as a beacon of hope and inspiration for patients and survivors alike.

At the age of 38, Brianna was diagnosed with stage IV rectal cancer in 2018. Through a combination of liver resection, chemoradiation, low anterior resection (LAR), and adjuvant chemotherapy, she made a remarkable recovery. Brianna's unwavering determination to overcome the challenges she faced has motivated her to go above and beyond in her efforts to support others facing similar struggles.

In 2022, Brianna spearheaded the inaugural Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer, a groundbreaking event that attracted 620 participants and raised over $115,000. Brianna continues to play an instrumental role in leading the Seattle Colorectal Cancer Alliance chapter, providing guidance and support to the local community of colorectal cancer survivors.

To learn more about Brianna Mercker and her journey, watch the inspiring video here: https://youtu.be/G9SCiQafPZk.

We are pleased to present the first annual report of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS). This report highlights the many ways in which ASCRS is building value for members and ultimately better serving patients. As you review this report, you will see the tremendous amount of work that is being done to make ASCRS the premier and most inclusive colorectal society, committed to improving patient care through education, professional development, and innovation. In this report, you will also find a glimpse into the future. We recently approved goals and strategies that we will be pursuing over the next three years that we're excited to share with you. 
 

 

 

The ASCRS Nominating Committee submits the following slate of Executive Council Officers and Members-at-Large for election at the Society’s Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.  

 

President: Matthew G. Mutch, MD 
Dr. Matthew Mutch is the current Chief of the Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, MO.  He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at Lahey Clinic. He currently serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee and Research Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Mutch is a board member of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and is an associate editor for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.   
 

President-Elect: 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. She currently serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee, is Chair of the Credentials Committee and founding director of the ASCRS Leadership and Professional Development Program. Dr. Ramamoorthy is completing her MBA at the Radys School of Management at UCSD.   

 

Past President: Conor P. Delaney, MD, MCh, PhD 
Dr. Conor Delaney is CEO and President for the Cleveland Clinic Florida Region having previously served as Chairman of the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. He currently serves on the ASCRS Executive Committee and Research Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Delaney has lectured and published extensively in colorectal surgery, and currently holds the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Distinguished Chair in Healthcare Innovation.



Vice President: Najjia N. Mahmoud, MD 
Dr. Najjia Mahmoud is Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at 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 and previously served on the Research Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Mahmoud is past President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.




Secretary: 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 BI Deaconess Medical Center before completing his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He currently serves on the ASCRS 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. 


Treasurer: Kirsten B. Wilkins, MD 
Dr. 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, New York, 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 Meeting in Los Angeles in 2016. She served as the Chair of the ASCRS Self-Assessment Committee. She is the current Treasurer for ASCRS. In addition, she is the Vice-Chair of the ASCRS Leadership Task Force and also serves as a Dean for ASCRS U. 


President, Research Foundation of the ASCRS: Elizabeth C. Wick, MD 
Dr. Elizabeth Wick is a professor of surgery, Vice Chair of Quality and Safety in the Department of Surgery, and Co-chair of the Department's Research Committee at University of California San Francisco. She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. She is an ex-officio ASCRS Executive Council member and Research Foundation Board of Trustees President. Dr. Wick recently led an AHRQ-funded national collaborative to improve surgical safety and reduce surgical site infections in 250 hospitals across the US and abroad.  
  

Members-at-Large
2021-2024 

Debra H. Ford, MD is Associate Professor of Surgery, Head of the Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Sr. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC.  In addition, she is the founding medical director of the Howard University Health Sciences Simulation and Clinical Skills Center (ACS AEI). She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She currently serves on the ASCRS Credentials Committee and is Council representative to several ASCRS committees. Dr. Ford was recently inducted as a member of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.


Jonathan A. Laryea, MD is a Professor of Surgery and the Nolie & Norma Mumey Endowed Chair in Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He is also the Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Vice Chair for Quality in the Department of Surgery. He is also the Medical Director of the Cancer Service Line at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at Georgia Colon and Rectal Surgery Clinic in Atlanta. He is Vice Chair of the DEI Committee of ASCRS, and serves on the ASCRS Engagement Committee, Self-Assessment Committee and Program Committee. He is also Council representative for DEI, History and International Committees. 


Scott R. Steele, MD, MBA serves as the Chair of Department of Colorectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He serves on the ASCRS Inflammatory Bowel Disease Committee, Governance Committee, and is incoming Committee on Committees Chair, and Council representative to numerous ASCRS committees. Dr. Steele is Past President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and serves as a Co-Editor for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. 



2022-2025 

Glenn Thomas Ault, MD, MSEd serves as the Physician Director of Graduate Medical Education and the Designated Institutional Official at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California. He is also a Professor of Surgery (Educational Scholar). He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Southern California. He currently serves on the ASCRS Continuing Education Committee and Governance Committee and is Council representative to several ASCRS committees. Dr. Ault is Past-President of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Chair of the CRS Review Committee at the ACGME.


Jennifer S. Davids, MD is the Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Boston Medical Center. She completed her colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, where she was in practice for a decade. The former Chair of the Young Surgeons Committee, Dr. Davids currently serves on the Clinical Practice Guideline Committee and is the Executive Council Representative to the Rectal Cancer Committee, Pelvic Floor Committee, and New Technology Committee.  In 2019, Dr. Davids was the recipient of the ASCRS Traveling Fellowship to the ACPGBI in Great Britain.  Dr. Davids is on the editorial board of Techniques in Coloproctology and Clinics in Colon & Rectal Surgery, and is an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.


Alessandro Fichera, MD is the Vice Chair for Safety and Quality, Division Chief of Colorectal Surgery and the Surgery Safety and Quality Officer at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. He currently serves on the ASCRS Inflammatory Bowel Disease Committee and is the Executive Council representative to the ASCRS Video Based Education, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Quality and Safety committees. Dr. Fichera is the Section Editor of the Didactic Video Collections for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.  

 

2023-2026 

Karim Alavi, MD, MPH is 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 currently serves as Chair of the ASCRS Operative Resource and Competency Committee and Member/Incoming Advisor to the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee. Dr. Alavi serves as Section Editor, Current Status Reviews, of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.  


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. He currently serves as member of the ASCRS Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee and is the Section Editor of Selected Abstracts for Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.  




Kelly M. Tyler, MD is Division Chief, Colorectal Surgery and Associate 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 Chair of the ASCRS Healthcare Economics Committee and a member of the Rectal Cancer Committee, Quality and Safety Committee and Governance Committee. She also serves as the AMA RUC Advisor for the ASCRS.

Nominations for the Members-at Large, President, President-Elect, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer shall be made by the Nominating Committee in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article X, Section 1(B) of the Bylaws.  

Read the 2022 ASCRS Business Meeting Minutes ahead of this year’s meeting on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.  

Other Nominations  

View the 2023 nominees for ASCRS Fellow and International Fellow. 

Becoming a Fellow or International Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons is a rigorous process befitting the remarkable achievements of this highest class of membership. ASCRS Fellows enjoy the right to vote, hold office, serve on any committee of the Society, attend and appear on scientific programs and participate in discussions of scientific papers. Fellows are alternatively known as “voting members” of ASCRS. Each year the current voting members are asked to give formal approval to applicants for Fellow and International Fellow membership in ASCRS, who have met the rigorous requirements. 
  
The following members have been found qualified for consideration for ASCRS Fellow member status: 
 
Fellow 
Benjamin Abbadessa, MD * 

Jonathan Simon Abelson, MD 

Vicente Karlos Arcos, MD 

Ritha Mary Belizaire, MD 

Robert Bennett, MD * 

Christina Lai Cheng, MD 

Jessica Cohan, MD, MAS, FACS 

Jac Cooper, MD 

Joseph Coury, MD 

Lisa Cunningham, MD 

Aaron Dawes, MD * 

Brano Djenic, MD 

Darcy Donovan Shaw, MD 

Christopher L. Elliott, MD 

Rahila Essani, MD 

Krista Evans, MD 

Marco Ferrara, MD 

Fergal Fleming, MD 

Luanne Force, MD 

John Gahagan, MD 

Gerald Gantt, MD 

Norbert Garcia-Henrique, MD, FACS 

Jesse Guardado, MD 

Patrick Austria Hartendorp, MD 

Rebecca Lynn Hoffman, MD 

Vanessa W. Hui, MD 

Ziyad Jabaji, MD 

William Kethman, MD 

Maria Kiely, MD 

Sarah Koller, MD 

Elise Hanna Lawson, MD 

Megan Rae Linnebur, MD 

Lea Lowenfeld, MD 

Samuel Luka, MD 

Maria Luisa Martinez Ugarte, MD 

David McKeown, MD 

Robert Nunoo, MD 

William Oh, MD 

Rodrigo Pedraza, MD 

Alexis Plasencia, MD 

Gabriela Cara Poles, MD 

Benjamin Quartey, MD 

Juliet June Ray, MD 

Henry Peter Schoonyoung, MD 

David Matthew Schwartzberg, MD 

Anne-Marie Elizabeth Sirany, MD 

Anna Spivak, MD 

Earl Thompson, MD 

Ian White, MD * 

Trevor Wood, MD 

Moriah Wright, MD 

Cici Zhang, MD 
 
International Fellow 
Gaetano Galo, MD 

Jonathan Knowles, MD 

Angus Lee, MD 

William Perry, MD 

Ping Zhu, MD 
 
Draft as of 05/09/23 
 
The ASCRS Annual Business Meeting and State of the Society Address will take place Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 11:15AM PDT 
 
*NOTE: Subject to approval by the Executive Council at their meeting on June 2, the member applicants above will be added to the list of Fellows for official approval during the 2023 Annual Business Meeting. 

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has released updated rectal cancer practice guidelines. The Rectal Cancer Committee wants to alert ASCRS members of these changes in practice recommendations and has called out the following highlights from the NCCN Guidelines:
 

1. MMR/MSI
   1. All rectal cancers must be tested for MMR/MSI status
   2. Treatment algorithms for clinical stage II, III, IV rectal cancers are now stratified by MMR/MSI status, recognizing the role of immunotherapy

 

2. Malignant polyps and local excision cases
   1. For Low risk rectal malignant polyps no imaging is recommended (pedunculated, no adverse histologic features)
   2. For local excision, tumor budding is considered a “high risk” feature, along with >3 cm in size, >pT1, grade 3, lymphovascular invasion, positive margin, or sm3 (lower one third of the submucosa) depth of tumor invasion

 

3. Changes for lower-risk stage II and III cases
   1. The option of surgery only for T3N0 low-risk, upper rectal cancer is added
      1. “upper” is not defined, but most centers are defining “upper” as tumors completely above the anterior peritoneal reflection, which is usually visible on MRI
      2. “low risk” is not defined
   2. For patients who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy, the guidelines endorse the option of NO post-surgery RT for pT1-3, N1 and pT3N0 cases (adjuvant chemo only)

 

4. Neoadjuvant therapy
   1. TNT is the only option for clinical stage II/III rectal cancer
   2. FOLFIRINOX is added as a standard option in the neoadjuvant setting (and is preferred over FOLFOXIRI)
   3. for clinical stage II/III dMMR/MSI-H cancers, the “preferred” neoadjuvant therapy is checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy

 

5. Watch and Wait
   1. WW is now an endorsed treatment option for patients with clinical complete response after neoadjuvant therapy
   2. WW is endorsed after BOTH standard total neoadjuvant therapy and after immunotherapy for dMMR/MSI-H tumors
   3. A recommended WW Surveillance Schedule has been added to the guidelines

 

6. Metastatic RC patients
   1. consider PET-CT in addition to standard imaging for potentially resectable metastatic RC
   2. all stage IV patients should have RAS, BRAF, HER2 testing in addition to MMR/MSI (extended molecular profile testing or otherwise)
   3. all metastatic RC patients are recommended to receive chemotherapy prior to surgery (exception of surgery to relieve symptomatic obstruction in selected cases)

 

7. ctDNA testing still not standard care, but the guidelines recommend participating in ctDNA trials

 

8. Fertility risk counseling emphasized

 
Learn more here
Please note: To access this page, you must login in or create a free account.