The majority of the goals and objectives of the Association are met through the work of the following ASE standing committees:
COMMITTEE ON CURRICULUM
This committee has been involved in a variety of issues of concern in undergraduate surgical education. Collaborative efforts of members produced the fourth edition Manual of Surgical Objectives for undergraduate teaching and the Surgical Educators Handbook that serves as a navigational aid for educators in a problem based format. The committee has sponsored the "Think Outside the Box" lunch program for sharing innovative teaching ideas at the annual ASE meeting and helped develop the Surgical Interest Group Website for students pursuing surgical careers. Collaborating with the APDS, the first joint "Resident, Student and the Competencies" program was launched during the 2005 Surgical Education Week. Currently we are engaged in the development of a bank of case based power point teaching modules that can be used by faculty or residents for medical student education. Framed after the Manual of Surgical Objectives, these case-based modules, enriched with images and radiographs will enable faculty to guide students through discussions of common problems encountered in surgical practice. We hope this will become a sustainable resource with ongoing contributions from other ASE members. The committee continues to explore innovations in curriculum development and the educational needs of students encountering surgical training as course requisites as well as those pursuing surgery as a career choice.
Committee Chair: Rebecca Evangelista, MD
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COMMITTEE ON ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
The ASE Committee on Assessment and Evaluation serves as a resource on all issues related to the assessment and evaluation of teachers, learners, and educational programs. As a key component of our activities, the committee 
sponsors a workshop during Surgical Education Week; recent topics include use of 360 degree evaluations in surgical education, evaluation of the "soft" competencies, development of a surgical OSCE, and creation of narrative comments for trainees. The committee has initiated a project to obtain follow-up evaluation from workshop participants to insure that the needs of participants are being met on a longer-term basis. The focus of the Assessment and Evaluation Committee for the 2007-2008 academic year will be on meaningful evaluation of trainees, with particular attention to grading. In addition, we are collaborating with the Curriculum Committee in the development of assessment tools for the Power Point teaching modules they have created. The activities of the committee are guided by the ASE's commitment to excellence in education.
Committee Chair: Loretto Glynn, MD
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COMMITTEE ON FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
The purpose of the Faculty Development Committee is to assist the ASE members with teaching responsibilities in their development as surgical educators. The committee sponsors workshops at ASE meetings (recent workshops have included interactive sessions on Coaching Towards Excellence in Professionalism and Effective Communication and How Surgeons Teach in the Operating Room) and has developed materials that can be taken from workshops and meetings and disseminated by attendees to surgical educator colleagues at their home institutions. The Committee has developed a teaching dossier, has completed and published a national study on part time academic faculty, and has completed a national survey on volunteer surgical faculty. Currently the Committee is working on a core faculty development curriculum containing short (10-15 minutes) and long (60-90 minutes) modules on a series of 12-24 faculty development topics. Collaboration with the other committees such as the Simulation Committee is ongoing for this project which will produce these modules for members to disseminate to their home institutions.
Committee Chair: Celeste Hollands, MD
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Promoting the best in research activities of ASE members by encouraging, coordinating, and stimulating all aspects of educational research is the primary goal of this committee. This is achieved by improving communication, coordinating grant review and funding and sponsoring educational activities. Communication includes informing the membership of educational and granting opportunities as well as mentoring capabilities. Educational activities include sponsoring workshops and related activities for the promotion of educational research skills of ASE members. Other activities include the integration and promotion of educational research within the ASE by forming essential liaisons with other committees.
Committee Chair: Ravi Sidhu, MD, MEd
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COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The purpose of this committee is to share information with the ASE membership on how to use computers, computer programs, and the Internet to make the daily activities of the surgical educator easier and more productive. 
It is for all levels of computer users. It is the goal of this committee to keep the ASE membership up to date on computer hardware, software and on-line services that can make academic life more productive; to develop an Information Technology Committee Bulletin Board on the Internet to help distribute new information; to assist ASE members in using and/or developing computer teaching aids; to be a computer resource for the ASE that can assist the membership in keeping up with new technology; and to offer workshops that provide hands-on training in the use of computer hardware, software and the Internet.
Committee Chair: James Rucinski, MD
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COMMITTEE ON NURSES IN SURGICAL EDUCATION
This committee is comprised of nurses who are currently working within their respective Departments of Surgery across North America. Nurse instructors provide increasing amounts of instruction, guidance and support to medical students throughout their surgical undergraduate education. Responsibilities of the Nurse Educators outside of the surgical clerkship include conducting research, participating on departmental and institutional committees, mentoring and collaborating at the local, regional and national levels. In keeping with the association's goals, the members of this committee have developed objectives so that they can actively participate as colleagues and collaborators.
Committee Chair: Maggie Boehler, MSN
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COMMITTEE ON
COORDINATORS OF SURGICAL EDUCATION
The Surgical Education Coordinators Committee is an organization whose mission is to develop resources to support, educate, and inspire student coordinators in surgery. This committee addresses the educational needs of medical students in surgery and is focused on developing effective plans and goals to make the clerkship successful. The Committee provides helpful information and guidance to coordinators and enables them to get involved in group discussions on issues surrounding medical student education. The Committee meets during the Annual Meeting and conducts business via e-mail and conference calls throughout the year.
Committee Chair: Christie Legler
COMMITTEE ON
SURGERY CLERKSHIP DIRECTORS
The Surgery Clerkship Directors Committee (SCDC) was formed at the ASE meeting in Tucson in March 2006 to provide a forum specifically for Clerkship Directors (CDs) in which they can share ideas and address problems common to all surgery clerkships. These areas may include but not be limited to curriculum, evaluation, resources, and meeting LCME requirements. 
All Surgery CDs are invited to be members of the committee. It will meet at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in the Fall and at the ASE meeting in the Spring.
Committee Chair: Steven Yang, MD
COMMITTEE ON
SIMULATION
The Surgery Residency Review Committee has mandated that every General Surgery residency training program must have a skills lab or access to one. The American College of Surgeons has established a formal accreditation process and certification for Basic Skills Labs (Level 2) and Comprehensive Education Institutes (Level 1); the goal is to enhance patient safety through simulation. The ACS-APDS has developed a resident curriculum utilizing models, task trainers to whole body simulators. Most recently has been the response of malpractice carriers, insurance companies and the American Board of Surgery to embrace the Fundamental of Laparoscopy (FLS) certification as a global quality initiative. While surgeons have traditionally focused on technical skills, we are now integrating team training and crisis risk management. The new paradigm breaks down silos as the surgeon, anesthesiologist and nurse train together. Under the leadership of Dr. David Rogers, a new ASE committee has been charged to address the issues related to simulation centers. 
The mission of the Simulation Committee is to promote the development, adoption, and scientific analysis of simulation-based training for surgeons and other healthcare professionals from related fields.
The committee’s specific goals are:
- To provide education in the use of simulation for training and assessing surgeons and other healthcare professionals.
- To assist centers in obtaining accreditation as simulation and training institutes.
- To serve as a forum for ideas and the exchange of information for simulation and skills training.
- To foster, support, and encourage development of new models, simulators and simulation scenarios.
- To publish guidelines for simulation training.
- To develop, maintain and provide leadership in surgical simulation.
- To serve as a liaison to other organizations involved in simulation.
- To promote the integration of team-based simulation training.
- To serve as a repository for information regarding simulators, models and simulation scenarios.
- To promote patient safety and optimize patient-related outcomes through simulation-based training and education.
- To promote multi-institutional research studies regarding the development, implementation, and outcomes of surgical simulation.
Committee Chair: Danny Scott, MD
COMMITTEE ON
GRADUATE SURGICAL EDUCATION
The mission of the Graduate Surgical Education committee is to endorse and promote core-competency based best practices in graduate surgical education that are grounded in sound education theory.
The Graduate Surgical Education committee (GSE) was formed at the ASE meeting in Salt Lake City in April 2009 to provide a “home” in the ASE for those whose primary focus is graduate medical education. The committee hopes to promote educational scholarship among residency and fellowship program directors, serving as a group in which “best practices” in surgical education research can be shared. In addition, the committee hopes to expand the reach of the ASE by including surgical directors of other specialities who would like an outlet for their surgical education scholarship; we envision that they too could call the ASE their “home” for sharing such work.
Committee Chair: Mary E. Klingensmith, MD
