ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS FOR THE
2026 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR SURGICAL EDUCATION
WILL BE OPENING JULY 2025.
The 46th Annual Meeting of the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) will be held Tuesday, April 28, 2026 through Thursday, April 30, 2026 in Atlanta, GA with pre-meeting courses held on Monday, April 27, 2026. During Surgical Education Week (SEW), the ASE will precede the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) Annual Meeting (April 30 – May 2, 2026). We will share a common day (Thursday, April 30, 2026) when sessions that are relevant to the attendees of both meetings will be presented.
The ASE 2026 program will include engaging panel discussions and speakers addressing timely issues in surgical education while incorporating this years theme of: Family, Fun, and the Future. It will also include scientific papers, workshops, and exhibits.
ASE 2026 Scientific Abstracts Timeline
Abstract Submissions Open: Monday, July 14, 2025
Abstract Submission Close: Friday, November 7, 2025 @ 5:00 PM ET
Notifications of Proposal Acceptance will be sent in mid-December 2025
All presenters are expected to register for the conference. Registration will open December 2025.
Instructions for Abstract Submission
The ASE Program Committee welcomes submissions for all abstract topics and is especially interested in submissions that integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
The Committee will only consider abstracts for papers which describe original work that have not been previously published or presented elsewhere and not currently under review for any other conference or publication. If an author violates this policy, they will not be permitted to present at ASE for three (3) years.
If an author is listed on more than one (1) paper as the presenter, only one (1) may be presented as a podium presentation by that individual. Any other accepted paper will be offered to be presented by another author listed on the abstract, or may be presented as a poster. ASE policy allows a maximum of three (3) podium presentations from any one institution.
There is a 350-word limit for abstracts. No reference to the authors or the institution should appear within the body of the abstract or in the abstract title.
Abstracts will be limited to a maximum of one (1) image. Tables may also be included in the abstract but any text in the tables will count towards the 350-word limit.
Please adhere to the abstract size limit. Any abstracts exceeding the limit will not be reviewed. Please do not include any reference to institutions within the title or body of the abstracts.
The Program Committee will judge each submission on merit, originality, innovation, and relevance to the ASE membership. The goal of the Program Committee is to select papers that will advance scholarship in the diverse field of surgical education. All members of the Program Committee review all proposals and evaluate them using a global score. The final selection is made by the entire Program Committee to collectively meet the Committee’s goal of producing a balanced program of high-quality and innovative work from surgical educators across the globe.
Plenary Presentation and Podium Presentation presenters are required to submit a manuscript for consideration for publication in our new journal Global Surgical Education: Journal of the Association for Surgical Education.
Manuscript Submission Rules
- Authors of all abstracts accepted for Plenary and Podium Presentations will be notified to submit a manuscript to the Global Surgical Education: Journal of the Association for Surgical Education. Manuscript submissions are not required for Poster Presentations, but authors are encouraged to submit their papers to our journal.
- All invited manuscripts must be submitted to the Global Surgical Education: Journal of the Association for Surgical Education approximately 45 days after the ASE meeting (deadline is June 14, 2026).
- If a required manuscript is not submitted, the presenting author and senior author are banned from presenting at ASE for three (3) years.
- Any extenuating circumstances must be discussed with the ASE Program Chair well in advance of the ASE meeting.
- All other presenters are encouraged to submit manuscripts before the June 24th deadline to be considered for publication, if accepted, along with the other ASE papers.
Only persons who have made a direct contribution to the content of a paper or abstract submission should be listed as authors. The Association for Surgical Education uses the criteria provided by the International Committee on Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to determine authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to: (a) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (c) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions (a), (b), and (c) all must be met.
Abstract Topics
AI
Assessment
Curriculum Development
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Education Technology
Faculty Development
Global Surgical Education
Interprofessional Education
Program Evaluation
Recruitment & Selection
Simulation
Teaching Methods
Wellness/Well-Being
Leadership
Other
Please note: Abstracts containing only case studies will not be scored.
2026 ASE Program Committee:
Brigitte Smith, MD, MHPE, ASE Program Chair
Megan Miller, MD, Vice Chair & ASE Foundation President
Jeremy Lipman, MD, 2nd Vice Chair
Amanda Cooper, MD, 3rd Vice Chair
Nabil Issa, MD, Immediate Past Program Chair
Aimee Gardner, PhD, ASE President
Marc de Moya, MD, ASE President-Elect
Joe L’Huillier, MD, Trainee Group Representative
Phoenix (Xiaodong) Chen, PhD, MSc, Beng, Awards Committee Chair
Matthew Lin, MD, Clerkship Directors Committee Chair
Rolanda Whitford, Coordinators Committee Chair
Nell Maloney Patel, MD, Development Committee Chair
Priti Parikh, PhD, Surgical Educational Research Committee Chair
Emily Huang, MD, Assessment, Curriculum, & Evaluation Committee Chair
Olabisi Sheppard, MD, Citizenship and Global Responsibility Committee Chair
Melissa Alvarez-Downing, MD, DEI Committee Representative
Abbey Fingeret, MD, MHPTT, Recorder
Ross Willis, PhD, Recorder
Additional Sessions
WORKSHOPS & PANELS: For information on submitting Workshops and Panels to the ASE Meeting click here.
CANDLELIGHT SESSION: For information on submitting abstracts for the Candlelight Session click here.
THINKING OUT OF THE BOX: For information on submitting abstracts for Thinking Out of the Box click here.
SERC SHARK TANK: For information on submitting abstracts for Shark Tank click here.
ASE Policy on Owner/Employee of Ineligible Companies
The ACCME states “the owners and employees of ineligible companies are considered to have unresolvable financial relationships and must be excluded from participating as planners or faculty, and must not be allowed to influence or control any aspect of the planning, delivery, or evaluation of accredited continuing education, except in the limited circumstances outlined in Standard 3.2.” Therefore, ASE declares that no employees/owners of an ineligible company may present in ASE CME accredited sessions. This policy is applicable to abstract authors and presenters.
Click here to view the ACCME’s definition of ineligible company, owner and employee.
For any questions regarding the ASE Policy on Owner/Employee of Ineligible Companies, please contact the ASE office [email protected].
If you have any questions, please contact the ASE office at 310-215-1226 (ext. 120) or email: [email protected].