Any ASE member in good standing is welcome to join any standing committee at two times during the year. If you are interested in joining a committee, be sure to attend the committee meeting held in conjunction with either the ASE Annual Meeting or the ACS Clinical Congress. The ASE Office will send a committee meeting invitation/RSVP email approximately one month prior to the ASE Annual Meeting or ACS Clinical Congress, be sure to RSVP to receive the meeting information. If after attending the committee meeting(s), you have confirmed that you would like to join, you must fill out a Committee Join form which will be provided by the ASE Office. For any additional questions on this process, contact the ASE office at [email protected].
The majority of the goals and objectives of the Association are met through the work of the following ASE committees:
- Committee on Assessment, Curriculum, and Evaluation
- Committee on Citizenship and Global Responsibility
- Committee on Clerkship Directors
- Committee on Coordinators of Surgical Education
- Committee on Development
- Surgical Education Research Group
- Committee on Faculty Development
- Committee on Graduate Surgical Education
- Committee on Education Technology
- Committee on Membership
- Committee on Simulation
COMMITTEE ON ASSESSMENT, CURRICULUM, AND EVALUATION
The Assessment, Curriculum and Evaluation Committee’s mission is to enhance the capacity of ASE members in four areas: learner assessment, faculty evaluation, program evaluation, and measurement principles as related to surgical education research. In so doing, we hope to enhance best practices in our field for such things as the ACGME milestones reporting, PGY-1 supervision standards, and the ABS performance requirements. We also hope to promote research on assessment and evaluation methods. We provide an annual workshop on topics related to these domains. The Committee is open to all interested members. Currently, three sub-committee groups are working on (1) a “white paper” on the use of video for assessment, (2) delivering “Assessment 101: Principles and Practices” to ASE members, and (3) delivering “Assessment 501: Advanced Topics” for lead PhD and MD educators who are responsible for establishing assessment “best practices/quality” and teaching others in their home departments. New foci of interest and new sub-committee efforts are encouraged.
Committee Chair: Jeremy Lipman, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Abbey L. Fingeret, MD
COMMITTEE ON CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
In line with the ASE’s overall mission of having global impact on surgical education, this committee will support outreach projects and programs which pertain to surgical and educational themes that involve surgeons, residents, or medical students. Such projects might be involved with performing or teaching surgery in countries/areas where resources are scarce, and/or improving healthcare and health awareness in areas of need. The committee will consider all aspects of citizenship and social responsibility and will welcome all ASE members who participate in or who would like to participate in such local, regional, national, or international projects.
Committee Chair: Tracey Dechert, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Tania Arora, MD
COMMITTEE ON CLERKSHIP DIRECTORS
The Clerkship Directors Committee 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: Rishindra Reddy, MD
Committee Vice Chair: James Lau, MD
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
For further information on the Committee on Coordinators, please click here.
Committee Chair: Lindsay Gluf-Magar, BA
Committee Vice Chair: Megan Rendina, BS
COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT
The ASE Development Committee is a newly formed committee that aims to raise funds for the ASE annual meeting and engage in other activities that support the mission of the organization. The committee’s current activities include innovative efforts to attract sponsors and exhibitors to the annual meeting and promote giving by the ASE membership.
Committee Chair: Nabil Issa, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Alan Harzman, MD
SURGICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH GROUP
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: Sarah Jung, PhD
Committee Vice Chair: Jeffry Nahmias, MD
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: Kevin Pei, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Nell Maloney Patel, 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: Megan Miller, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Brigitte Smith, MD
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 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: Sanda Tan, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Kevin Pei, MD
COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP
The Committee on Membership is tasked with growing the organization by identifying what members perceive as value through ASE membership. Further, we look for opportunities to attract new members whether it be students, trainees, educators, scientists, or human performance engineers. The committee meets twice annually and on teleconference calls. The committee welcomes any individuals interested in helping ASE grow.
Committee Chair: Gurjit Sandhu, PhD
Committee Vice Chair: Teviah Sachs, MD
COMMITTEE ON SIMULATION
The Committee on Simulation was established in 2009 in response to the increasing role of simulation-based education in surgery.
Its mission is to promote the development, adoption, and scientific analysis of simulation-based training for surgeons and related healthcare professionals.
- To provide education in the use of simulation for the training and assessment of surgeons and other healthcare professionals
- To assist individuals in becoming familiar with simulation, provide guidance and resources to get started or expand their knowledge
- To assist simulation centers in improving their offerings and obtaining accreditation as simulation and training institutes
- To serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for simulators, simulations, and skills training activities
- To foster, support, and encourage development of new models, simulators and simulation scenarios
- To develop and publish guidelines for simulation training
- To provide leadership in surgical simulation
- To promote collaboration with other organizations involved in simulation
- To promote the integration of team-based simulation training
- To develop a repository of 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
The committee is actively engaged with numerous projects and national collaborative activities. Participation in this committee is open to all ASE members. Any interested member is invited to attend our committee meetings during Surgical Education Week and during the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress Meeting.
Committee Chair: Denise Gee, MD
Committee Vice Chair: Dmitry Nepomnayshy, MD