General surgeon receives Distinguished Service Award from ACS

Last night the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) presented Barbara Lee Bass, MD, FACS, Houston, TX, with the ACS Distinguished Service Award at the Convocation ceremony preceding the official opening of the 2013 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. The award is the College's highest honor, and recognizes Dr. Bass's "commitment to the initiatives and principles embodied by the American College of Surgeons."

Since becoming an ACS Fellow in 1989, Dr. Bass has been very influential and active in many College activities. She served on the Board of Governors' Committee on Physician Competence (1999-2001) and Scholarships Committee (1999-2004). She has served on multiple Board of Regents' Committees including the Organization Liaison Committee (2005-2008); Communications Committee (1999-2002); Central Judiciary Committee (2002-2005); and Finance Committee (2008-2010). She has also served on the Women in Surgery Committee (2004-present).

Her many years of ACS service has also been characterized by many leadership positions. She was a member of the College's Board of Regents (2001-2010), and its Executive Committee (2003-2004, 2005-2009); Chair of the Board of Governors (1999-2001); Chair of the Board of Governors' Committee on Surgical Practice (1997-1998); Chair of the Program
(2003-2005, 2006-2011); and Chair of the Education Committee (2002-2004, 2005-2007).

Currently she is a surgeon champion of the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®). Speaking of her support for ACS NSQIP®, Dr. Bass said, "NSQIP is the gold standard by which we should measure our surgical outcomes in the decades ahead."

The Distinguished Service Award presented to Dr. Bass also recognizes her for "out-standing clinical and academic contributions to the field of general surgery, especially as…a spokesperson for Maintenance of Certification, and an inspirational woman surgical leader."

Her distinguished career has been prolific in multiple areas. Dr. Bass, a general surgeon, enjoys an active practice now focused on breast and endocrine surgery. Throughout her career she has been a teacher and mentor to students and surgical residents and served as a general surgery residency program director for 16 years. Dr. Bass's research program, now focused on surgical performance, health care education policy, and computational surgery, has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, VA Research Service, and multiple endowments. Her research career was launched with the award of an American College of Surgeons Faculty Research Scholarship (1986-1988). She has held administrative and academic leadership positions at the University of Maryland, the VA Maryland Health Care System, and now the Houston Methodist Hospital. She is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where she served as a Captain during her research fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (1982- 1984).

Moreover, Dr. Bass has mentored 35 pre- and postdoctoral fellows, presented and published more than 140 manuscripts, and delivered more than 70 named lectureships and invited talks. Among the awards by which her impressive work has been recognized are the
Nina Starr Brauwald Award (2004) and the Association of Women Surgeons Distinguished Member Award (1997). In addition to her extensive work with the ACS, the presentation of the Distinguished Service Award also acknowledges Dr. Bass's leadership as a director and chair of the American Board of Surgery (1998-2005) and president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (2005-2006) and Society of Surgical Chairs (2013).

Dr. Bass is currently the chair of the Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery where she holds the John F. and Carolyn Bookout Distinguished Endowed Chair of Surgery. She is the executive director of the Methodist Institute for Technology Innovation and Education (MITIE), an educational and research facility where, over the last 4 years, more than 20,000 surgeons and health care providers have attended hands-on educational courses. She holds an appointment as professor of surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Source: American College of Surgeons