2024 Meeting Recap

Scientific Meeting

The 2024 Scientific Meeting in Santa Barbara was a great success!  From presenters to vendors, to attendees the consensus is that a great time was had by all.  Did you miss out on the meeting?  Need a recap?  Find out who the winners were for some of the events that took place in Santa Barbara.

Jeopardy Winners

The most recent competition took place on Saturday afternoon, January 20th. Residents from Southern California residency programs competed for the coveted Dowden Trophy, as well as bragging rights in what was an educational and highly entertaining event.

The Great Debates of SCCACS Winner

This year’s Great Debates of SCCACS (formerly Battle of the Blades) competition took place Saturday afternoon, January 20th featuring teams from area teaching programs addressing opposite sides of controversial questions in general/minimally invasive surgery.

AND THE WINNERS WERE…

Dena Nasir, MD and Jasmine Park, MD
Huntington Hospital

After a fierce battle, the winner was –

Frank Lee, MD and
Matthew Whealon, MD, FACS, faculty coach
University of CA, Irvine

Congratulations to our winners and enjoy bragging rights for the year!


Resident Research Winners

The winners of the resident research competition were:

1st Place: Sarah W Yuen MD, MPH, University of CA, Irvine
2nd Place: Elliot Silver MD, USC
3rd Place: Joseph Hadaya MD PhD, UCLA

Rising Star AwardFor undergraduate and medical students

Winner: Sara Sakowitz MS, MPH, UCLA

Commission on Cancer Award

  1. Rhami Khorfan MD MS, Loma Linda University
  2. Sarah W Yuen MD MPH, University of CA, Irvine
  3. Brian Williams, MD, USC

Committee on Trauma Award

  • Kelly A Boyle MD, USC

Travel Stipend Winners

The leadership of the Southern California Chapter of ACS is committed to encouraging participation by young surgeons in the annual Chapter meeting. A stipend to help defray travel and registration costs to a future ACS meeting, either local or national, is offered to Young Surgeons every year. The successful applicants meeting all requirements receive a $1,200 stipend. The winners were announced at the Scientific Meeting Young Surgeons’ Breakfast.

The 2024 Young Surgeons Travel Stipend Winners were:

  • Laura Goodman, MD, University of CA, Irvine
  • Michael O’Leary, MD, Loma Linda University
  • Andrew Wang, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center