Scientific Meeting
The 2025 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 11th. 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 11th featuring teams from area teaching programs addressing opposite sides of controversial questions in general/minimally invasive surgery.
AND THE WINNERS WERE…
Andres Ruiz, MD and Jasmine Park, MD
Huntington Hospital (Defending champs!)
After a fierce battle, the winner was –
Nicole Hanson, MD and
Anthony Carden, MD, FACS, faculty coach
Community Memorial Healthcare
Congratulations to our winners and enjoy bragging rights for the year!
Surgeon-in-Training Research Winners
The winners of the competition were:
1st Place: Jessica Liu, MD, MS, MPH, American College of Surgeons – “Bridging the Gap in Care for Geriatric Patients Undergoing Emergency General Surgery: A Qualitative Study to Identify Mitigation Strategies”
2nd Place: Sarah Yuen, MD, MPH, University of California, Irvine – “Disaggregation of Asian American Data Reveals Disparities in Pathologic Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer”
3rd Place: Marianna Sarkissyan, MD, UCLA-Harbor – “Should Body Mass Index Be Used as a Criteria for Selecting Patients Who Are Candidates for Elective Umbilical Hernia Repair in a Large County Health System?”
Rising Star Award – For undergraduate and medical students
Winner: Syed Shaheer Ali, Cedars Sinai Medical Center – “Timing of Tracheostomy and Clinical Outcomes After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury”
Commission on Cancer Award
1st Place: Ayesha Ng, MPH, UCLA – “Cost-Volume Relationship in Rectal Cancer Resection Across the United States”
2nd Place: Sarah Yuen, MD, UCI – “Disaggregation of Asian American Data Reveals Disparities in Pathologic Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer”
3rd Place: Hadley Freeman, MD, Loma Linda –“Pancreatic Mucinous Adenocarcinoma Associated With More Favorable Survival Than Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma”
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 2025 Young Surgeons Travel Stipend Winners were:
- Thuy B. Tran, MD, UCI
- Anaar E. Siletz, MD, USC
- Hira Ahmad, MD, Children’s Hospital of Orange County