Newswise — CHICAGO: L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS, was elected Chair, and Steven D. Wexner, MD, PhD (Hon), FACS, FRCS (Eng), FRCS (Ed), FRCSI (Hon), Hon FRCS (Glasg), was elected Vice-Chair, of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) during the College’s virtual Clinical Congress 2020, October 3-7.
Dr. Levin, an internationally renowned hand surgeon and microsurgeon, is the Paul B. Magnuson Professor of Bone and Joint Surgery, chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery and professor of surgery (plastic surgery) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn Medicine). He is also the director of the Penn Musculoskeletal and Rheumatology Service Line and a leading clinical and basic science researcher in the fields of hand and microsurgery.
Furthermore, Dr. Levin heads the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Program at Penn Medicine. It was in this surgical leadership role that he directed teams that performed bilateral hand and arm transplant operations in September 2011, followed by similar procedures for two international patients, one in August 2016 and another in February 2019. In 2015, as director of the pediatric hand transplantation program of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, he led the multidisciplinary surgical team that performed the world’s first bilateral hand transplant for a child.
Dr. Levin holds board certification in two specialties, orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery. He also holds an orthopaedic surgery certificate of added qualification in hand surgery. His unique background contributes to his professional focus on surgery of the hand and upper extremity, reconstructive microsurgical techniques for extremity reconstruction, and limb salvage. His research interests strongly focus on extremity soft tissue reconstruction and vascularized composite allotransplantation.
In his role as Chair of the ACS Board of Regents, which he has already assumed, Dr. Levin will work closely with the ACS Executive Director, Dr. David B. Hoyt, and will chair the Regents’ Finance and Executive Committees. The College’s 24-member Board of Regents formulates policy and is ultimately responsible for managing the affairs of the College. The Board’s diversity and variety of experiences and interests among its members enable the Regents to represent views related to myriad issues in contemporary surgery.
A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) since 1996, Dr. Levin has previously held other leadership roles with ACS. He served as Vice-Chair, Board of Regents (2019-2020); Chair, Advisory Council for Orthopaedic Surgery (2008-2012), and as Specialty Governor for the American Society of Surgery for the Hand (2006-2009). In 2018, he was an admitted as a member of the inaugural class to the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.
He has also held leadership positions in other surgical organizations. He served as a member of the board of directors of the American Board of Plastic Surgery (2006-2012) and was president of the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (2006-2007); American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation (2010-2012); American Society for Surgery of the Hand (2018-2019); and Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery (2009-2020).
As the author/coauthor of 395 articles in the scientific literature, 85 text book chapters, and 11 textbooks/monographs, Dr. Levin has brought his hand, orthopaedic, and microsurgery expertise to the editorial boards of several journals, which includes serving as the editor-in-chief of Orthoplastic Surgery and the Hand section editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Additionally, Dr. Levin received basic science and clinical funding for VCA research from the United States Department of Defense.
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Levin has been a committed medical educator. He was recognized with the Master Clinician/Teacher Award for accomplishments in clinical care and education while at Duke University (2007) and received the I.S. Ravdin Master Clinician Award, a Penn Medicine Award of Excellence at the Perelman School of Medicine (2014).
He has also served as the Orthopaedic Trauma Association’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar, performing surgery with military surgeons for wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Germany in 2009.
Dr. Wexner, who will serve as Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents, is chair of the department of colorectal surgery and director of the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, Fla., and clinical professor, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
As Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents, Dr. Wexner will become Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents Finance Committee, Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee, and Regental Liaison to the ACS Board of Governors Executive Committee. Further, in the absence or inability to act of the Board of Regents Chair, the Vice-Chair will perform the duties of the Chair.
Dr. Wexner has been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) since 1991 and has served as an ACS Regent since 2012. He is the founding Chair of the ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC) National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer, a member of the Executive Committee of the CoC, and served as President of the College’s South Florida Chapter (2000-2004). He also served as an ACS Governor (2000-2006), as Chair of the ACS Advisory Council for Colon and Rectal Surgery, and on both the ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC (2005-2011 and 2017-2020), and ACS Foundation Board (2020) among numerous other involvements with the College.
Dr. Wexner is renowned for his work in the field of colon and rectal surgery. He was the first surgeon in North America to popularize the colonic J-pouch for rectal cancer, a procedure which is now an acceptable standard of care for patients with rectal carcinoma. He also developed significant innovations for fecal incontinence and research of laparoscopy for colon and rectal cancer.
A prolific researcher and writer, Dr. Wexner has authored/coauthored almost 800 peer-reviewed articles in the medical literature, over 275 textbook chapters, and 140 editorial and invited commentaries. He is the editor or co-editor of 40 textbooks or freestanding volumes and is an editor-in-chief of Surgery. He is also an editor or editorial board member for numerous other journals. He has held over 65 visiting professorships, delivered more than 2,100 scientific lectures, and received 17 national, international, and regional awards for his research.
Dr. Wexner became a member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2019. He trains 15-20 surgeons per year in advanced laparoscopic colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, and the surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease. He has been awarded numerous patents for a variety of surgical devices designed to improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Wexner is an active member of 42 learned societies and has held more than 70 appointed or elected offices in these societies. He is a past-president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (2011-2012), past-president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Research Foundation (2014-2016), past-president of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery (2011), and past-president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (2006-2007).
He is an honorary member of 30 surgical societies in 25 other countries or regions.
“FACS” designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
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About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.
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