Prof. William B. Coman, MD, MB, BS, FACS, FRCSEd, FRCSEng, FRACS, Brisbane, Australia, is director, Queensland Centre of Excellence for Head and Neck Cancer, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane; and professor, division of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, Griffith University, Brisbane. He has an international reputation in otolaryngology, including funded research into ear diseases specific to the Aboriginal population, investigation into the molecular behavior of head and neck cancer, and elucidation of mechanisms of swallowing disorders. His achievements have been recognized with honorary membership in the Royal College of Surgeons and the Hughes Medal from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Prof. Mahesh R. Desai, MB, BS, MS, FRCSEd, FRCSEng, is managing trustee and medical director of Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital, the first dedicated institute for kidney diseases in western India to provide treatment for patients regardless of their ability to pay. He also founded the Jayaramdas Patel Academic Centre, Nadiad, India, to train future urologists and was among the first in India to adopt the most modern techniques for treating kidney stones. He continues to be an international innovator in both kidney stone surgery and renal transplantation, bringing new techniques and treatment centers to countries worldwide.
Prof. Abraham Fingerhut, MD, FACS, FRCSP(g), FRCSEng, Poissy, France, is past-chief of surgery, Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal, and has been instrumental in the inception, design, execution, data analysis, and publication of more than 100 randomized, controlled, or prospective trials in the last 21 years. He is perhaps best known for his role as founding member and secretary of the Surgical Association of Clinical Research in Europe, as well as the driving force behind the French Federation for Research in Surgery. He has served as president of the European Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery.
Prof. Eduardo de Santibañes, MD, PhD, Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a distinguished surgeon and leader in the field of hepatobiliary surgery. He performed the first cadaveric liver transplant in Argentina and established a program that has now performed more than 1,000 hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) procedures. The HPB program has trained many surgeons from South America, raising the standards of HPB surgery throughout the entire continent. He is professor of general surgery, University of Buenos Aires, and chair, department of surgery, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires.
Prof. Errol Ricardo Walrond, MB, BS, BSc(Hon), FACS, FRCSEng, FCCS, Saint James, Barbados, exemplifies the academic general surgeon and has written extensively about his experiences with cancer, vascular diseases, surgery of the thyroid and pancreas, as well as ethical issues in the education and practice of physicians. He has served as a clinician, educator, administrator, and policy driver for surgical and medical education throughout the West Indies. He has chaired the National Advisory Committee on AIDS (Barbados) and the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and was the founding fellow and president of the Caribbean College of Surgeons. He is a professor of surgery, University of the West Indies, and vice-dean, faculty of medicine, University of Barbados.
Presenting on behalf of the College were Samuel Adetola Adebonojo, MD, FACS, FCCP, FWACS, Beavercreek, OH; David J. Terris, MD, FACS, Augusta, GA; Glenn M. Preminger, MD, Durham, NC; Steven D. Wexner, MD, FACS, Weston, FL; Steven M. Strasberg, MD, FACS, St. Louis, MO; and Lenworth M. Jacobs, Jr., MD, MPH, FACS, Hartford, CT.
Sir Rickman Godlee, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, was awarded the first Honorary Fellowship in the ACS during the College's first Convocation in 1913. Since then, 453 internationally prominent surgeons, including the six chosen this year, have been named Honorary Fellows of the ACS. Following are the citations presented at the Convocation.