SPEAKER BIOS
Jaap Bonjer, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS, FASCRS
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Dr. Jaap Bonjer is Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, the Netherlands. He is the founder and CEO of the Amsterdam Skills Centre for Health Sciences (ASC), a 17 OR stations facility.
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In 2022, Dr. Bonjer initiated DUTCH (Digital United Training Concepts for Healthcare), a national project in conjunction with educational technology partners to transform the training of allied health care professionals by substituting 50 % of workplace training by digital learning and virtual or physical simulation. The project has been awarded €132m by the Dutch National Growth Fund.
Julie Cornish, MBBCh, MD, FRCS
Mrs Julie Cornish is a consultant colorectal surgeon and senior lecturer in Cardiff, with a subspecialty interest in pelvic health. She trained in Wales and London, with an MD from Imperial College and a pelvic floor fellowship in Oxford. She is the Secretary for the Pelvic Floor Society. Her research interests focus on outcomes after surgery, in particular bowel dysfunction after surgery and outcomes after emergency laparotomy. She has more than 70 publications and regularly presents internationally and nationally. She was a co-investigator for the HART trial and is the chief investigator in several studies, most recently POLARiS and POLO.
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Michael Rosen, MD
Michael J. Rosen is a Professor of Surgery at Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Ohio. He currently serves as the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Abdominal Core Health and is the Director of Surgical Operations for the Digestive Disease Institute. He has been awarded 22 funded research grants, published over 250 peer reviewed papers in minimally invasive surgery and complex abdominal wall reconstruction. He has authored over 50 chapters in various surgical textbooks. He has edited 5 surgical textbooks, including the Atlas of Abdominal Wall Reconstruction. He received his medical training at University of Southern California. His surgical residency was completed at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He also completed a research fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and performed a clinical fellowship at the Carolinas Medical Center, in Charlotte North Carolina. He is the co-founder and Medical Director of the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative.
Selwyn Rogers, Jr., MD, MPH, FACS
Selwyn Rogers, Jr., MD, MPH, FACS, was named the Section Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine in January 2017. He now serves as the Dr. James E. Bowman, Jr. Professor in the Biological Sciences at The University of Chicago Medicine. Dr. Rogers is an acclaimed trauma and critical care surgeon and public health expert who has served in leadership capacities at health centers across the country. His work seeks to improve quality and access to care for all patients and advocate for treating intentional violence as a public health problem.
Desmond, D'Souza, MD, FACS
Desmond M. D’Souza, MD, FACS is a board-certified general thoracic surgeon at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He is an Associate Professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery in The Department of Surgery. After completing his general surgery training at Yale New Haven Hospital – Saint Raphael he finished a general thoracic track fellowship at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic.
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Dr. D’Souza’s practice includes the multi-disciplinary management of benign and malignant diseases of the lung, esophagus, mediastinum, chest wall, trachea, and diaphragm. He is an internationally recognized expert on robotic thoracic surgery, key opinion leader, proctor, and hosts surgeons from across the world as a Case Observation site at The Ohio State University. His clinical practice focuses on enhancing patient outcomes by delivering high quality minimally invasive robotic thoracic surgery. He is an expert on robotic lobectomy, segmentectomy and robotic assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE).
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A well published investigator, Dr. D’Souza has presented his research work at numerous national and international meetings including the American Association of Thoracic Surgery (AATS), Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS), American College of Surgeons (ACS), and the Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). Dr. D’Souza’s research focuses on thoracic oncology clinical trials, health services research involving robotic thoracic surgery and improving the quality of patient care. Dr. D’Souza’s passion for surgical innovation has led to patents in robotic surgery and extramural funding through the National Science Foundation. A fervent educator, he is involved with educating medical students, residents, thoracic surgery fellows and surgeons. He has proctored and taught robotic thoracic surgery across the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Eric Vallières, MD, FRCSC
Vallières heads the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle since 2004. He received his MD at Laval and following an internship in Québec, trained in General then Thoracic Surgery at the U of Toronto. He joined the faculty at the U of Alberta Edmonton in 1991, then the U of Ottawa in 1994. He was recruited at the U of Washington Seattle in 1996 where he remained as an Associate Professor until 2004. He was vice-chairman of the SWOG Lung Committee and a member of the IASLC Staging Committee. His main interests are perioperative systemic therapy and lung cancer surgery.
Justin Dimick MD MPH
Justin B. Dimick, M.D., M.P.H. is the Frederick A. Coller Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Dimick is a graduate of Cornell University and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He completed his surgical training at the University of Michigan and a health services research fellowship at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice. Dr. Dimick is a practicing general surgeon focused on advanced laparoscopy, including bariatrics, hernias, and benign esophageal disease. With a long-track record of R01 funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), his research focuses on quality measurement, policy evaluation, and large-scale, innovative quality improvement interventions. He has more than 500 peer-reviewed publications, including papers in NEJM, JAMA, Health Affairs, and the leading surgical journals. Dr. Dimick has mentored 11 individuals on K-awards, including 5 currently, and is the Director of a T32 grant aimed at training the next generation of surgeon-scientists. Dr. Dimick has served in several national leadership positions, including President of the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), Chair of the Health Services Organization and Delivery (HSOD) Study Section at the NIH, Member of the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Chairs (SSC), Associate Editor at Annals of Surgery, and the Surgical Innovation Editor at JAMA Surgery. Dr. Dimick is member of several professional organizations, including the American Surgical Association (ASA), the Society of Clinical Surgeons (SCS), the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2020.
Sandra Wong, MD
Dr. Wong is the dean of Emory University School of Medicine, where she also serves as the chief academic officer for Emory Healthcare. She is a nationally recognized authority in the management of soft tissue sarcoma, melanoma, and Merkel Cell carcinoma. Her health services research program has been funded by National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the American Cancer Society.
Dr. Wong has published over 270 manuscripts and book chapters and serves as a Deputy Editor of the Annals of Surgical Oncology as well as Associate Editor for Annals of Surgery. She is passionate about the education and mentorship of surgeon-scientists and has been honored with numerous medical student and resident teaching awards. Dr. Wong is the Past President of the Society of University Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Chairs, as well as the Society of Surgical Oncology.
Mr. Kevin Chief
Kevin Chief is Principal of Chief Partnerships Manitoba Incorporated. He is currently Community Ambassador for the Southern Chiefs' Organization, chairperson for the Centre of Aboriginal Human Resource Development Inc., and Senior Advisor at True North Sports and Entertainment. Kevin brings a commitment to community and leadership development through his dedication to education, training, and employment.
Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, he has considerable public sector and community experience. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, representing Point Douglas, and was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Children and Youth Opportunities in 2012, Minister responsible for the City of Winnipeg in 2013, and Minister of Jobs and the Economy in 2014. Following public service, Kevin was the Vice President at the Business Council of Manitoba. Chief is the co-founder of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre.
Kevin and his wife Melanie have three young sons: Hayden, Kellan, and Daxton. He is a member of Minegoziibe Anishinabe First Nation (Pine Creek) and also known as a high steppin’ square dancer as a part of the Norman Chief Memorial Dancers.
Sean Orenstein, MD
Dr. Sean Orenstein resides in Portland, Oregon, USA where he is the Director of OHSU’s Hernia & Abdominal Wall Center and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Oregon Health & Science University. Having studied mesh implants and hernia science during his research fellowship, he has a passion for mesh prosthetics as they relate to abdominal wall hernia repairs. Currently, he serves on the Board of Governors for the American Hernia Society as well as other roles that promote hernia science and optimal patient outcomes for hernia repair.
Janani S. Reisenauer, MD
Janani S. Reisenauer, M.D., is a consultant and chair in the Division of Thoracic Surgery and vice chair for innovation in the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Reisenauer holds a joint appointment in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine. She joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2017 and holds the academic rank of associate professor of surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
Dr. Reisenauer earned her B.S. in biology and her M.D. at the University of Alabama. She completed her general surgery residency at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education and subsequently trained as a fellow in both thoracic surgery and interventional pulmonology at Mayo Clinic. She was a Mayo Clinic Scholar in the Division of General Thoracic Surgery.
As a thoracic surgeon and interventional pulmonologist, Dr. Reisenauer has a special interest in minimally invasive approaches to treating lung cancer, including early identification. Her approach to care is patient-centered and personalized, and she is dedicated to optimizing postsurgical care, improving patient experience, satisfaction and overall outcome. She is a member of the Scientific Progress Review Subcommittee within the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and serves on the Department of Surgery Research Committee. She is also a member of the Robotics Committee in the Division of General Thoracic Surgery. She recently performed the world’s first robotic bronchoscopy followed by next-day robotic lobectomy, which permitted diagnosing and staging the patient in a single procedure, with robotic resection completed within 24 hours.
Dr. Reisenauer has given presentations on her work and has authored journal articles, book chapters and other publications. She is associate editor of Shanghai Chest Journal and serves on the editorial board of Current Challenges in Thoracic Surgery. She is also an active educator and serves as mentor to medical students, among others.
Dr. Reisenauer is a member of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and Women in Thoracic Surgery.
Rachael A. Callcut, MD, MSPH, FACS
Rachael A. Callcut, M.D., M.S.P.H., an internationally renowned expert in Healthcare AI, led the team that developed one of the first point of care applications earning FDA clearance. She is both the Associate Dean of Data Science and the Chief Research Informatics Officer at UC Davis Health. She also serves as the Division Chief of Trauma/Acute Care Surgery and has an extensive track record of extramural funding exceeding $50 million dollars including from the NIH, US Dept of Defense, and Industry. She has published over 120 peer review articles in the field of trauma care and AI.
Jason McVicar, MD, FRCPC
Jason McVicar, MD, FRCPC is Métis from the Red River Settlement in Manitoba. He was born in the Northwest Territories and raised in western Manitoba. He pursued his medical studies at University of Manitoba and anesthesia residency at Queen’s University, followed by a fellowship in regional anesthesia and pain medicine in Toronto. He practiced at The Ottawa Hospital for the past decade and is now an anesthesiologist at the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Jason has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières, has been a trustee of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society International Education Foundation, and completed a public policy fellowship with Action Canada. Dr. McVicar was lead author on two CMAJ publications on surgical outcomes for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. He was awarded the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Social Accountability Award in 2022.
Dr. McVicar’s current appointments include membership on the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Pain Committee, co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Advisory Circle at The Ottawa Hospital, co-chair of the Collaborative Advisory Group for Rural Anesthesia for the Canadian Anesthesiologists Society, and chair of the Global and Rural Health Committee with the Academic Canadian Universities Departments of Anesthesia.
Jason is the proud father of two loud children who has selfishly taught downhill skiing so he can return to the slopes after a decade hiatus. He perpetually pesters his kids by over photographing them with long lenses and can be occasionally found taking pictures of other slower moving things.