Foundation: Programs

AWS Foundation Visiting Professor Program

This program provides medical schools with the opportunity to request top women surgeons as speakers and receive funding from the AWS Foundation. Opportunities to lecture heighten the visibility of women surgeons while encouraging women medical students to pursue similar careers. In addition, the Visiting Professorship Program promotes dialogue between practicing surgeons and the academic community.

AWS Visiting Professors have an opportunity to share professional and personal experiences with Department Chairs, Faculty, Residents and Students through grand rounds, walk rounds, lecture and research presentations and other arranged opportunities.

Medical Centers provide the platform for the experience by hosting the AWS Visiting Professor at a breakfast, luncheon and/or dinner meetings and arranging for clinical experiences.

The 2011/2012 Visiting Professor is:

Mary A. Hooks, MD, MBA, FACS (click the link on her name for her bio)
ETSU College of Medicine
Department of Surgery
Johnson City, Tennessee

Topics for Lecture include:

  • Trends in the Surgical Treatment of Breast Cancer: Past and Present
  • Women in Surgery: Historical Perspective and Current Challenges
  • Current Management of Melanoma

Emory University in Atlanta has been selected to host Mary A. Hooks, MD, MBA, FACS, of ETSU College of Medicine, as a Visiting Professor for a two-day visit prior to July 31, 2012.

When I applied to be an AWS Visiting Professor, I think I really looked at this experience as something for my own career. It is a tremendous honor. It gave me an opportunity to share my experiences with other female surgical faculty and to provide some information and guidance to residents and medical students. I didn't realize how much I would gain from this experience.

I found myself learning from every conversation and encounter. There are women in surgical training today who have an insight into both the field of surgery and life that I feel that I am still learning. I am so very grateful to you all for sharing with me.


Catherine Wittgen, MD, FACS
2010-2011 Visiting Professor

Host-Site Responsibilities:

  • The Host Department of Surgery will sponsor this program and arrange for a two-day visit.
  • Provide opportunities for interaction between the visiting professor and local women surgical faculty, residents, and students. (Options include: reception, breakfast, luncheon, grand rounds, and surgery.)
  • Arrange the specific details of the visit directly with the Visiting Professor.
  • Arrange appropriate privileges and legalities if operative procedures involving the Visiting Professor are planned.
  • Submit a follow-up report to AWS detailing your experiences with the Visiting Professor and this AWS Program.
I am grateful for the opportunity of this visiting professorship. I learned a great deal about the workings of another trauma center, exchanged ideas with colleagues, and shared the vision of AWS. This program is one of the best offerings of the association and I would highly recommend other women. . .pursue this opportunity. I am so glad that I did.

Therese M. Duane, MD, FACS
2010-2011 Visiting Professor

Past Visiting Professors and Hosts:

  • 2010 - Therese M. Duane, MD, FACS (click the link on her name for her bio)
    host:  University of Arizona
  • 2010 - Catherine Marie Wittgen, MD, FACS (click the link on her name for her bio)
    host:  University of Wisconsin
  • 2009 - Karen J. Brasel, MD, MPH
    host:  Louisiana State University
  • 2008 - Margaret Dunn, MD, FACS
    host:
    University of Connecticut
  • 2008 - Pamela Lipsett, MD, FACS, FCCM
    host:
    University of California, Davis
  • 2007 - Linda Phillips, MD, FACS
    host: New York Presbyterian Hospital
  • 2006 - Mary McCarthy, MD, FACS
    host:
    University of Texas, Houston
  • 2005 - Nancy Harthun, MD, FACS
    host: The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
  • 2005 - Kathryn Spanknebel, MD
    host: Tufts New England Medical Center, Boston, MA
  • 2004 - Amy Friedman, MD
    host:
    Medical College of Georgia
  • 2004 - Rosemary Duda, MD, MPH
    host:
    University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
  • 2003 - Leslie Kohman, MD
    host -
    University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine
  • 2003 - Myriam Curet, MD, FACS
    host -
    University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  • 2002 - Susan Mackinnon, MD, FACS
    host -
    Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine
  • 2002 - Margaret Kemeny, MD, FACS
    host - Duke University Medical Center
  • 2001 - Julie Ann Freischlag, MD
    host -
    University of Louisville


"Being selected as the AWSF Visiting Professor was clearly a career highlight, and I was extremely excited to find out that Louisiana State University was selected as the host institution. The AWS has always been synonymous with outstanding mentorship in my mind and experience, and the chair at LSU is a mentor from fellowship days. Chip is an enthusiastic supporter of female surgeons, as I knew from experience and had the chance to once again observe firsthand. It was a jam-packed two days, [and] I came away. . .impressed with the residents, faculty, administration, and program at LSU. More than that, I came away energized -- in particular by the one-on-one and small group interactions with the residents and faculty. I clearly gained more than I gave, and once again am indebted to the mentorship opportunities provided by the AWS."

- Karen Brasel, MD, FACS – 2009/10 AWS Foundation Visiting Professor


AWS Foundation Fellowships

Since 1996, the AWSF/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. Fellowship has supported a number of women surgeons by funding original research in topics of flexible GI endoscopy, laparoscopy, minimal access techniques or related emerging technology. Click here for a list of past Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. Fellowship recipients. Erin W. Gilbert, MD, a Surgery Fellow at Oregon Health and Science University was awarded the 2012 AWSF/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. $25,000 Grant for her project entitled "Optical Fiber Spectroscopy (OFS) and its Applications in Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy."

A Fellowship grant from Genomic Health was awarded from 2007 to 2010. The fellowship was awarded for topics in the area of cancer-related research. Click here for a list of past Genomic Health Fellowship recipients.


Mentoring and Networking Programs

Mentoring and Networking Programs are supported by the AWS Foundation to provide forums for young women surgeons to meet with peers, attend educational programs, and enhance their professional and personal lives. A searchable mentor database has been developed for members and AWS supports networking breakfasts throughout the year.