The Kim Ephgrave Visiting Professor Program
This program provides academic institutions with the opportunity to host leading women surgeons as speakers. Opportunities to lecture heighten the visibility of women surgeons while inspiring surgical residents and encouraging women medical students to pursue similar careers.
In addition, the Dr. Kim Ephgrave Visiting Professor Program promotes dialogue between practicing surgeons and the academic community. The program was recently named in memory of Dr. Kim Ephgrave who served in the AWS Leadership from 1997 – 2002 and as AWS President in 2000/2001.
Criteria:
- Nominees must be current active AWS members.
- Submission of a list of four prioritized topics for lecture, or areas of expertise.
- Submission of a personal statement
- Submission of a letter of AWS involvement.
- Submission of one letter of recommendation attesting to qualifications for the AWS Visiting Professorship.
- Submission of an up-to-date CV/Biosketch.
- Nominees may self-nominate.
Each recipient will receive up to $1,000 in travel and lodging reimbursement for the speaking engagement. The Host Site will provide honoraria.
Qualifications & Responsibilities
- Be a practicing surgeon member of the Association of Women Surgeons in good standing and in an active clinical practice in the United States or Canada.
- Coordinate with the host institution to determine the optimal time for the visit. Visits usually include lectures, discussion groups, patient evaluation, patient rounds, and possibly operative procedures and take place over two days.
- Interact professionally with local women surgical faculty, residents, and medical students as a representative of the AWS and AWS Foundation (AWSF).
- Share information about AWS and the AWSF at appropriate opportunities.
- Work with the host institution to plan the visit including travel and accommodation reservations.
- Submit an expense form with appropriate back-up receipts to AWSF within 30 days after the visit.
- Submit a report to AWSF summarizing the visit within 30 days of the visit that includes information about the experience and thoughts on the process and the overall program.
Announcing the 2025 AWSF Visiting Professor
Dr. Lisa Cannada
Dr. Cannada is an Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon. She is affiliated with Novant health, where she is the Director of Faculty Integration for the UNC School of Medicine Charlotte Campus, Medical Student Clerkship Director and Professor. She completed a 3-year term on the AAOS BOD in 2018 as the first female Chair of the Board of Specialty Societies. She was responsible for developing the current fellowship match process for orthopaedics. She is a member of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and served on the BOD and received the first OTA DEI and Health Disparities Leadership Award in October 2022. She served as a president of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society in 2011 and received the inaugural “She for She “ Award in 2022.
Dr. Cannada has made it her mission to make the path better for those that follow, by her work and leadership roles. In 2021, Drs. Cannada, Weiss, Shipley and Gianakos formed “Speak Up Ortho” to pave the way for change in orthopaedic surgery. Her clinical interests and research include both upper and lower extremity fractures and outcomes. She has over 240 publications and numerous presentations at national meetings. She could not do this without the support of her family, her husband Jeff and daughter Annalise and her parents, the late John W. Metcalf MD (OB-GYN) and her mom, Theresa Metcalf. Her favorite role is “soccer mom” and she looks forward to cheering on her daughter, a Division I Soccer player at Lipscomb University this upcoming season after her return from ACL reconstruction.
Dr. Cannada provides lectures in the following topic areas:
- Snakes in the Grass: Occupational Hazards (Radiation Safety)
- Mentoring: Preparing for our Future
- Time for change: Bullying in Orthopaedics
- Yes You Can-Tips for Research at all levels and Job Types
- The Mangled Extremity
- Heavy Metal: Periprosthetic and Interprosthetic Femur Fractures
- The Humeral Made Easy
- The Elderly Fracture Trifecta:Poor bone, poor skin, poor mobility
- What They Don't Teach: Actions Speak Louder than Words
- Social Media: Friend or Foe
Apply to Host the 2025 AWSF Visiting Professor
Applications are due April 24
Preference is given to those institutions in which women represent a significant minority of the department. Both community and university training programs are encouraged to apply. The Chair of the Department of Surgery or surgery residency Program Director must complete this application. The AWS Foundation (AWSF) will provide a stipend of up to $2500 to cover travel and accommodation expenses for the Visiting Professor. The host institution will be expected to provide an honorarium to the Visiting Professor.
Host Site Department of Surgery Responsibilities
- Sponsor the program and coordinate a schedule for the two-day visit.
- Provide opportunities for interaction between the Visiting Professor (VP) and local women surgical faculty, residents, and students. (Options include: reception, breakfast, luncheon, grand rounds and surgery.)
- With the Visiting Professor, plan travel and accommodation reservations as well as other details of the visit.
- Arrange for appropriate privileges and policy compliance if clinical rounds or operative procedures involving the VP are planned.
- Submit a final report to the AWSF summarizing its experience with this program within 30 days of hosting the AWS VP.
- Provide the VP an honorarium.
Please see a sample itinerary here.
2024 AWSF Visiting Professor
The Association of Women Surgeons is pleased to announce Jennifer Plichta, MD as the 2024 Kim Ephgrave Visiting Professor!
Dr. Jennifer Plichta is an Associate Professor of Surgery & Population Health Sciences at Duke University. She joined Duke in 2016 and currently serves as the Director of the Breast Risk Assessment Clinic in the Duke Cancer Institute, where she cares for patients with breast cancer, benign breast problems, and those with an increased risk of breast cancer. She also serves as the Co-Director for the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program. Her clinical interests include establishing routine breast cancer risk assessment for women and creating personalized management strategies for those found to be “high risk”.
Dr. Plichta’s research focuses of identifying and managing women with risk factors for breast cancer, including those with genetic mutations, such as BRCA, those with abnormal breast biopsies, and those with a family history of breast cancer. She is also studying how breast cancer staging can be used to improve patient care and education, and she is currently a BIRCWH (Duke K12) scholar.
However, her dedication to breast cancer extends beyond her clinical and research interests, as she also enjoys educating others about breast cancer. Currently, she is the Program Director for the Duke Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship, and she is the creator and primary coordinator of Duke’s free, annual breast education day for the community, “What’s best for breasts?”.
Additionally, Dr. Plichta is a graduate of the AWS Signature Speaker Series and serves as the AWS AJS Editor and on the AWS Reviewer Academy Faculty.
Dr. Plichta provides lectures in the following topic areas:
- Teaching, training, mentorship, sponsorship
- Overcoming challenges for success
- Building teams and maximizing efficiency
- Staging for metastatic breast cancer
- Breast cancer risk
- Breast cancer and genetics
- Breast surgery
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