WE ARE Member supported!
Virginia Chapter, American College of Surgeons: Championing Surgical Excellence
The Virginia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (VAC-ACS) is the professional organization dedicated to advancing the art and science of surgery across the Commonwealth. We are a dynamic, unified voice for surgeons, relentlessly committed to ensuring the highest standards of patient care through unwavering advocacy, superior education, and powerful collaboration.
Driving Professional Growth and Policy
Serving surgeons at every stage of their career, the VAC-ACS provides an essential platform for professional development and influence:
- Continuing Medical Education: Access cutting-edge surgical knowledge and techniques.
- Leadership Development: Cultivate the skills needed to lead in the operating room and the healthcare system.
- Policy Initiatives: Directly shape the future of surgery by engaging in critical health policy discussions.
Focused Impact: Our Active Committees
The VAC-ACS proudly supports a diverse range of active, high-impact committees that reflect the comprehensive scope of modern surgical practice. These groups offer focused opportunities for members to contribute to critical issues, both locally and globally:
- Trauma: Committee on Trauma (COT)
- Cancer Care: Commission on Cancer (CoC)
- Military Surgery
- Global & Humanitarian Surgery
- Rural Surgery
Powerful Advocacy: Your Voice at the Capitol
We are deeply committed to advocating for the needs of surgeons and the patients they serve. The Chapter actively engages in legislative and regulatory efforts that directly impact surgical practice, patient safety, and the broader healthcare system in Virginia.
- Annual Lobby Day: The hallmark of our advocacy is the annual Lobby Day at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. Members meet directly with state lawmakers to champion pressing issues, ensuring the surgical community's voice is heard and respected.
- Key Advocacy Priorities:
- Surgical workforce needs
- Trauma system funding
- Rural healthcare access
- Policies affecting surgical training and reimbursement
Our Core Mission: Why We Exist
The Virginia Chapter is guided by foundational priorities that ensure excellence in surgical practice and protect our profession:
- Elevate Standards: Continuously raise the bar for surgical quality and patient outcomes.
- Ensure Competency: Establish and uphold a standard of competency and character for all practitioners.
- Provide Specialized Training: Educate the public and stakeholders that the practice of surgery calls for specialized, rigorous training.
- Foster Collaboration: Cultivate mutual support, professional friendship, and collaborative research among members.
- Advance Knowledge: Encourage collaborative research to relentlessly improve the care of surgical patients.
about local chapters
The chapters of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) provide members with an opportunity to improve the quality of surgical care through engagement at the local level. With over 100 chapters around the world, there are several ways that ACS members can get involved.
Local chapters work in conjunction with the College to provide outstanding networking and educational opportunities, along with professional development resources through chapter meetings, conferences, and community outreach. ACS chapters share and support the mission of the College to be “dedicated to improving the care of the surgical patient and to safeguarding standards of care in an optimal and ethical practice environment.”
ACS chapters also offer a forum for all of our members—from every surgical specialty—to communicate. Through the ACS chapters, members can become actively engaged in legislative advocacy efforts that directly affect the socioeconomic aspects of health care. Chapter membership is open to all members of the College.
ACS leadership
Get involved
Whether you are a resident in training, a surgeon just starting your career, a surgeon who has been practicing for many years, or a medical student who has taken an interest in surgery, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has many diverse opportunities for member engagement and leadership development.
We have incorporated stories in the form of videos and quotes from current and past volunteers who have held these positions so you can hear real-life depictions of what the positions are like and the benefits and rewards of each. The College is looking forward to helping you reach and succeed in your professional leadership goals.
Learn more about the path to Leadership.
ACS and the Seal
The official description of the Seal follows:
"Aesculapius, the symbol of European learning, and an American Indian Medicine Man are seated beneath a Tree of Knowledge, making offering of their symbols of healing in common service to mankind.
Medicine men were important figures in most primitive societies. They often organized into secret societies within their tribes and specialized in things like weather, snakebite, injuries, or sickness. They enjoyed high social position, attained by apprenticeships, rituals, and training, somewhat like Board examinations. The healers could amass wealth, and the outcome did not always have to be successful, provided the techniques were above reproach.
The similarity of all this to medicine and surgery of today is indeed remarkable, and makes this element of the Seal quite appropriate.
Original source:
Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons | Volume 68, Issue 10