WE ARE Member supported!
About Us
The Virginia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons is a dynamic professional organization committed to promoting the highest standards of surgical care through education, advocacy, and collaboration. Serving surgeons across the Commonwealth of Virginia, the chapter provides a platform for members to engage in continuing medical education, leadership development, and policy initiatives that shape the future of surgery. The Virginia Chapter fosters excellence in surgical practice and supports surgeons at every stage of their careers.
The Virginia Chapter is proud to support a diverse range of active committees that reflect the breadth of modern surgical practice, including Military Surgery, Global & Humanitarian Surgery, Rural Surgery, the Committee on Trauma (COT), and the Commission on Cancer (CoC). These committees provide focused opportunities for members to contribute to critical issues in surgery, both locally and globally.
The Virginia Chapter is also deeply committed to advocacy on behalf of surgeons and the patients they serve. The Chapter actively engages in legislative and regulatory efforts that impact surgical care, patient safety, and the broader healthcare system. A hallmark of this work is the annual Lobby Day at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, where members meet directly with lawmakers to discuss pressing issues such as surgical workforce needs, trauma system funding, rural healthcare access, and policies affecting surgical training and reimbursement. This direct engagement ensures that the voice of the surgical community is heard and respected in shaping healthcare policy across the state.
The Virginia Chapter guided by core priorities that shape its mission:
- Elevating the standards of surgery
- Establishing a standard of competency and character for practitioners of surgery
- Providing a method of granting membership in the organization
- Educating that the practice of surgery calls for special training
- Fostering support, mutual collaboration, and friendship among its members
- Encouraging collaborative research to 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