2025 COT & COC Paper Competition

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The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (ACS COC) and Committee on Trauma (ACS COT) announce their call for abstracts for the 2025 Physician in Training Paper Competition. The competition fosters the development of physician scientists in the fields of oncology and trauma. We will hold the 2025 competition at VCU on Thursday, November 6th from 2-5 PM.

Location: VCU | Lambert Board Room

VCU Critical Care Hospital

1213 East Clay Street

Richmond, VA  23219

ELIGIBILITY
The competition is open to all general surgery residents, surgical specialty residents, and fellows on topics specific to oncology and trauma, related to the mission of the Commission on Cancer and the Committee on Trauma.  A faculty member co-author of the study accepted for presentation must be a member of the ACS and the VA-ACS. 

COT: To be eligible for presentation at the COT Annual Meeting (Central competition), abstracts submitted may have been previously presented but not published in any peer-reviewed journal before March 30, 2026.  The two winning abstracts from each ACS COT Region are submitted to the COT. 

Medical students are eligible to participate in the COT competition. The student sponsor (Attending) must be present at the Paper Competition. The top medical student presenter will be selected to present at the 2026 VA-ACS Annual Meeting (more information below) and will receive a generous monetary prize.

COC: The national competition is open to all Residents and fellows-in-training. Medical students are not eligible.  The abstract topic must be specific to oncology and related to the mission of the Commission on Cancer.  To be eligible for presentation at a national level, abstracts submitted may have been previously presented at local or regional meetings. Abstracts cannot be previously published or under consideration for review of publication in a national journal.  

SCOPE
The abstracts should describe original research in any aspect of cancer or trauma care. The papers must be categorized as either: 1) basic laboratory research or 2) clinical research/investigation. The winner in each category will be selected for the national competition.

All submissions will be expected to present a PowerPoint presentation on November 6 at VCU. The quick shot presentations will be 7 minutes long (6 minute presentation + 1 minute Q&A).

2026 VA-ACS ANNUAL MEETING
Two of the resident/fellow presentations in the COC and in the COT competition will be selected as winners to present during the main session at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Virginia Chapter, ACS. The 3rd place COT and top medical student presenters will also be selected to present (during the COT Breakfast meeting) at the 2026 Annual Meeting, which will be held May 29 & 30 at the Richmond Omni. A generous monetary prize will be presented at the 2026 Annual Meeting to each winner.

Questions? Contact Chapter Administrator, Susan McConnell at 804-622-8139 or smcconnell@ramdocs.org. 

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