You can register for the meeting by visiting www.ficsonline.org/reg26. Following are recently updated details of the educational program.
Monday, March 9, 2026 1:30PM - 3:45PM
Opening Ceremony & Special Lectures
The Al Zahrawi Endowed Lecture
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Patricia Numann, MD
Past President, American College of Surgeons
Syracuse, NY
The Dr. Andre Crotti Lecture Improving Rural & International Cancer Care
Waddah B. Al-Refaie, MD
Chair of Surgery at Creighton University School of Medicine
Omaha, Nebraska
The Dr. Arno Roscher Endowed Lecture
Rethinking Surgical Certification: The ABS Nontraditional Pathway and the Future of Surgical Training
Benedict Nwomeh, MD
Director of the Global Surgery Program at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
Columbus, Ohio
The Dr. Vijay Mittal Lecture
The Value of Short Term Surgical Missions to the Participants: Lessons Learned in 25 years
Domingo Alvear, MD
Founder, World Surgical Foundation
Mechanicsburg, PA
Monday, March 9, 2026 4:00PM - 5:30PM
Improving Access to Surgical Care: Omaha Perspectives Advancing Equity in Rural Surgery With Artificial Intelligence
Dillon Wade, MD Omaha, NE
Rural Robotic Surgery: Benefit or Barrier?
Dominic Regli, BS Omaha, NE
Global Cancer Burden, Inequities in Accessing Care and Strategies to Address Them
Varnica Bajaj, MD Omaha, NE
Augmenting the Rural Surgical Workforce
Scott Reetz, MD, MPH Omaha, NE
Rural Cancer Surgery and Policy: Research at CUSOM
Jillian Timperley, BS Fort Calhoun, NE
From Data to Impact: Advancing Rural Surgical Research
Kathleen Guinn, BS Omaha, NE
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
8AM - 9AM
The IMG Factor: International Medical Graduates as Agents of Global Surgical Equity Video-Based Education, Research, and Mentorship: Critical Issues for IMG Candidates to Optimize their Application for the Match
Dr. Juan Zubillaga Miami, FL
A License without the Match? Mentorship and the Value of the TROGSS ITP for IMGs
Student Dr. Pedro Vega Lima, Peru
Certification, Credentials, Privileges, and Accreditation: How Can the IMG Community Contribute to our Healthcare Needs?
Dr. Abhirami Babu San Antonio, TX
9AM - 10AM
Robotic Surgical Education and Mentorship: the CARS Curriculum and the ITP by TROGSS At LAST - Laboratory for Augmented Surgical Training: How to Build a Low Budget Simulation Center
Dr. Christian Macías Tampa, FL
Surgical Simulation at the TROGSS ITP: Synthetic Models Versus Biologic Tissue - Critical Appraisal of Available Tools
Dr. Nicolas Zucchini Trieste, Italy
Osteopathic Surgery within the Global Environment International Neurosurgery: Lessons learned from Kenya to the West Indies and Future Direction
Hiren Patel, DO Wellesley, MA
Osteopathic Surgery within the Global Environment: Organization and Commitment
Dan Miulli, DO Colton, CA
Osteopathic Surgical Experience in a West African Mission Hospital
Eric P. Miller, DO Lynchburg, VA
1:30PM - 3PM
Responsible Artificial Intelligence: Combining Ethics with Innovation Speakers Prediction and Early Detection of Surgical Site Infections
Divya Kewalramani, MD New Brunswick, NJ
The Effect of Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Decision-Making in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Jessie Kue Ndukwe, MD Atlanta, GA
Panelists
Robert Amajoyi, MD Marietta, GA
Ebere Azumah, MD Marietta, GA
Mayur Narayan, MD New Brunswick, NJ
3:15PM - 5:15PM
Annual Research Scholarship Competition AI-Assisted MRI Segmentation of Cranial Meningiomas Using an Efficient Net-Gated U-Net
Abhirami Babu, BS San Antonio, TX
Seasonal Variations in Surgical Outcomes: New Interns or Just More Bugs?
Theodore Bolas, MHS Cambridge, MA
Comparing Robotic and Video-Assisted Techniques for Minimally Invasive Lobectomy: A Single-Center Experience
Cindy Lin, MD Lexington, KY
The Effect of Preoperative Carbohydrate Loading on Outcomes After Abdominal Surgery: A Pilot and Feasibility Assessment for Randomized Controlled Trial in Vietnam
Alexander Vu, MD Brooklyn, NY
Medical Student Presentations Surgical Management and Repair of Ascending Aortic Aneurysm: A Single Center Experience
Amanuel Haile, MS Highland Heights, KY
Anatomical or Morphological? Lung Transplantation in Kartagener Syndrome
John Bodnar, BS, BA Dallas, TX
Impact of Donor-type on Long-term Graft Survival in Kidney Transplantation
Karan Nayak, BA Fort Collins, CO
A Systematic Review of the Influence of Obesity on Living Kidney Donation Outcomes
Andrea Sorenson, MS Sioux Falls, SD
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
8AM - 9:00AM
When the Scalpel Feels Heavy: Healing the Surgical Workforce An interactive symposium on surgeon burnout
Presented by:
Ebere Azumah, MD Marietta, GA
9:00AM - 10:45AM
Global Surgery for the Long Haul: Driving the Stake of Sustainability Deep into the Ground Establishing an Education Program in ICS Sponsored Humanitarian Surgical Programs
Erika Fellinger, MD Cambridge, MA
Establishing a Surgical Hospital in Kigutsu, Burundi
Theo Bolas, MHS Cambridge, MA
The Mobile Operating Room: Experience over 2 Decades in Ecuador
Edgar Rodas, MD Richmond, VA
Expanding Teams Trauma to Improve Global Trauma Care
Mayur Narayan, MD New Brunswick, NJ
11:00AM - 12:30PM
Multi-Specialty Presentations Blunt Cardiac Trauma: Still a clinical chameleon
Saptarshi Biswas, MD Myrtle Beach, SC
Recurrent Lung Infection After Slipped Gastric Band in a Patient with Morbid Obesity
Akshita Patel, DO Chicago IL
Choledochocele Masquerading as a Duodenal Duplication Cyst
Varothayan Sriskantharajah, MD Sioux Falls, SD
The Hybrid Robotic TAR for Complex Hernia Repair
Jose Maria Zepeda Torres, MD Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico
Labiaplasty: Science, Barriers to Care and Surgical Responsibility
Troy Hailparn, MD San Antonio, TX
Reconstruction of an Open Calcaneus Fracture with Polyurethane Foam Matrix and a Bi-Pedicled Plantar Midfoot Flap following a Pediatric Lawnmower Injury
Zachary Lawrence, MD Sioux Falls, SD
Post Lobectomy Lung Abscess
Sarah Kim, MD Chicago, IL
Burn and Blast Injuries from a Grain Silo Explosion: Five-Patient Case Series
Maysa Shemmiyeva, MD Lubbock, TX
American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons Presentations
Monday, March 9th, 8AM -10AM and Tuesday, March 10th, 8AM to 12PM
Exact date and time for each speaker TBD
Lumbar Post-Operative Seroma
Raymond B. Rawson, MD Petoskey, MI
Use of intra-operative antiseptic irrigation reduces surgical site infection rate in spine surgery
Hazem Eltahawy, MD Birmingham, MI
Battlefield Volunteerism: The Physical and Mental Toll on the Provider
Mark N. Perlmutter, MD Rocky Mount, NC
Orthopaedic Approach to the IME: What the Science Says
David Weiss, DO Morrisville, PA
What does AI think of the ABCNS
Mohan Y.S., MD Rochester Hills, MI
Cauda Equina Syndrome - “All that you need to Know”
Mohan Y.S., MD Rochester Hills, MI
Raising the Standard: Breakthroughs in Adult Thoracolumbar Spinal Deformity Management
Manaf Younis, MD, MPH Plano, TX
Posterior Fusion Techniques: Interspinous Fusion Devices vs Posterior Pedicle Screws — Indications, Outcomes, and Adjacent Segment Disease
Lucia Zamorano, MD Birmingham, MI
Rib Plating in Octogenarians and Nonagenarians
Saptarshi Biswas, MD Myrtle Beach, SC
The Gen-Z Learner: Now what?
Brooklyn Vanderwolde, BS Sioux Falls, SD
Calcific Tendonitis of the Forearm: A Diagnostic Challenge
Tate Blankespoor, MD Sioux Falls, SD
Linburg-Comstock Variant: A Case Report and Subject Review
Brant Hannahs, BS Sioux Falls, SD
Wide Awake Hand Surgery in the Office: Does it work?
Tate Blankespoor, MD Sioux Falls, SD
Merkel Cell Tumor of the Hand: An update
Brooklyn Vanderwolde, BS Sioux Falls, SD
Reconstruction of an Open Calcaneus Fracture with Polyurethane Foam Matrix and a Bi-Pedicled Plantar Midfoot Flap following a Pediatric Lawnmower Injury
Zachary Lawrence, MD Sioux Falls, SD
The preceding information is accurate as of February 2nd, but subject to modification.
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