Dear Fellow Members of the Illinois Surgical Society: I am deeply honored to serve as the President of the Illinois Surgical Society. This organization has been a very special part of my career and I have greatly enjoyed meeting together at some wonderful places over these past many years. One of the many strengths of our surgical society is visiting the various surgical programs in Illinois and throughout the country to develop personal and professional relationships with so many surgical friends and colleagues. Our recent May spring meeting in Chicago was a great success and the traditional Dinner-Dance party at the Omni Hotel on Sunday evening was very enjoyable. We welcomed several new members into the society and renewed many friendships during the cocktail reception and dinner. We also introduced our new society officers and council members. Dr. J. Stephen Marshall was selected as Vice President-Elect and Dr. Robert F. Hamilton has agreed to serve as the Historian of the Illinois Surgical Society. In addition, Dr. Mark J. Holterman from Chicago and Dr. Katherine Widerborg from Bloomington joined the Board of Governors. On behalf of the Society, I would like to welcome them to the Board and encourage their active participation and leadership throughout this coming year. As is our tradition, Dr. Max D. Hammer has now moved up to President-Elect and Dr. Harry Richter, III will serve as Vice President of the Illinois Surgical Society. I would also like to thank the outgoing members of the Board of Governors, Dr. Allan Liefer and Dr. Mark S. Talamonti, for their many years of service. The Monday Clinic Day was hosted by Rush University Medical Center and the operative program and scientific presentations were simply spectacular. Our spring meeting Wet Clinics have always been a unique feature of the Illinois Surgical Society and continue to be a valuable resource for practicing and retired surgeons. Likewise, the afternoon scientific program was thought provoking and stimulating and I am grateful to Dr. Richard Prinz, Dr. Dean Godellas, and the entire surgical faculty at Rush for putting on this program. Dr. David V. Cossman, a vascular surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, was the invited guest speaker and his lecture, entitled “Surgical Private Practice-R.I.P.”, provided considerable material for a lively discussion and gave us all much to think about regarding the future of surgical practice. Let me take this opportunity to encourage everyone to attend the ISS 2009 Fall Meeting at the Chatham Bars Inn in Cape Cod, Massachusetts from September 17-20, 2009. The arrangements for this meeting are coming together quite nicely and the location and quality of this meeting will provide the setting for one of our best meetings yet. The surgical faculty at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island has agreed to participate and there will be numerous membership presentations as well. Further details regarding this meeting will be described in our Secretary’s letter. Finally, plans are already underway to hold our Spring Meeting here in Chicago in early May of 2010. The University of Chicago, under the direction of the Chair of Surgery, Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, will host this Spring Meeting will be held on May 2-3, 2010. Please mark your calendars for this date now as we expect to have a great turnout for this festive annual society event. In closing, I would ask all members to sponsor at least one new member to join the Illinois Surgical Society. As we all know, new members are the life blood of all surgical organizations and I hope that you will encourage your associates and colleagues to join. Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing all of you in Cape Cod, Massachusetts this September. Sincerely, Steven A. De Jong, MD, FACS, FACE President |
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