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SESPRS 51st Annual meeting
The Fifty-first Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons held in Boca Raton, Florida succeeded in providing a high level of presentations on a wide variety of reconstructive and cosmetic topics in a beautiful setting. The opening morning keynote address by Dr. Edward Larson entitled "A Magnificent Catastrophe, the 1800 Presidential Election" illustrated that close and divisive Presidential races are not a novelty. President Bush was so taken by the book on the 1800 contest between Hamilton and Jefferson that he invited Dr. Larsen to the White House to discuss it with him. Dr. Larsen seemed impressed by the insightful questions from the audience.
A panel on forehead and Eyelid rejuvenation moderated by Dr. Mark Codner with Dr. Michael Yaremchuk and Dr. James Carraway featured both excellent anatomical discussion and clinical results. The following day Dr. Monte Eaves updated us on advances in body contouring. This panel included presentations by Dr. Al Aly and Dr. Robert Centeno. The upper extremity panel moderated by Dr. David Drake with presentations by Drs.Wayne Morrison, Wyndell Merritt, and Scott Levin showcased an impressive array of challenging problems solved with an awareness of both form and function. The Problems and Pearls session chaired by Dr. John McCraw was full of difficult problems, innovative solutions, and a good bit of humor as well.
The Wednesday morning session included a presentation on "Patient Safety from the Patient's Perspective" by Ilene Corina of New York and an insightful presentation by Dr. Jim Grotting focusing on safety considerations in breast surgery. The meeting concluded with an excellent presentation by consultant Isabel Stoltzman on marketing and the common mistakes made by Plastic Surgeons. The closing brunch was well attended and may become an annual event.
A wide variety of Member papers were presented and discussed. These included facial rejuvenation with suture suspension techniques, orbital floor fractures, and patient safety in outpatient surgicenters among others. A lunch seminar facilitated by Patricia Clark of ASPS on how to effectively get our message across when dealing with the media was thought to be valuable by those attending.
Once again the resident competition showcased the extraordinary work being done at academic centers throughout the Southeast. This year the Glancy award was presented to Dr. Sunil Tholpady of the University of Virginia for his work "In Vitro and In Vivo Differentiation of Adipose Stem Cells to the Osteoclastic Lineage." Second place was awarded to Dr. Mark Clayton of the University of Florida for his clinically relevant study "the Pathophysiology of Venous Thromboembolism/Implications in Post-Op Compression Garments."
The Upchurch Lecture was delivered by Dr. Wayne Morrison, Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne, Australia. His lecture, "Tissue Engineering-Insights into Tissue Growth and Differentiation and Its Role in Reconstruction" was an exciting presentation of how we may one day be able to grow new tissue for reconstruction. His pioneering work on how new tissue grows has tremendous clinical implications for wound healing, cancer, and embryogenesis. He stated that new tissue is host derived and that tissue engineering does not always require stem cells.
The Western theme dinner drew a big crowd of cowboy attired Members, many of whom stayed late to dance to a terrific western band. Golf, tennis, and a race were all part of the agenda. The men's 5k was won yet again by Dr. Ed Luce. Second place was awarded to Jessie Ziomek and third place to Dr. John Lindsay. The winners of the ladies race were Abby Lawrence, Henrietta Barber, and Marguerite Haynes. Dr. Byron Barbor quipped that it was "the first time in recent memory that an Allen hasn't won in tennis". This year's winners were Henrietta Barber and John Lindsay. The runner's up were Helene Stern and Bob Cosgrove. Special mention should be made of the 4th floor hall putting contest won by Dr. Malcolm Roth. Drs. Neumon Goshorn and Rick Pecunia were on the winning golf team
At the black tie dinner Dr. Jim Wade was awarded the Presidential Medallion. He invited everyone to meet him and Necia in San Juan, Puerto Rico next June.SESPRS 50th Annual meeting
The 50th Annual meeting of our beloved Society was special indeed. Nearly 200 Life, Active, and Candidate Members attended. In that number were 15 Past Presidents and 2 widows of Past Presidents. Things kicked off at the 50’s themed opening reception with current President Bruce Shack and incoming President Suman Das dressed in tight white T-shirts and rolled up jeans.
The Annual Report from the ASPS and ASAPS Presidents were given by SESPRS Members Roxanne Guy and Foad Nahai. Keynote speaker Dr. Larry Hollier, Sr, Chancellor of the LSU Medical Center, gave a riveting presentation on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on medical education in Louisiana. He made a very strong case for the necessity of rebuilding medical education in New Orleans. Later in the morning past President Tony Pizzo charmed us with a history of the first 50 years of the Society. Convivial meetings with frank and open discussions in a family friendly resort setting, resident paper competition, and an excellent assortment of Member papers have made the Southeastern the envy of regional societies throughout the country.
The Upchurch lecture delivered by Dr. Ed Luce “Cleft Lip Repair, Pollicization, Breast Reconstruction…Working in Milton’s Seventh Heaven and Dante’s Fifth Circle of Hell” was as entertaining and enlightening. Panels on soft tissue fillers and breast surgery were well attended. A panel entitled “Succeeding as a Reconstructive Surgeon in an Aesthetic World” generated a great deal of interest with a call for our national organization to take up this cause for the survival of this aspect of our specialty. Another excellent panel on “Safety Considerations in Plastic Surgery” also generated much discussion.
Competing for the 31st Glancy Award were presenters from the University of Virginia, the University of Mississippi, the University of North Carolina, the University of Kentucky, the University of Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Duke. It was a first and second place sweep for Duke. The winning paper “Non-Muscle Myosin II Regulates collagen Matrix Contraction and Wound Healing” was delivered by Dr. H. Levinson.
A highlight of the Presidential dinner dance was the ongoing slide show of photos taken at meetings over the last 50 years. There was much laughter over hair and clothing styles that were considered attractive in their day. Dr. Shack announced that the Membership had awarded an Honorary Membership in the Society to Dr. Ian Jackson. Dr. Jackson was the first Upchurch Lecturer in 1975, and has been a program participant on numerous occasions since then. Bruce gave a tribute to our first foreign born President Dr. Suman Das that was both flattering and funny. After receiving the Presidential medallion Suman invited all in attendance to meet in June 2008 in Boca Raton, Florida.