The fifth annual Excelsior Surgical Society Symposium will take place 7:00 am–4:30 pm Sunday in the Moscone Center Imperial Ballroom. The theme of this year’s meeting is The Complete Surgeon.

The program will be educational for surgeons at every stage of their career.

Staying true to one of the original goals, the symposium will provide 
“a forum for the exchange of surgical knowledge as it relates to the practice of military surgery” and will extend beyond the realm of trauma care. In keeping with its theme, The Complete Surgeon, the symposium will demonstrate that although the heart of military surgery is combat care, military surgeons shine in many other forms of care, including bariatric surgery and humanitarian relief, which should be celebrated.

A panel discussion will feature the military Surgery Consultants to the Surgeon General. In light of the planned combined medical force under the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the panelists will discuss how assignments, deployments, and graduate medical education (GME) will work now and in the future among all the armed services.

The symposium also will emphasize the importance of academic medicine. The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma Region 13 Paper Competition will occur at the Military Symposium, with the winners representing the military in the national competition. The status and future of military GME and the academic/leadership prowess of current and recent military surgeons will be discussed, and there will be a presentation about combining military-civilian partnerships in both trauma and beneficiary care surgery that benefits readiness.

The society will again host the annual Pryor Lecture named in honor of Major John P. Pryor, a surgeon who was killed by a mortar round while serving with a forward surgical team in Iraq. Retired Colonel Mark Bowyer, MD, FACS, U.S. Air Force, will deliver the lecture this year.

The Excelsior Surgical Society was reestablished in 2015 at the annual ACS Clinical Congress to foster ties between civilian and military surgeons. The Society was revitalized as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System (MHS) and the ACS strategic relationship established in 2014. Officially known as the Military Health System Strategic Partnership American College of Surgeons (MHSSPACS), the partnership is designed to foster collaboration and facilitate the exchange of information between the ACS and MHS to improve educational opportunities, systems-based practices, and research capabilities in surgery. The Excelsior Surgical Society will continue to leverage the lessons learned as we move forward in the 21st century.