2012 Distinguished Service Award - Text from Dr. Greig's Ceremony

 

The AHPBA Executive Council has voted as the winner of its 2012 Distinguished Service Award, Dr. Paul D. Greig. Dr Greig is Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, where his academic and clinical focus is in Transplantation and HPB Surgery. He is the Former Chair of the AHPBA Education & Training Committee and was the AHPBA representative to the Board of the Fellowship Council. He also represented the AHPBA on the Fellowship Council Curriculum Committee.

 

These offices are only the tip of the iceberg for Dr. Greig, who has also served as President of the Canadian Society of Transplantation and developed the Canadian Standards for the Safety of Perfusable Organ Transplantation, and he was the Medical Director for the organ procurement Program in Toronto. He has been the Program Director of both the HPB and Transplant Fellowships at the University of Toronto since 1995. He has made a career of bringing together surgeons and organizations into cooperative units and working to create high training standards across specialties. He joined the AHPBA in 2002 at the request of then-President Steven Strasberg, and in 2005 was asked by then-President Wright Pinson to serve as AHPBA’s representative to the Fellowship Council. “I remember distinctly when Dr. Pinson asked me in his elegant Southern drawl to serve as an ad hoc member of the Council. I just couldn’t say ‘no,’” Dr. Greig said.

 

“I think we have a very good relationship with the Fellowship Council,” he said. “We have approximately 15 HPB fellowships now, up from 8 or 9 before, out of 120 MIS fellowships, yet we have enjoyed the same influence as bigger specialties. We have been influential beyond our size. For example, when the Council created the Curriculum Committee, the template that we developed for the HPB Curriculum became the model for the Curricula for the other Fellowships in Advanced GI Surgery.”

 

Dr. Greig was instrumental in facilitating an integrated match of the HPB Fellowships with the Fellowships in Surgical Oncology to advantage the Residents applying to our specialty. He was able to receive approval from the Fellowship Council, who agreed even though technically it was contrary to the constitution - as it was clearly in the best interests of the Residents. Since then, the influence of the AHPBA in the Fellowship Council has been enhanced by the former President, Dr. Bruce Schirmer becoming President of the Fellowship Council, and Dr. Rebecca Minter becoming Chair of the Accreditation Committee of the Council.

 

One of his signature achievements has been the creation of the Fellowship and Training Committee of AHPBA. It started as an ad hoc committee to the Executive Council, and became a standing committee after two years. Now, along with the closely allied Program Directors Committee, it is one of our Association’s most active and important committees.

 

“Our Society started out as a group of like-minded surgeons who wanted to exchange scientific information and creative ideas,” Dr. Greig said. “Over time, we realized that we had the obligation to set the standards for training in advanced HPB Surgery. It was a natural evolution for the AHPBA to take on the education of its subspecialists. Through the Training & Education Committee, we have worked to establish standards for training in HPB Surgery that are as rigorous as those of our Residency Programs in General Surgery.

 

“As much as the AHPBA has advanced in the recent years on many fronts, from the website, to the HPB Journal to our international efforts, one of our greatest contribution may be in this effort to promote and to establish strict, rigorous standards for training in HPB Surgery,” said. “The future of our discipline is dependent on the quality of our next generation of HPB Surgeons. Our efforts have forced the individual Program Directors to do a lot of work, but through visiting each others’ institutions and building an infrastructure of communication and cooperation, the effort is paying great dividends.”

 

Dr. Greig is also passionate about the AHPBA’s value as a professional organization. “Academic Surgeons are confronted with huge competition for their time in attending professional meetings,” he said. “We have to be quite selective. Yet the AHPBA is my favorite meeting each year. AHPBA brings together a good-sized group in one small hotel. We have no more than two or three concurrent meetings, not like some of the huge congresses with 15 meetings simultaneously. We gain as much from the discussion in the hallways as in the lecture halls. It’s a non-pretentious meeting, very comfortable, with tremendous camaraderie. Plus, each year I get to see about 30 former Fellows from the University of Toronto. It’s always gratifying to catch up with them and introduce them to each other.”

 

Dr. Greig concluded, “I am extremely grateful to have received the Distinguished Service Award for 2012.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join us for these Outstanding Industry Sponsored Symposia at the AHPBA 2012 Annual Meeting!

 

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Thank you Brazilian College of Surgeons for supporting the 2012 AHPBA Annual Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
2012 Council  & Committee Meetings
Eden Roc Renaissance Resort, Miami Beach, Florida
All AHPBA Committee meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, March 7th
The AHPBA Council Meeting will meet on Wednesday Evening, and reconvene on Thursday Morning.

 

Please download full schedule here

Platinum Medal Level Sponsor

Ethicon Endo-Surgery

Gold Medal Level Sponsor

Covidien

Silver Medal Level Sponsors

AngioDynamics

Medtronic Advanced Energy

Bronze Medal Level Sponsors

Microsulis Medical Ltd.

 

Educational Grant Provided by

Biocompatibles

Genentech

Bayer HealthCare

Onyx Pharmaceuticals & Bayer Healthcare

General Meeting Support

BK Medical

Hitachi Aloka Medical, Ltd.

Thompson Retractor

Pathfinder Therapeutics, Inc.

Make Plans Now to Join us at the 2012 AHPBA Annual Meeting.

We are excited to offer Central and South American Colleagues a 20% Discount off their Meeting Registration. 

Please contact the office for your verification and discount code.

Early Bird Registration ends on January 21st!  Register now at ahpbaconference.org   

Look forward to seeing you in Miami!

New to the annual program for the 2012 AHPBA meeting will be a session entitled, "Tricks of the Trade." The goal of this session is to provide a forum for all members to share their technical "tricks" in HPB surgery or management pearls they have learned in treating problems encountered by our patients.  Have you figured out the perfect fool-proof technique for a pancreatic anastomosis in the soft pancreas? How do you get that giant liver specimen out of the abdomen following a laparoscopic liver resection?  Do you have a good way to get that pancreatic fistula to dry up? How do you manage vascular resections? Have you optimal port positioning? How about common bile duct stones in a post-gastric bypass patient?  

Each oral presentation will be 5 minutes in length and there will be an opportunity for public discourse in the session.

We anticipate this to be a very exciting and well-attended session at the annual meeting and certainly a great opportunity for discussion and debate.

New to this year’s program is the Allied Health Symposia and Ultrasound & Advanced HPB Technology on Wednesday, March 7th. For a nominal cost, these additions to the meeting provide an excellent resource to Mid Level Practitioners and those interested in a dedicated day of learning and hands-on training with Ultrasound equipment.

Arrive a little early in South Florida to enjoy the beautiful Florida Sunshine, while playing a round of golf or fishing with other AHPBA members. Both outings begin at 9:00 am on Wednesday this year.

Click Here to download full information