Dear Oregon ACS Members and Visitors to this Website:

The Oregon Chapter of the American College of Surgeons is dedicated to maintaining and improving the high standards of medical care provided surgeons in the State of Oregon. The Chapter has about 250 members representing a variety of surgical specialties, surgical trainees (residents), medical students, and affiliated professions. We welcome your participation in our activities and look forward to another year of growth and increased influence within our state's health care agenda!

I am pleased to introduce Alan Morasch, our new chapter administrator, who is our first professional administrator with advanced training and experience in running non-profit organizations of our size. Alan has made a commitment to us to help us grow the chapter and to make our activities more relevant to every member. He is dedicated to making our Annual Meeting at Sunriver June 16 - 19th our best ever. Please set aside this time and bring your families to this important event in our year of activities. Alan can be reached at alan@oregonchapteracs.org or 503-342-3430 and please do not hesitate to contact him with your ideas for making this chapter and the annual meeting more relevant for you.

Members, please also mark your calendars for Monday March 9th and join us in Salem for the 2nd Annual Legislative Day. Mindy Baker, the national ACS State Legislative Coordinator will once again join us and Dr. Ron Jaecks of Salem, our President-Elect and Legislative Officer, will be working with Mindy to choose the several issues on which our members can be expected to comment effectively. This is an off year for the legislature but they will be in Special Session. Although we are not a political organization there are plenty of legislative issues that we can promote with our legislators, namely issues that involve the health and safety of Oregon citizens. Last year our chapter was directly responsible for introducing a bill allowing qualified volunteers from Oregon and other states to provide medical care within their scope during an emergency or disaster in the State of Oregon and to be covered by the Oregon State Tort Claims protections. If you can attend our Legislative Day please let us know by March 1st by emailing our administrator, Alan Morasch, at alan@oregonchapteracs.org or 503-342-3430 so that Mindy can arrange a visit with your state legislators for that day.

Members, if you would like to volunteer to serve on the Oregon Chapter Council please let myself or Alan know and we will find a place for you! Each councilor serves a term of 3 years. Responsibilities include attendance at the Winter Council/Legislative Day held each March in Salem and the Annual Meeting held jointly with the WA Chapter and alternating between a site in Oregon and Washington each June. We have divided the state into 9 regions and still have several slots to be filled! We want your voice to be heard!

With best wishes and thank you for your interest,

John Mayberry, MD, FACS President, Oregon Chapter of the American College of Surgeons mayberrj@ohsu.edu 503-494-5300