MD ACS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Surgical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer
Dr. Park is the Chief Surgical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Meritus Health as well as Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine in Hagerstown, MD and Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Park has made major advancements in the improvement of laparoscopic techniques and technology, complex hernia repair, foregut and spleen surgery and the understanding of surgical ergonomics
Previously Dr. Park was the James and Sylvia Earl Chair of Surgery and Surgeon in Chief, Luminis Health, in Annapolis, MD following upon his role as the Dr. Alex Gillis Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS. Prior to this appointment, Park served as the Campbell and Jeanette Plugge Professor and Vice Chair for the Department of Surgery, the Head of the Division of General Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and the Chair of the Maryland Advanced Simulation, Training, Research, and Innovation (MASTRI) Center.
He is a member of the American Surgical Association and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, American College of Surgeons and the College of Surgeons of Central Eastern and Southern Africa. Having a long held commitment to the training of surgeons in sub-Saharan Africa, he is a past president of the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS).
A longstanding member of the Board of Directors of SAGES, he has also served as the Fellowship Council's founding President and as its Board Chair. He is co-editor-in-chief of Surgical Innovation. The author of over 250 scholarly articles and book chapters, he is widely published in the areas of hernia, solid organ laparoscopy, foregut surgery, laparoscopic herniorrhaphy, surgical education, surgical visualization and surgical ergonomics. Dr. Park holds over 20 patents and has been instrumental in the development and application of new technologies in endoscopic surgery.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President of the Executive Committee
- Governor at Large
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Treasurer of the Executive Committee
- Assistant Professor of Surgery, Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine and Acute Care Surgeon / Johns Hopkins Hospital
Alistair Kent, M.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor of surgery, anesthesia and critical care medicine and an acute care surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Kent's areas of clinical expertise include general surgery, trauma and acute care surgery, surgical critical care, and surgical care of medically fragile patients.
Dr. Kent earned bachelor of science degrees in chemistry and mathematics from Harding University. He received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and went on to earn his master of public health and health policy degree from George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He completed an internship in global health policy and diplomacy at the Stimson Center, and Residency Fellowship in Health Policy at the George Washington University. He completed his general surgery residency at Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center and a trauma and acute care surgery fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a prior delegate and working group member for the Roundtable for Critical Care Policy and a member of the American College of Surgeons Health Policy Advisory Council.
He is a member of several professional societies, including the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American College of Surgeons, the Association for Academic Surgery, Academy Health, and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Kent's research interests include studies of health care delivery systems, health care economics, geographic analysis, trauma care, and systems of care for patients with life-threatening or time-sensitive illness.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Surgery Second Vice President / Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Dr. Deborah Kuhls is a Professor of Surgery, Acute Care Surgery Division Chief at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and Chief of Trauma at University Medical Center's Adult and Pediatric Trauma Centers in Las Vegas - Nevada's only Level I Adult and Nevada's only Pediatric Trauma Center. She is Second Vice-President of the American College of Surgeons, is Immediate Past Chair of the Trauma Prevention Coalition and Society of Critical Care Medicine's (SCCM) Surgery Section. She served as the Chair of the American College of Surgeon's Committee on Trauma Injury Prevention and Control Committee from 2012-2020, which developed a consensus-based medical-public health approach to firearm injury prevention. She was President of Clark County Medical Society during the COVID-19 pandemic and hosted frequent member update webinars to assist members in providing the best care for their patients. She served as a Senior Surgeon in the October 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas and focuses much effort on disaster preparedness locally, regionally and nationally. Her awards include SCCM's Shubin-Weil Master Clinician/Teacher Award and the National Safety Council Surgeons Award for Service to Safety. She has grant-supported activities in traffic safety, disaster preparedness and firearm injury prevention.
Job Titles:
- Immediate past President
- Leader
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Surgeon
- Director, Emergency General Surgery President
- Governor at Large
Dr. Joseph V. Sakran is a trauma surgeon, coalition builder, policy advisor, public health expert, and nationally recognized advocate for gun violence prevention. He is currently Director of Emergency General Surgery, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Associate Chief of the Division of Acute Care Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
A survivor of gun violence himself, Dr. Sakran's interest in medicine and trauma surgery began after a stray bullet nearly killed him during his senior year of high school. He has subsequently dedicated his life to treating the most vulnerable, reducing health disparities among marginalized populations, and advancing public policy that alleviates structural violence in low-income communities.
In addition to being an active clinician, Dr. Sakran is widely known for building diverse coalitions and advocacy efforts within public health and policy communities. Following a 2018 comment by the National Rifle Association that doctors should "stay in our lane" with regard to gun violence prevention, Sakran launched This is Our Lane, a community of medical professionals dedicated to reducing firearm injuries and deaths.
Internationally, Dr. Sakran has delivered care and sustainable solutions throughout numerous countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, with a focus on long-term interventions and capacity building that reduce the global burden of surgical disease. He has responded to a number of international disasters including the Asian Tsunami in 2004, and the Haitian Earthquake in 2010.
Dr. Sakran has been recognized for his public health expertise, specifically on firearm injury prevention. He has been honored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Academy Health, and he is a 2020 recipient of Johns Hopkins' Catalyst Award for pioneering research on physicians' role in educating patients on safe gun storage. In 2019, Dr. Sakran was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar in which he furthered his research on safe gun storage. Selected by the National Academy of Medicine to be a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, he was honored to serve in the U.S. Senate in the office of New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, where he worked on health policy and regulatory issues from 2019-2020.
Dr. Sakran makes frequent appearances in print and on television. He has written numerous opinion pieces for The Atlantic and CNN.com, and his work has been featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, MSNBC, CNN, The Israeli Times, O Magazine, and The Pell Center's Story in the Public Square. He has also testified multiple times in front of Congress on gun violence prevention.
Dr. Sakran is an active leader in the medical and gun violence prevention communities. He serves on the governing council of the Young Fellows Association of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and he is vice-chair of ACS's International Subcommittee for Operation Giving Back. He served on the board of The Brady Campaign from 2018-2019 and frequently collaborates with other gun violence prevention organizations.
Dr. Sakran received his medical degree from The Medical School for International Health in Israel, a unique collaboration between Ben-Gurion and Columbia University. He completed his general surgery training at Inova Fairfax Hospital, and later completed a fellowship in Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care, and Emergency General Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Masters in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Sakran earned his undergraduate degree from George Mason University, where he first trained as a medic and firefighter. He is a first-generation Arab-American, has lived and worked throughout the United States, Israel, Africa, and India, and speaks Arabic and Hebrew.
Job Titles:
- Governor, American Association for Thoracic Surgery
The Maryland Chapter - ACS is an affiliate of the American College of Surgeons. To learn more about membership, education opportunities, and publications, please visit facs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Secretary of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President - Elect
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Committee on Trauma
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Committee on Cancer