Full steam ahead for the RACS ASC

Good news (with fingers crossed) – we are now able to increase the number of in-person registrations for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress (RACS ASC 2021) to 1000, and the allocation for each specialty for physical attendance has doubled. We hope the vaccine rollouts will increase our security in being able to deliver this component of the RACS ASC and will enable more of you to visit Melbourne in May. Several section dinners are being planned and may be able to proceed; the section conveners are working with venues to look at what is possible for our social functions. Details for these dinners will be made available on the RACS ASC 2021 website once confirmed.

On 4 March 2020, we had a meeting with the president and both vice presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). While there is great disappointment that their Fellowship cannot attend in person, all three were very excited about the hubs concept and seized on the idea to create hubs in their centres in Edinburgh and Birmingham. There was lively discussion around the available scientific programs for them to select, with content of general interest from the plenary, global health and surgical director’s sections, as well as a mixture of specialty section content to create a stimulating virtual conference.

Our Edinburgh colleagues were also very excited about the possibility of using digital platforms to increase the level of collaboration between the two Colleges in the future.

The President of RCSEd, Professor Mike Griffin, will give the President’s lecture, ‘It’s good to talk: talking to patients with cancer’. Having now met Professor Griffin and heard him speak, I’m sure this will be a standout finish to the Council Plenary on Thursday. We have also confirmed Dr Nick Coatsworth, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government, who will speak on the topic ‘Communicating public health messages to a general audience. What works and what doesn’t?’.

Another standout will be the keynote address, ‘Audacious goals 2.0: the global initiative for children’s surgery’, by Dr Diana Farmer, section visitor for RACS Global Health. As one of the co-founders of this growing collaboration, she will speak to the vision of safe, affordable and timely surgical care for all children. Dr Farmer will also be presenting to the Paediatric Surgery program, and I look forward to hearing her contributions.

The College Conference and Events and Communications teams have been working like trojans to prepare what is effectively two conferences, and my heartfelt thanks go to them. The final program is in the last stages of preparation and will be made available online in April. Registration is open and all Fellows are encouraged to register early for a spot to attend the RACS ASC physically at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Don’t miss out on being part of a fantastic congress.

We would also like to thank our sponsors and exhibitors for their continued support of the Congress, in particular our Platinum Partners Ethicon and Medtronic, and our Silver Partner Device Technologies.

Dr Liz McLeod RACS ASC Coordinator