Creighton University Medical Center Alum named President of the American College of Surgeons

Creighton University School of Medicine alumnus, Claude H. Organ, Jr., M.D., FACS, FRACS, will be inducted this month as president of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) at the groupšs Clinical Congress in Chicago. The ACS is a scientific and educational association of surgeons, founded in 1913, to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.

Members of the American College of Surgeons are referred to as "Fellows." The letters FACS (Fellow, American College of Surgeons) after a surgeon's name mean that the surgeon's education and training, professional qualifications, surgical competence, and ethical conduct have passed a rigorous evaluation, and have been found to be consistent with the high standards established and demanded by the College.

Organ was named ACS President-Elect during last yearšs Meeting of Fellows
and Initiates. He has been a Fellow of the College since 1961. He was
graduated from Creightonšs School of Medicine in 1952. In 1960 he joined Creighton as an instructor and served as chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1971 to 1982.

Organ is currently a professor in the surgery department of the University of California, San Francisco-East Bay and chair of the universityšs surgical residency program.

In 2000, Dr. Organ received the Creighton School of Medicinešs Crystal Cadeceus Award for excellence in medicine from the Creighton Medical Alumni Advisory Board.

Organ has held leadership positions in many other surgical organizations. He served as chairman of the American Board of Surgery, president of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. Organ has served on numerous editorial boards and is the author of five books, including A Century of Black Surgeons: The U.S.A. Experience.