Welcome

I am pleased to welcome you to the 91^st Annual Scientific Congress of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to be held in the beautiful city of Adelaide, South Australia from Monday 1 – Friday 5 May 2023.

The theme for 2023 is “Equity in Surgery”; it aligns with our 2022 – 2024 Strategic Plan with its overarching message of building a culture of respect and the priority, ‘Serving all Communities Equitably’.

Historically, RACS’ surgeons have not been a diverse group and have mostly worked in our own locations. We have not fully represented the gender nor the diverse Indigenous and ethnic composition of our community. We also have not served communities who live outside our metropolitan areas well. Upon reflection, we have been working on improving gender equity in all our surgical specialties and further to that, we openly acknowledge our LBGTQIA+ representation in our surgical workforce and society. RACS prioritises equitable services to all communities regardless of their demographics.  At the ASC 2023, you will learn more about the challenges and barriers preventing equity and your role as a leader in the health profession to contribute to improvement of a workforce that is diverse and serves all our people.

With respect to the pandemic, our lives are moving on and returning to normal. We are travelling again, and we expect to see many attendees, including international visitors, scholarship recipients, aspiring surgeons, other health practitioners, along with our own RACS Trainees, Specialist International Medical Graduates and Fellows to gather and network. This is your opportunity to present your research and innovation, partake in discussion and experience active peer review. Attending the congress in person is a friendly collegial activity; the spontaneous conversation that occurs while walking down the corridor or grabbing a coffee is more mutually beneficial than the multiple virtual encounters we adapted for the past couple of years. All presentations at the Congress will be recorded and made available for viewing on demand as per previous ASCs.  

It is also important to note that the ASC is not just about your own specialty. Our practices overlap with colleagues from other surgical specialties and we always work together to care for our patients. All of us also share common interests such as surgical education, leadership, Indigenous health, women in surgery and many more. You can extend your interest and attend to all ten of RACS competencies. I challenge you to step aside from the technical aspect of your own surgical specialty at this ASC and broaden your multidisciplinary passion. In addition, attendance at the ASC is a very good way to fulfil many of your Continuing Professional Development requirements. I encourage you to devise a learning plan and include topics at the ASC to fit in with that.

For more information please visit asc.surgeons.org.

The ASC 2023 is in the good hands of convener, Amal Abou-Hamden, Scientific convener, David Walters, and their team. I look forward to seeing many familiar faces at the Adelaide Convention Centre in May 2023.  

Warm regards,