CSPS President – November Message
Dear CSPS Family,
I wanted to update you on a few items including: 1) The activities of our Legislative Committee; 2) To share about the latest program to host me as Visiting Professor; 3) To remind about our Call for Abstract deadline; and 4) to introduce another new member of our Society!
L-R: Dr. Scott Barttelbort, CSPS President-Elect, Patrick Hermes, ASPS Director of Government Affairs, Dr. Michael Wong, CSPS President, Dr. Debra Johnson, Past-President of CSPS & ASPS,
& Tim Madden, CSPS Legislative Advocate
1) Activity of Our Legislative Committee
The Medical Board of California (MBC) held a public meeting in San Diego on October 18, 2018. One of the agenda items at the meeting was the ABCS’ application to be able to legally advertise its members in California as “Board Certified”. The CSPS was in attendance at the meeting and opposed the petition. After deliberation, the MBC decided to continue its meeting on this issue. It is expected that a further meeting of the MBC will be convened on this issue in December. CSPS continues to vigorously advocate its position that the ABCS application should be denied based on patient safety considerations and because the ABCS training programs do not meet relevant requirements relating to board equivalency. We will continue to keep CSPS Members apprised on this important issue.
Dr. Michael Wong visiting Loma Linda University
2) CSPS Visiting Professor — Loma Linda University
November 1-2, I had the pleasure of representing the CSPS as Visiting Professor to Loma Linda University, under the Chair, Suby Gupta and Program Director, Michael Hill. The residents impressed me with their case presentations on smile restoration, a bypass for multidigit revascularization, and lower lid reconstruction after tumor recurrence following previous resection, reconstruction and radiation. My first grand rounds talk on sternal plating prompted additional discussion surrounding a case presentation of mediastinitis. The LLU faculty and residents do a fair amount of post-bariatric body contouring, so I was privileged to be able to share about my approach to this challenging group of patients. Finally, I was honored to share about my journey to the presidency of the CSPS, a new talk for me, highlighting the many people in this amazing organization who have mentored, supported, and encouraged me from my first meeting in Sonoma in 2004 through today.
Dr. Wong presenting his talk on “Journey to the CSPS Presidency”
While the Visiting Professor Program is most commonly used by our academic training programs, it is available to any organizations our members are involved in such as local and regional societies as well as health care organizations. I will be participating in the Kaiser Permanente Annual Plastic Surgery Symposium held at the Avenue of the Arts Hotel in Costa Mesa on February 9, 2019 – click here to view and download the flyer. Topics to be covered include: Global Health and PRS, Transgender Surgery at Kaiser SCPMG, Tops Surgery and Facial Feminization for Transgender Patients, Advances in and the future of Microsurgery, Post-Bariatric Body Contouring, and Challenges of Resident Education. This meeting is open to all CSPS members and promises to be a wonderful opportunity to engage with our Kaiser colleagues. Click here to register for the symposium. CSPS residents may attend for free. If you would like me to come out for a visit, please complete the CSPS Visiting Professor Request Form (click here) and our office will help coordinate my visit.
3) CSPS Call for Abstracts Deadline — November 16, 2018
The abstract deadline for our 69th Annual meeting to be held in Sacramento is November 16, 2018. This is earlier than normal as we will be publishing all presented abstracts in our annual Annals of Plastic Surgery Supplement. Thus, this next supplement will not only have selected manuscripts from our last San Diego meeting, but also abstracts for the current meeting. We hope this will allow members another way to follow the abstract presentations at our scientific meeting. The 69th CSPS Annual Meeting will be held May 30 – June 2, 2019 in Sacramento.
4) New Member Spotlight — Katerina Gallus
It is my pleasure to shine our New Member Spotlight on Katerina Gallus, a fellow Blue Devil. She earned her BS at Duke while on academic and ROTC scholarships, and her MD at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland where she met and married her husband, a Naval Academy graduate himself. They both completed General Surgery Residency at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, and have three lovely daughters. Katerina additionally completed her Plastic Surgery training at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. She is now practicing in San Diego at Restore SD Plastic Surgery. If you would like to learn some fun facts about Katerina, click here.
Please join me in welcoming new member, Katerina Gallus. We thank you for your service to our Country, its Wounded Warriors, and their families.
And thank you, CSPS Family, for all you continue to do in the care of our patients, and for always representing our specialty well!
Continuing in your service,
Michael
Michael S. Wong, MD, FACS President, California Society of Plastic Surgeons
To view past Presidential Messages, click here
To view CSPS Member Spotlights, click here
Latest CSPS News
2019 Annual Meeting Dates &
Call for Abstracts!
The CSPS is pleased to officially announce the dates for The 69th CSPS Annual Meeting:
May 30 – June 2, 2019
Sacramento, California
Abstract submission for the 2019 CSPS Annual Meeting is officially closed. Thank you to those who submitted abstracts for consideration – you will be notified of your status in January 2019!
CSPS DUES are Due
It is that time of year again and your CSPS Annual dues are currently due. If you wish to pay your dues online, click here or click on the yellow Renew Membership Dues button above. Not only can you pay your dues, but you may also make contributions to the CSPS Policital Action Committee (PAC) and CSPSERF.
You will need to log into the CSPS website in order to pay. If you have forgotten your login information, please contact us at (510) 243-1662 or
email: cspsoffice@att.net
If you wish to pay by check, you may do so by mailing it to:
CSPS Executive Office
4269 Valley View Road
El Sobrante, CA 94803
2018 – 2019 LIST OF CSPS OFFICERS & COUNCILORS
President
Michael S. Wong, MD
President-Elect
Scott W. Barttelbort, MD
Vice President
Terry J. Zimmerman, MD
Secretary
Susan Kaweski,MD
Treasurer
William Y. Hoffman, MD
Parliamentarian
Gordon K. Lee, MD
Historian
John Osborn, MD
Immediate Past President
William S. Umansky, MD
Past President
Jane S. Weston, MD
COUNCILORS
NORTH
Karen M. Yokoo, MD
Heather J. Furnas, MD
Scott L. Hansen, MD
Hani Sbitany, MD
SOUTH
Gregory R.D. Evans, MD
Amanda A. Gosman, MD
Michael E. Hill, MD
Ashkan Ghavami, MD
Dr. Bill Umansky and Dr. Michael Wong at the 2018 Annual Meeting
Thousands of California’s children are suffering from debilitating conditions that could be helped through reconstructive surgery and allow them to lead healthier, happier and more productive lives.