CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

June 1, 2009

The Call for Abstracts has been extended to Wednesday, September 9, 2009. Your abstract may be submitted through 12 am.

Dear Fellow Member:

This is the call for abstracts for the 81st Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association to be held at the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii from February 13-16, 2010. The Program Committee encourages submission of your scientific contributions for presentation at the meeting and publication in the Archives of Surgery. The Archives reaches nearly 22,000 readers in over 70 countries each month, and our papers enjoy the shortest time from presentation to publication of any major meeting.

All Abstracts will be submitted electronically. Please complete form below:

• 2010 PCSA Abstract Form

All presenters of papers and posters are responsible for the registration fee and travel expenses.

ACCME regulations now require that all presenters submitting an abstract must include a completed Faculty Disclosure Form before the abstract can considered by the Program Committee. At the time of submission, please complete the attached Disclosure Form and return electronically with your abstract. Click here to download the required disclosure form.

As a number of excellent Abstracts submitted each year are not accepted for presentation because of time limitations, the Poster Session is held along with a reception. Poster presentations are prepared in PowerPoint format. Each presentation is three minutes in length, followed by Q&A.

Abstract Submission Instructions:

• Abstracts must be submitted in the structured format of the Archives of Surgery (Please access the Archives of Surgery website <http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/ifora_current.dtl> for the most recent version of Instructions for Authors.)
• Abstracts must conform to the exact size and format specifications noted on the Abstract Submission Form.
• Abstracts should be kept to 250 words. Abstracts that are too brief or contain insufficient data will not be considered favorably by the Program Committee.
• Do not reference any hospital or institution in the body of the abstract, as abstracts are blinded to the reviewers.
• Do not reference any other identifiers in the abstract or title.
• Abstracts should not contain data submitted elsewhere concurrently or published previously, with the exception of the Surgical Forum.
• Return the Abstract Submission via email to PCSA@facs.org.
• Return the Faculty Disclosure Form to PCSA@facs.org or by FAX to 312-202-5003.

Authors and Presenters:

• Each paper presented at the annual meeting must have at least one member of the Association as an author, co-author, or sponsor.
• If possible, the PCSA member author must be registered at the meeting and close the discussion.
• Should a paper be presented in the absence of the member co-author, it WILL NOT be considered for publication by the Archives as a paper from PCSA.
• All manuscripts must be sent electronically to the Archives of Surgery at the time of presentation. It is no longer necessary to submit copies of the manuscript to the Recorder at the meeting, but it is expected that the manuscript will have been submitted before the conclusion of the meeting.

Notification of acceptance and all other correspondence related to the meeting will be sent to the PCSA author/sponsor with a copy to the presenter/author by October 31.

Residents’ Forum Competition:

The Association is continuing the Residents’ Forum competition and encourages residents and their families to participate in the 2010 meeting. (A resident is defined as a surgical trainee enrolled in an AGCME (RRC) approved residency program.) The top-scoring resident papers will be presented as a group during the scientific session. The presentations will be judged on clarity, focus, and relevance to surgical practice. Congratulations to the 2009 awardees: Dr. Nicholas Spoerke, Oregon/Hawaii Caucus; Dr. Richard Lesperance, Washington/British Columbia/Alaska Caucus; Dr. Robin Cisco, Northern California Caucus; and Dr. Caitlyn Truong, Southern California Caucus. Cash prizes for the residents participating in the competition will be presented at the 2010 Past Presidents’ Dinner in Hawaii. Please indicate on the Abstract Form if the paper is to be considered for the Resident's’ Forum Competition, and include an e-letter from the Program Director with the abstract submission stating that the paper will be presented by the resident, is predominantly her or his work, and that the resident is enrolled in a AGCME program. Return the Program Director e-letter to pcsa@facs.org or send by mail to my attention at PCSA, 633 N. St. Clair Street Chicago, IL 60611.

New Member Award:

If you have been inducted as a New Member of the Association during the past three years, you qualify to compete for the New Member’s Prize. Please indicate on the form if you wish to be considered for this Prize. The award is complimentary registration to the 2010 Annual Meeting in Maui. Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Frankhouse of the Oregon/Hawaii Caucus, recipient of the New Member Prize for his 2009 paper submission.
Your Program Committee can organize the best program if there are a large number of Abstracts to be considered. Please be generous in submitting your best work. We look forward to seeing you in 2010 for another outstanding scientific and social meeting.

Sincerely,

Jonathan R. Hiatt, MD, FACS
Recorder, Pacific Coast Surgical Association