Mark A. Praeger, MD, FACS 2006 CLINICAL CONGRESS Governors are expected to act as representatives of and liaison to their local chapters. I offer the following report and welcome any questions or comments. We are also expected to be active on our respective committees and to attend the meetings at the Clinical Congress each year. The Governors’ Committee Meetings are held on Saturday afternoon, the Governors’ business meeting on Sunday Morning, the Convocation Sunday evening, and the opening ceremony on Monday Morning. The Governors’ dinner is held Tuesday evening, the adjourned meeting of Governors on Wednesday morning, and the annual business meeting of Fellows on Thursday morning. Combined with 21 hours of CME this provides for a busy week. Each year we are asked to complete an elaborate Governors’ Survey. My responses are intended to represent the Chapter’s views rather than my own opinions. I will make an effort to query a few opinions prior to filling out next year’s survey. I will do this on our website and hope for a robust response from chapter members. The Governors’ Survey is taken very seriously by the Board of Regents. Our responses can influence which of the many programs will continue to be funded. My favorite functions are the Governors’ Luncheon on Sunday and the adjourned meeting on Wednesday. At each of these meetings open discussion is encouraged. Many of the most important and challenging issues are discussed in open forum, and our responses are presented to the Board of Regents for consideration. It is through these discussions that many of the important activities of the College are born. Examples are the Surgeons PAC and the Surgery Volunteerism Award, both of which arose from the Socioeconomics Committee. Our new president, Dr. Gerald Healy, gave very impressive presentations on the results of a study of malpractice cases. The surprise finding was that 70% of the cases involved unprofessional behavior on the part of the surgeon as a prominent issue in each case. He emphasized that the College continues to keep Tort Reform a very high priority, but that perhaps we can work from within our own ranks to ameliorate this problem by restoring some dignity and professionalism to the debate. I’m sure we’re going to be hearing more about this. Dr. Healy is a very impressive ambassador, indeed. Our Executive Director, Dr. Thomas Russell, continues to lead a very stable and loyal staff at the Chicago Headquarters. He articulates beautifully the many vexing problems facing the ACS currently. His vision for a unified voice in Washington moves closer to reality with the pending construction of a new, much larger, office in Washington D.C. to house the ACS Staff and also, hopefully, many other surgical subspecialty groups, as well. Dr. Russell appears to me to be a visionary leader in these challenging times. Finally, the Surgeons’ PAC continues to gather steam and has made the ACS a much louder voice on Capitol Hill. It needs our support. Thanks to those of you who have contributed. I hope we will all continue to do so every year. Visit the ACS Web portal, http://www.efacs.org/ for details on how to contribute. Send your personal checks as soon as the mailing arrives so it won’t be forgotten.