Dr. Bass is highly respected for her outstanding clinical and
academic contributions to the field of general surgery and her
commitment to teaching the next generation of surgeons. Dr. Bass
is the executive director of the Houston MITIE, a state-of-the-art
education and research facility developed to safely train practicing
health care professionals in new technologies and procedures.
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on to serve on the ACS NSQIP®
Steering Committee (2004−2010).
A contributor to a number
of ACS educational initiatives,
Dr. Bass was an author of the
Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program (SESAP®)
(1996−2002). During her term
as an ACS Regent and Chair of
the American Board of Surgery
(ABS), she served on the American
Surgical Association’s Blue Ribbon
Committee, cosponsored by the
ACS, to evaluate and recommend
changes in surgical training. As
Chair of the Program Committee,
she led the Clinical Congress
strategic planning process in 2006.
As a result, the annual meeting
was restructured progressively
in 2007−2010 to facilitate access
to high-quality specialty and
program-specific content tracks.
Programmatic review, targeted
expansion, a review course for
board examination preparation,
Meet-the-Expert Luncheons, and
Town Hall meetings were added
to the Clinical Congress during
this process. Dr. Bass continued
to serve as a consultant to the
Program Committee until 2014.
She was recently appointed
Co-Chair of the Committee on
Skills Training for Surgeons in
ACS Division of Education. This
committee will address retooling
needs and strategies for practicing
surgeons who need to acquire
new skills. To launch this effort,
she hosted the Surgeon Retooling
Reimagined symposium at
MITIE earlier this year.
Dr. Bass has held leadership
roles in many other surgical
associations, including chair, ABS;
president, Society for Surgery
of the Alimentary Tract; and
president, Society of Surgical
Chairs. She has inspired other
women in surgery and, as a
result, has received the Nina
Starr Braunwald Award and the
Olga Jonasson Distinguished
Member Award from the
Association of Women Surgeons.
A mentor to more than 30
pre- and postdoctoral fellows, she
has authored or co-authored 145
peer-reviewed papers, delivered 52
named lectures, and presented 109
invited talks. Dr. Bass’ research
programs in gastrointestinal cell
biology, computational surgery,
surgical outcomes sciences, and
clinical research have been funded
by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), the VA Research
program, the National Science
Foundation, and other groups.
Her first grant was an ACS
Faculty Research Award (1987).
She has served as a member of the
NIH Surgery and Bioengineering
Section and has served on the
editorial boards or as associate
editor of many surgical journals,
including the Journal of the
American College of Surgeons,
Annals of Surgery, and Surgery.
Dr. Bass graduated summa
cum laude with a bachelor
of science degree from Tufts
University, Medford, MA (1975).
She earned her medical doctorate
(MD) from the University
of Virginia, Charlottesville
(1979), where she was elected
to the Alpha Omega Alpha
Honorary Society. She completed
her surgical internship and
general surgery residency at
George Washington University
(1986), while completing
a gastrointestinal surgical
research fellowship and
serving as Captain, U.S. Army
Medical Corps (1982−1984).
Vice-President-Elects
The First Vice-President-Elect is Charles D. Mabry, MD,
FACS, a general surgeon from
Pine Bluff, AR, and associate
professor of surgery and
practice management advisor
to the chair, department
of surgery, University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences,
Little Rock. Dr. Mabry
also is medical director of
