Clinical Congress 2026 Offers Education, Innovation, and Connection for Every Surgeon

No two surgical careers look alike, and neither should your experience at ACS Clinical Congress 2026.

Whether you're a resident or fellow in training and navigating your first job search, a rural surgeon problem-solving in your community, a specialist chasing the latest clinical advances, or a surgical leader wrestling with artificial intelligence (AI) and workforce pressures, this year's meeting was built with you in mind.

Clinical Congress, September 26–29, will be held in Washington, DC, for the first time in a decade. The meeting will bring together surgeons from every career stage and specialty to explore the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping the future of surgery. Clinical education, emerging technologies, leadership development, healthcare policy, advocacy, and networking opportunities rarely found in a single event will all be available, and the Saturday-through-Tuesday schedule is designed to help you make the most of your time while minimizing days away from practice.

Grand Rounds and AI Sessions Are Timely and Surgeon Driven

Clinical Congress has always been dedicated to helping surgeons and their care teams address longstanding questions and challenges across the spectrum of surgery, including the optimal approaches to appendicitis, how best to mentor and train the next generation, and the transformative role of technology in the OR.

Beyond those ever-evolving core topics, two new program elements will anchor the most timely, forward-looking conversations at the meeting: the Best of Grand Rounds Series and the Clinical Informatics and AI Sessions.

The Best of Grand Rounds Series is a new three-session lecture series featuring speakers who delivered some of the most inspiring and thought-provoking grand rounds presentations of the past year, as nominated by ACS members through an open selection process. These lectures will challenge how surgeons think about leadership, resilience, innovation, and the future of medicine, and they span a range of topics, both clinical and nonclinical:

“Leading Beyond the Bedside: The Power of Personal Narratives in Medicine” with Joseph V. Sakran, MD, MPH, MPA, FACS
“Antifragility: The New Architecture of Healing: Transforming Despair into Hope Through Surgical Leadership and Social Innovation” with Edward M. Barksdale Jr., MD, FACS, FAAP
“Surgery in Space” with Tovy H. Kamine, MD, MBA, FACS, FAsMA

“How many of us have had those moments in our lives that we've been to a talk, a grand rounds, and it knocked us out of our seat? This year at Clinical Congress, we're highlighting some of the best of the best,” said Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd, Vice-Chair of the ACS Board of Regents.

While the Grand Rounds sessions span a broad range of topics, the Clinical Informatics and AI Sessions will focus specifically on how advances in data collection and analytics are rapidly reshaping surgery. Eight sessions over 2 days (see sidebar) will provide a deep dive into AI regulation and policy and offer plenty of room for open discussion among attendees.

Inspiring Perspectives from a Supreme Court Justice, NAM President, and Others

Globally renowned surgeons and figures in healthcare will headline the annual slate of Named Lectures, one of the most popular features of Clinical Congress. From the evolution of combat neuro-trauma to the impact of AI on surgeon performance and leadership, these sessions bring vaunted subject-matter experts to the podium to share perspectives you won't find anywhere else.

The Olga M. Jonasson Lecture will be delivered by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Jackson has served on the Court since 2022, previously serving as a judge on the US District Court for the District of Columbia and as a federal public defender. The lecture will be presented Sunday, September 27 at 10:00 am.

The Martin Memorial Lecture, delivered immediately after the Opening Ceremony on Sunday, will be presented by Ralph V. Clayman, MD, FACS, dean emeritus of the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. An internationally renowned urologist who pioneered minimally invasive surgical techniques that have revolutionized treatment for diseases of the kidney and urinary tract, Dr. Clayman will deliver a lecture titled “Curiosity and Innovation: The Promise of Wonder.”

Another event not to miss is a Special Session with Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, president of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). A surgical oncologist who served as the 17th director of the National Institutes of Health and the 16th director of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Bertagnolli has championed the intentional inclusion of rural populations in clinical studies and led efforts to transform data infrastructure in support of clinical research and improved patient care.

Martin (Marty) A. Makary, MD, MPH, FACS, who led the US Food and Drug Administration as its 27th commissioner, also will present “The Future of Healthcare” on Monday, September 28 at 7:00 am. Prior to serving in government, Dr. Makary, a surgical oncologist, was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Business School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Find Education Relevant to Your Practice

“As a urologist, I get most of my specialty-specific education at our national meeting, but there are so many great things that come only at Clinical Congress—topics I call ‘surgery in general,’ as opposed to ‘general surgery,’” said ACS Regent Joshua A. Broghammer, MD, FACS. “Perioperative management, what's new in antibiotics, what surgeons are doing for postoperative care, and perspectives on surgical education. Those are things the specialty meetings don’t focus on as much, but that we do find at Clinical Congress, which is why this meeting is so important for all surgeons.”

That breadth is by design. Whether you practice trauma surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, urology, pediatric surgery, vascular surgery, plastic surgery, surgical oncology, or general surgery, the Clinical Congress program includes specialty-specific content alongside multidisciplinary sessions designed to broaden perspectives across the profession. Among those shared-interest sessions, attendees will find content focusing on areas of clinical overlap and topics applicable across practice areas, including:

Surgical Site Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance: Are We Losing the Fight?
Managing the Difficult Patient: Communication, Compassion, and Professionalism Under Pressure
Telesurgery: The Next Frontier Is Here
“An Exercise in Futility”: Strategies for Responding to Requests for Non-Beneficial Treatment
Non-Choice Surgical Decision-Making: When Surgery Feels Inevitable

Beyond the OR: Sessions Every Surgeon Needs

Surgery demands more than technical mastery; it requires resilience, leadership, advocacy, and the ability to navigate systems that don't always work in patients’ or surgeons’ favor. The nonclinical sessions at Clinical Congress will focus on the personal and professional lives of surgeons, addressing challenges that extend across every specialty. The sessions include:

How to Gain Control of Our Professional Lives and Reclaim Our Autonomy

Moderated by Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, ACS Executive Director and CEO, this Special Session will feature ACS Regent Philip R. Wolinsky, MD, FACS, and Dr. Wood discussing efforts to address the challenges of demanding clinical workloads, administrative complexity, and evolving employment models, including the development of workplace standards and new unionization resources designed to support surgeons in today’s healthcare environment.

Locum Tenens as a Growing Practice Niche: Solution or Signal?

Moderated by Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH, FACS, ACS Medical Director, Health Policy Research, and Christopher D. Carey, MD, FACS, this Panel Session will examine locum tenens and its role in addressing workforce maldistribution in surgery.

Sustainability in the Operating Room

Moderated by Larissa K. Temple, MD, FACS, and Benjamin T. Miller, MD, FACS, this Panel Session will cover the ACS sustainability position statement, the ACS SUSTAIN collaborative (Surgical Sustainability Team for Action and Innovation), strategies for optimizing surgical procedure cards, and the intersection of quality care, sustainability, and lowering healthcare costs.

Getting Your Message Out: Surgical Advocacy at the Grassroots Level

Moderated by Alisha Reiss, MD, FACS, ACS Board of Governors Advocacy Pillar Lead, and Brian Gavitt, MD, MPH, FACS, this session will examine how surgeons can advocate to change the systems around them, including the pros and pitfalls of participating in advocacy and tools for working with the media.

Other sessions will cover fertility preservation for surgeons, transitioning to retirement, and addressing burnout, among other timely topics.

Built for the General Surgeon

Some of the most well-attended sessions each year focus on the latest developments in core general surgery procedures. This year’s program includes:

Diverticulitis in Transition: Modernizing Management from Acute Flares to Chronic Care
Current Controversies in Ventral Hernia Surgery
Contemporary Management of Common Duct Stones and Cholangitis
Common Anorectal Pathology for the General Surgeon

A perennial conference favorite, the “Ten Hot Topics in General Surgery” session, will feature content that general and specialized surgeons alike won't want to miss. Moderated by Benjamin K. Poulose, MD, MPH, FACS, and Nancy D. Perrier, MD, FACS, the session will cover axillary deescalation in breast surgery, hernia prevention in abdominal wall closure, and gastroesophageal reflux disease management.

Meeting Surgeons Where They Are

The meeting’s reach extends well beyond academic medical centers. The ACS has long championed the interests of rural surgeons, who provide care for the nearly 50 million Americans living in rural and small communities, and Clinical Congress 2026 reflects that commitment more fully than ever.

“This year's Congress has a special emphasis on rural surgery, with more than 35 sessions that are pertinent to rural surgeons and the unique challenges they face,” said Robert P. Sticca, MD, FACS, ACS Second Vice-President-Elect and a general surgeon involved in rural surgery infrastructure.

Sessions will address managing complex general surgery cases, determining when and how to refer patients to tertiary referral centers, addressing massive hemorrhage in rural settings, navigating the transition into practice, and building referral relationships with regional centers. “All of these things make this a very exciting and almost mandatory meeting for rural surgeons to attend,” he said.

From Medical Students to Established Researchers: The Scientific Forum

The robust Scientific Forum will offer the latest high-quality, in-progress scientific and academic surgery reports. From full research presentations to Quick-Shot Presentations (the renamed ePoster presentations), the Scientific Forum will provide a platform for medical students, residents, fellows, early career investigators, and established researchers to share promising results with engaged colleagues.

A standout at Clinical Congress 2026 is the returning High-Impact Clinical Trials and Studies session, which will focus on potentially practice-changing publications. Scientific Forum sessions will take place Sunday through Tuesday and are arranged in a discipline-specific format.

Video-Based Education Sessions will showcase detailed surgical procedures in action, while Meet-the-Expert Sessions will offer more informal learning experiences and direct access to surgeon leaders. Special Interest Sessions will round out the program with novel education and experiences for both broad audiences and specific cohorts, including dedicated programs for residents and medical students and the History of Surgery e-Posters Session.

New Fellows

A high point of Clinical Congress is the Convocation Ceremony, which confers Fellowship upon surgeons who have successfully met the ACS’s requirements and standards and who are committed to its mission and values.

The ceremony will take place on Saturday evening and will include recognition of Honorary Fellows, presentation of the Distinguished Service Award, installation of ACS Officers and Officers-Elect, and the Presidential Address from Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, FACS. The Convocation Ceremony also will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.

Note that registration is required for all guests this year, and guests of Initiates qualify for complimentary Saturday-only registration. Following Convocation, all attendees are invited to the Capital City Welcome Reception, with cuisine that highlights Washington, DC’s global influences and regional traditions, along with a celebration of The House of Surgery^®.

Visit the Exhibit Hall

The Exhibit Hall, available Sunday through Tuesday, is where the scope of Clinical Congress will come into full view. Visit ACS Central to learn about the latest College programs and services, engage in presentations at the Innovation Theater, and connect with more than 150 companies displaying their products, innovations, and services.

New this year is an interactive surgeon workforce map, a visual representation of where surgeons are practicing across the US. Designed to show where surgeons are concentrated and where unmet need exists, the map can inform career decisions, research directions, and policy discussions.

From the landscape of the workforce to the demands of the OR, the Exhibit Hall also will debut a new feature focused on surgeon well-being: the ACS Postural Stabilization and Stretch Lab. Coaches will guide surgeons through stretching and stabilization exercises derived from the ACS Surgical Ergonomics Recommendations—movements that can be applied in the OR, between cases, or at home. Space is limited; secure your free registration at facs.org/clincon2026.

Build Connections with Your Specialty Colleagues

With thousands of surgeon colleagues at your side, there will be no shortage of opportunities for networking between sessions, at receptions, and in the Exhibit Hall. Clinical Congress 2026 is adding a new pilot program, Networking Coffee with Your Specialty, that takes those connections a step further.

The dedicated Networking Coffee times and spaces will feature a limited number of specialties: colon and rectal surgeons and pediatric surgeons on Monday, and vascular surgeons and plastic surgeons on Tuesday. Each group will enjoy exclusive access to a dedicated space for a leisurely networking coffee experience.

“Having a focused time when we can meet up with our specialty colleagues gives us a chance to get together, network, just know who else is at the meeting in a way beyond what we would normally be doing by running into one another in the hallway,” Dr. Wood said.

Attend Networking Coffee with Your Specialty to reconnect with mentors, exchange ideas, identify potential collaborators, meet future leaders, and strengthen your professional network.

Plan Your Clinical Congress, Register Today

The online, interactive Clinical Congress Meeting Platform is available now to help you begin building your personalized schedule, and the mobile app will launch this fall. The ACS will provide regular updates via email and through the Clinical Congress News e-newsletter. Select content also will be available in a virtual, on-demand format through February 22, 2027.

Registration is now open for Clinical Congress 2026, with special savings and free registration opportunities available through August 10. Learn more and register today at facs.org/clincon2026.