URM Award
The SUSF is thrilled to share that we offer a variety of awards; however, the SUSF has a unique award that in light of current events and in an effort to always maintain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) we are pleased to share the Underrepresented Minors (URM) award. The URM award is named in honor of past president, George P. Yang, MD, PhD. Dr. Yang was an excellent surgeon-scientist and educator. In addition, he was well published and extramurally funded. His final paper was recently accepted by Nature Communications just before he passed away. Numerous trainees can attest to the positive impact they experienced from Dr. Yang’s selfless commitment to teaching. However, his greatest impact will be his contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. He was a man of extraordinary thoughtfulness and an advocate for fairness and justice. As early as during residency, he raised awareness to inequities in academic surgery not just for underrepresented minorities in medicine but also for Asians in surgery who commonly hit a “bamboo ceiling” in the ascent to positions of leadership. Where most people acknowledge inequities, Dr. Yang acted upon his principles. Not only did he found the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons over a decade ago to promote the leadership development of the next generation of academic surgeons, but he worked behind the scenes to support and enhance the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and the Latino Surgical Society. His final act after 15 years of leadership within the Society of University Surgeons (SUS) was to initiate the development of this Junior Faculty Award for underrepresented minor academic surgeons as President of the SUSF. Learn More
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By supporting the SUSF, your generous gifts will assure that only the best is good enough – whether you are on the receiving end as a patient or as a surgeon providing patient care. The SUSF wants to look back retrospectively in 20, 30, or 50 years with pride and say, “we maintained our preeminence as the world surgical leaders because we enabled research and provided educational opportunities that kept us in the forefront.”