Invited Faculty
SGS Spotlight
The Surgeon We Need to Become: Navigating the Future of Gynecologic Surgery
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Ronald Alvarez, MD, MBA
Dr. Ronald D. Alvarez is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and holds the Betty and Lonnie S. Burnett Endowed Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). He obtained his BS at LSU in 1979 and his MD from LSU Health School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1983. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1987 and his fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology in 1990, both at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He received an M.B.A. from Auburn University in 2013. He remained at UAB after completion of his fellowship and rose to the rank of Professor and Ellen Gregg Shook Culverhouse Chair in the UAB Division of Gynecologic Oncology, for which he served as Director from 2003-2014. He was also Vice-Chair of the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology until his transition to VUMC in 2016. He was the recipient of several NCI and other industry funded grants in support of his research in gene therapeutics for ovarian cancer and cervical cancer vaccines, including projects funded by the UAB Ovarian Cancer SPORE and the Johns Hopkins/UAB Cervical SPORE. He has held numerous leadership roles in a variety of organizations. Key among them included his service as President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology in 2013, President of AGOS in 2024, and Treasurer of ABOG in 2022-2026.
Mark D. Walters Lecture
The Identity of a Surgeon: Building a Life That Reaches Beyond the Operating Room
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Sharon L. Stein, MD, FACS, FASCRS
Sharon L. Stein, MD, FACS, FASCRS, is a colorectal surgeon at MetroHealth Hospitals and Adjunct Professorat Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine. She has served as the President of the Association of Women Surgeons, as Chair of the American College of Surgeons Women in Surgery Committee and on the Executive Council of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. She has worked for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) as a surgeon in both South Sudan and Haiti. As an academician, Dr. Stein has published over 150 articles, editorials and chapters on a variety of topics from minimally invasive surgery to diversity in surgery. She has written extensively on minimally invasive surgery, colorectal cancer and enhanced recovery protocols as well as gender disparities in surgery including pay equity, pregnancy in surgery, and intimate partner violence and is the senior author on a landmark trial on coaching. In recognition of her contributions to scholarship, she has been invited to serve as a reviewer for several prestigious journals, to write several book chapters, and has published a book on laparoscopic colectomy. She has been invited to deliver hundreds of CME lectures and contribute to scientific publications both nationally and internationally. She was the first women to receive an Honorary Fellowship from the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. Additionally, Dr. Stein works as professional development and leadership coach through her program The Intentional Surgeon. She speaks on coaching, leadership and professional development nationally and internationally and regularly works with Societies and Institutions to deliver professional development content to their staff and trainees. You can catch her podcast “The Intentional Surgeon” via her website or podcast portals.
SGS Spotlight
AI in Surgery: Reinventing Surgery, Redefining the Surgeon
AI is changing surgery from a craft based mainly on individual skill into a data-informed practice. First, AI and robotics can help at every stage of care. Second, the surgeon’s role is shifting toward supervising and interpreting AI, while training is changing through AI-driven performance feedback and personalized learning. Third, these advances come with important limits and responsibilities, including ethics, safety, accountability, data quality, and the difficulty of interpreting how algorithms reach their conclusions.
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Daniel Donoho, MD
Dr. Daniel Donoho is an assistant professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics at Children's National Hospital and George Washington University. His clinical interests include disorders of the skull base, neuroendoscopy, and congenital malformations. Funded by the NIH, his research lab creates artificial intelligence systems that improve surgical safety. His research appointments are in the faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the Children’s National Center for Neuroscience Research and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. Dr. Donoho is also the founder and president of the Surgical Data Science Collective, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that advances surgical artificial intelligence through technology development, national and hospital-level programs, and advocacy.