This lecture is named for Dr. A. Hamblin Letton to recognize his contributions to the Congress and the field of surgery. His special surgical interest was oncology and, more specifically, breast cancer, which led to the creation of the Breast Center at Georgia Baptist Medical Center, now Atlanta Medical Center. His interest extended to the national forum by service on the Advisory Committee on Cancer Control for the National Cancer Institute and as President of the National American Cancer Society. Dr. Letton’s service to the Congress began as a young surgeon, and he succeeded Dr. B. T. Beasley, the original Secretary of the Congress, in 1960. He retired as the Secretary-Director of the Congress in 1986. Dr. Letton passed away on January 13, 2010, at the age of 93.
2023 Jennifer F. Tseng MD, MPH | Choosing What Is Better: One Woman’s Journey to Becoming a Cancer Surgeon
2022 Michael Sarap MD | Quality and Value in Rural Cancer Care: We CAN Do More With Less!
2021 Sherry M. Wren MD | Technical Advances in the Treatment of Pancreatic Body Tumors
2020 Herbert Chen MD | Parathyroid Disease: Often Forgotten and Undertreated
2019 Susan Galandiuk MD | The Changing Face of Colon Cancer
2018 Monica M. Bertagnolli MD | Clinical Cancer Research
2017 Juan M. Sarmiento MD | Gallblader Neoplasia and Issues Alike
2016 Rebecca M. Minter MD | Contemporary Management of Borderline and Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
2015 Wayne A.I. Frederick MD, MBA | Unconscious Bias in Academic Surgery
2014 Glenn D. Steele Jr., MD, PhD | Re-Engineering Care – Geisinger’s Innovations with the Focus on Extracting Cost and Improving Quality for the Patients We Serve
2013 Paul D. Greig MD | Pathways to Fellowships in HPB: Negotiating the Maze
2012 Nancy Perrier MD | Asymptomatic Primary Hyperparathyroidism: A Medical Misnomer
2011 Fabrizio Michelassi MD | Functional Outcome and Quality of Life after Restorative Resection for Low Rectal Cancer
2010 Douglas B. Evans MD | Progress in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Localized Pancreatic Cancer
2009 Edward M. Copeland III, MD | The Evolution of Surgery for Breast Cancer
2008 Murray F. Brennan MD | Lessons Learned
2007 Josef E. Fischer MD | Gastrointestinal Cutaneous Fistula
2006 R. Daniel Beauchamp MD | Evidence-Based Treatment for Breast Cancer
2005 Monica Morrow MD | Breast Cancer Therapy: Is New Always Better?
2004 Hiram C. Polk Jr., MD | Continuing Need to Attract Students to Surgical Specialty Careers: A Step Forward but at What Expense?
2003 Donald D. Trunkey MD | Medicine as a Business: An Ethical Dilemma, and, Assassinations: The Tale of Four Presidents
2002 Kirby I. Bland MD | Treatment of Early Breast Cancer
2001 David B. Skinner MD | Models of Healthcare for Modern America
2000 James C. Thompson MD | Endocrine Tumors of the Pancreas
1999 Monica Morrow MD | Current Controversies in Breast Cancer Management
1998 Douglas Reintgen MD | Lymphatic Mapping and Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in the Patient with Breast Cancer
1997 Gerald P. Murphy MD, DSc | Changing Face of Prostate Cancer: How We Diagnose It and Treat It
1996 John A. Mannick MD | Immunlogic Abnormalities following Injury
1995 H. Harlan Stone MD | Management of Acute Pancreatitis According to Underlying Cause
1994 LaSalle D. Leffall Jr, MD | Access to Surgical Care for the Indigent
1993 Joseph E. Murray MD | The Role of Surgeon Scientist in Medical Progress
1992 Paul A. Ebert MD | General Surgery – What Is the Future Direction?
1991 Oliver H. Beahrs MD | Why General Surgery Must Be Saved
1990 Frank J. Rauscher PhD | Progress and Opportunities in Cancer Research
1989 John L. Sawyers MD | Gastric Cancer: From Billroth to 1989
1988 Edward R. Woodward MD | Pathophysiology and Surgical Treatment of Reflux Peptic Esophagitis and Its Complications