Barbara Lee Bass, MD, FACS, the John F., Jr. and Carolyn Bookout Presidential Distinguished Chair of the department of surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, is president-elect of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) since 1989, Dr. Bass has been a leader within the ACS for many years. She was a member of the College’s Board of Regents (2001-2010) and its Executive Committee (2003-2004, 2005-2009). She served two terms as Chair of the Board of Governors (1999-2001); Chair of the Program (2003-2005, 2006-2011); and Chair of the Education Committee (2002-2004, 2005-2007).

Dr. Bass was the recipient of the 2013 ACS Distinguished Service Award, the College’s highest honor. She currently serves as a surgeon champion of the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) at Houston Methodist. A longtime champion of ACS NSQIP, Dr. Bass helped launch the program in the VA Health Care System and later served as a member of the national trial that developed ACS NSQIP in the private sector. She served on the ACS NSQIP Steering Committee from 2004-2010.

Dr. Bass is widely recognized for her contributions to surgical education. She serves as executive director of the Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education, a state of the art simulation and research center at Houston Methodist Hospital built to create a new infrastructure to support the retooling of surgeons in practice over the course of their careers. Most recently she has been appointed to Co-Chair the Committee on Skills Training for Surgeons in Practice with Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, FACS, FRCSC, Director, ACS Division of Education. She is a senior director and past –chair of the American Board of Surgery and past president of the Society of Surgical Chairs and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.

Dr. Bass’ first research award was the ACS Faculty Research Scholarship (1986-1988) and currently focuses her research on clinical trials in breast cancer, surgical performance, health care education policy, and computational surgery. Her efforts have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the VA Research Service, along with multiple endowments.