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Alexander J. Walt 
Endowed Lectures

About the Alexander J. Walt Endowed Lectures

Dr. Walt was born in South Africa in 1923 to parents who, just two and a half years earlier, had fled Russia-occupied Lithuania and its Jewish ghetto, pogroms, Cossack assaults, and Russian army conscription. Following high school and medical school (with an interruption to serve under Montgomery fighting against Rommel in WW2), he studied surgery at Guy’s Hospital in the UK and at the Mayo Clinic. On return to South Africa he built a thriving practice but the horrors of apartheid drove him back to the United States; specifically, to Wayne State University, where he rapidly rose to become Chair of the Department of Surgery and Chief of Surgery at the Detroit Medical Center; where he and his wife Irene worked wonders in beautifying and improving the surgical facilities. Within the Department, and as president of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Walt made significant contributions to advancing surgical education at the national and international levels. His legacy is strong, and the Walt Endowed Lectures by distinguished surgeons honor that legacy. For more information, read Dr. Lucas’ Grand Rounds talk
Alexander J. Walt (1923-1996) in the robes of president of the American College of Surgeons
Year Name of Speaker Institution Title of Lecture
2/29/92 Samuel A. Wells, Jr., M.D. Washington University SOM The Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Syndromes
2/19/94 R. Scott Jones, M.D. University of Virginia Health Sciences Center Diagnosis and Treatment of Liver Tumors
2/25/95 Kirby L. Bland, M.D. Brown University SOM Contemporary Adjuvant Therapy for High Risk Rectal Carcinoma
2/3/96 John M. Daly, M.D. Cornell University Medical College, The New York Hospital In Defense of the Surgical Patient
2/22/97 Michael G. Sarr, M.D. Mayo Clinic Controversies in the Management of Periampullary Malignancy
2/20/98 Jack Pickleman, M.D. Loyola University SOM Controversies in Small Bowel Obstruction
3/6/99 Andrew L. Warshaw, M.D. Harvard Medical School Pathogenesis and Treatment of Necrotizing Pancreatitis
2/23/00 Courtney M. Townsend, Jr., M.D. University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Gut Peptides and Gut Tumors:  From Bench to Bedside
2/21/01 Josef E. Fischer, M.D. University of Cincinnati College of Medicine The Gut in Sepsis:  Victim or Participant?
2/20/02 Jeffrey L. Ponsky, M.D. Cleveland Clinic Foundation Health Sciences Center of the Ohio State University Endoscopic Pancreatico-Biliary Therapy:  A Surgical Viewpoint
1/22/03 Timothy J. Eberlein, M.D. Washington University SOM The Future of Surgery:  The Change is Constant
2/18/04 Robert F. Wilson, M.D. WSU SOM Things I’ve Learned at DRH/WSU
2/9/05 Gary L. Dunnington, M.D. Southern Illinois University SOM Good to Great Surgical Education
2/15/06 Lloyd A. Jacobs, M.D. President, Medical University of Ohio at Toledo The Mortality & Morbidity Conference; The History & Function of an Institution
3/12/07 John R. Kirkpatrick, M.D. Georgetown University SOM Surgical Education:  Old Cars, New Models
5/12/09 John Leeman Tarpley, M.D. Vanderbilt University Teaching in the OR – $1,000/hour…or Priceless?
5/5/10 Ernest Yoder, M.D., Ph.D. Vice President, Medical Education & Research St. John Health and Ascension Health Michigan; Founding Dean Designate, CMU College of Medicine The Surgeon in the Patient-Center Medical Home:  Implications for Surgical Education
4/20/11 Robert A. Kozol, M.D. University of Miami, Miller SOM Challenges in Surgical Education:  Don’t Blink, Think
6/6/12 Debra A. DaRosa, Ph.D. Associate Director, Northwetern Center for Advanced Surgical Education, Northwestern University Extreme Multi-Tasking:  Teaching and Assessing in the Operating Room
5/8/13 Jeffrey S. Bender, M.D. Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.:  A Shakespearian Approach to Surgical Education
4/30/14 Dan Pratt, Ph.D. Professor & Senior Scholar, 3M National Teaching Fellow; Centre for Health Educaiton Scholarship; Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia Why Can’t Everyone Be Like Me: Exploring Our Pedagogical BIASes
5/20/15 Brian P. Jacob, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Laparoscopic Surgical Center of New York Hernia Repair and Telemedicine in the 21st Century
5/11/16 Paul J Schenarts, M.D. Professor, Vice Char for Academic Affairs; Trauma, Surgical Critical Care & Emergency General Surgery; University of Nebraska Medical Center The Good, Bad and The Ugly; The Impact of Cell Phones on Medical Education
4/26/17 Lena Marie Napolitano, M.D. FACS, FCCP, MCCM Massey Foundation Professor of Surgery, Division Chief, Acute Care Surgery; Assocaite Chair, Surgery; Director Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, University of Michigan Surgical Residency Re-design:  At The Crossroads
5/9/18 David A. Rogers, M.D., M.H.P.E. Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development
Professor of Surgery, Medical Education and Pediatrics
UAB School of Medicine
University of Alabama, Birmingham		 Education of a Surgical Teacher
5/8/19 Eric Holmboe, M.D., FACP, FRCP Senior VP, ACGME Milestones Development and Evaluation
Professor Adjunct of Medicine at Yale University,
Adjunct Professor at Uniformed Services University,
Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University		 Achieving the Desired Outcomes in Graduate Medical Education:  Thinking Developmentally
5/19/21 George Sarosi, M.D. Professor & Robert H. Hux, Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, University of Florida School of Medicine, Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA)
5/11/22 Amalia Cochran, M.D., FACS, FCCM University of Florida Department of Surgery, Professor, Assistant Chair of Faculty Promotion, Associate Program Director, Leadership & Mentoring Learner Entrustment in the Perioperative Environment
5/31/23 J. Thomas Scott, M.D. Clinical Professor of Surgery; Division Director, Surgical Oncology; Section Chief, Colon & Rectal Surgery; Assoc Program Director, General Surgery Residency; Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital Two Dozen Years, Two PD’s and Top 10 Lessons Learned in Surgical Education