Surgeon Scientist Career Acceleration Workshop

Save the date: October 17-18, 2026

UPenn Jordan Medical Education Center | Philadelphia, PA

Career development is a key component of the ASTS Surgeon Scientist committee mission.

The Surgeon Scientist Career Acceleration Workshop is designed to provide a career roadmap for early, mid, and late career surgeon scientists. 

Registration Rates

Payment Methods: We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Cancellation and Refund Policy: Registrants unable to attend may transfer their registration to a qualified substitute. Any associated bank fees for transfers will apply and are the responsibility of the transferring party. If no substitute is arranged before specified deadline, refunds will be issued minus a $50 non-refundable deposit. All cancellation requests must be submitted in writing by specified deadline. No refunds will be granted for cancellations received after this date.
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Program Information

The 2026 ASTS Surgeon Scientist Career Acceleration Workshop is designed as a practical, skills-oriented program to support the development and advancement of transplant surgeon-scientists. The target audience includes three pivotal tracks for emerging surgeon-scientists:

Transplant fellows preparing to launch academic careers

Junior transplant faculty building research independence

Mid-career faculty initiating or re-engaging in research later in career

Residents and medical students are welcome and will benefit from exposure to the framework and discussions, but programming is optimized for the groups above.

Track I. Saturday, October 17, 8:30-12:00 Accelerating Career Development as a Transplant Surgeon-Scientist

8:30-8:40 Welcome - Jim Markmann, MD, PhD

8:40-8:45 Welcome Address - UPenn Host

8:45-9:45 Session 1 - Developing a Research Program: From Clinical Problem to Research Question - Moderator: Meera Gupta MD, MSCE

8:45-9:05 From Clinical Problem to Research Question: A Practical Framework for Idea Development - Ali Naji, MD

9:05-9:25 Feasibility by Design: Cohorts, Endpoints, Data, and Specimens: Decisions That Prevent Idea Failure in Clinical Research - Marina Serper, MD, MS

9:25-9:45 Transplant Team Science: Roles, Collaboration Models, and Early Agreements - Joel Adler, MD, MPH & Aleah Brubaker, MD, PhD

9:45-10:15 Break

10:15-11:05 Session 2 - Career Acceleration Strategies: Protected Time, Funding Pathways, and Idea Refinement - Moderator: Aleah Brubaker MD, PhD

10:15-10:35 Protected Time and Academic Alignment: Negotiation, Documentation, and Metrics That Support Scholarship - Matt Levine, MD, PhD

10:35-10:55 Funding Readiness and Project Selection: Traditional Pathways, Scope Control, and Reviewer Expectation - Sylvester Black, MD, PhD

10:55-11:05 Funding Surgeon-Scientist Research in the Current Political Environment: Alternative Funding and Strategic Sequencing - (Avi) Abraham Shaked, MD, PhD

11:05-11:55 Session 3  - Research Ethics and Integrity for the Surgeon-Scientist - Moderator: Keri Lunsford MD, Phd

11:05-11:30 Ethical Study Design in Transplantation: Consent, Vulnerability, and Equitable Participation - Krista Haines, DO, MA

11:30-11:55 Responsible Innovation in Transplantation: Distinguishing Clinical Innovation, Quality Improvement, and Human Subjects Research - Anji Wall, MD, PhD

11:55-12:00 AM Closing Summary and Afternoon Workshops Orientation and Expectation

Closing remarks for am session, confirmation of breakout assignments, pitch expectation, and timing 

Sylvester Black MD, PhD and Keri Lunsford MD, PhD

12:00-13:00 Lunch

Track II. 13:00-17:00 Concurrent Transplant Surgeon-Scientist Career Development Workshops - Practical Skills Workshops with Structured Mentoring. 

Expert Practical Briefings with Roundtable Discussion

13:00-14:30 - Workshop A - Clinical, Outcomes, and Health Services Research in Transplantation - Moderators: Drs Adler, Haines, Nguyen, Rana

13:00–13:30 | From Clinical Problem to Researchable Question: Scope, Cohort, and Endpoint - Abbas Rana, MD

13:30–14:00 | Real-World Data Without Garbage Science: Confounding, Bias, Missingness, and Validity - Joel Adler, MD, MPH

14:00–14:30 | From Question to Dataset: EHR, Registry, IRB, Governance, and Analyst Collaboration - Michelle Nguyen, MD, MPH

13:00-14:30 - Workshop B - Translational, Mechanistic, and Multi-Omics Research in Transplantation - Moderators: Drs Bumgardner, Ekser, Emamaullee, Levin, Lunsford, Markmann

13:00-13:30  | Specimen Workflows and Quality Control: Making Translational Research Reproducible -  Keri Lunsford, MD, PhD

13:30–14:00 | Choosing the Right Model, Assay, or Platform for the Question - Juliet Emamaullee, MD, PhD

14:00-14:30 | Validation Strategy: Replication, Orthogonal Assays, External Cohorts, and Clinical Relevance - Burcin Ekser, MD, PhD

13:00-14:30 - Workshop C - Clinical Trials, Interventional Studies, and Translational Innovation - Moderators: Drs Black, Brubaker, Gupta, Naji, Shaked, Serper, Wall

13:00–13:30 | Feasibility-First Trial Design for Transplant Surgeon-Scientists - Anji Wall, MD, PhD

13:30–14:00 | Operational and Regulatory Essentials: Staffing, Budgeting, Monitoring, and Reporting - Sylvester Black, MD, PhD

14:00–14:30 | Partnership Structures and Scientific Integrity: Industry, Devices, Innovation, and Publication Planning - (Avi) Abraham Shaked, MD, PhD 

14:30–15:00 | Break

15:00–16:30 | Project Pitches and Structured Group Critique

16:30–17:00 | Roundtable Working Session

Track III.   Sunday, October 18, 8:30-12:00 Technology and Transplantation - Practical Translation of Emerging Tools 

8:30-8:35 | Day 2 Welcome and Keynote Speaker Introduction - Jim Markmann MD, PhD

8:35-9:20 | Founder’s Address — The Surgeon-Scientist in Transplantation: Building a Career at the Interface of Innovation, Clinical Practice, and Discovery - Ginny L. Bumgardner MD, PhD

9:20-10:20 Session 1 - Multi-Omics Technology in Transplantation - Moderator: Sylvester Black, MD, PhD

9:20-9:40 | Selecting the Appropriate Omics Modality for the Research Question - Burcin Ekser, MD, PhD

9:40-10:00 | Single-Cell and Spatial Profiling in Allograft Immunobiology: What We Can Now Measure - Juliet Emamaullee, MD, PhD

10:00-10:20 | Multi-Omics in Organ Preservation and DCD: Biology of Injury and Repair - Keri Lunsford, MD, PhD

10:20-10:50 Break

10:50-11:50 Session 2 - Working with Big Data: AI and Machine Learning in Transplantation - Moderator: Joel Adler, MD, PhD

10:50-11:10 | AI and Machine Learning in Transplantation: Standards for Responsible Development and Deployment - TBD

11:10-11:30 | AI for Donor–Recipient Matching and Allocation: What’s Feasible, What’s Aspirational - Abbas Rana, MD

11:30-11:50 | Practical AI Integration in Transplant Research: A Surgeon's Perspective - Michelle Nguyen, MD, MPH

11:50-12:00 | Conference Closing Summary - Keri Lunsford, MD, PhD & Sylvester Black, MD, PhD 

Program and speakers subject to change. 

CME

Hotel Information

Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel for 229.00 USD per night.

Last Day to Book : Friday, September 25, 2026

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