Barbara Lee Bass, M.D., FACS, was installed as the 98th president of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) at the organization’s annual Clinical Congress Oct. 22 in San Diego, Calif.  

Bass is the chair of the Department of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital and is internationally recognized for her scholarly contributions in the fields of surgical education, quality and outcomes sciences, and gastrointestinal and surgical oncology. She is only the third woman to hold this position, and the first surgeon from Houston.

Bass founded the Houston Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation & Education in 2007. Since opening, the institute has progressed from a single room for robotic surgery training to a world-renowned facility that has trained nearly 44,000 health care professionals across 27 specialties.

The ACS is the largest surgical professional organization in the world with more than 80,000 members and many programs focused on surgical clinical care, education, health care policy and quality, and research. Bass has been a fellow of the ACS since 1988 and received its highest honor – the Distinguished Service Award – in 2013. She previously served as an ACS regent and chair of the board of governors.