Annual Meeting

KEY DATES

Friday, February 20, 2026 | Submission Deadline

Friday, March 20, 2026 | Notification of acceptance

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 | Confirm your participation

Thursday, April 16, 2026| Reserve your hotel room

Friday, May 1, 2026 | Podium Presentations due to NCCACS

April 10-12, 2026 | NCCACS Annual Meeting

The Northern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (NCCACS) is pleased to announce the 6th Annual Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, Surgical Trainee Research Award Competition, to be held as part of the NCCACS Annual Meeting, May 15-17, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.

This CALL FOR ABSTRACTS invites residents, fellows, medical students, pre-medical college students, and other surgical trainees to submit original work in any areas of surgical basic science, clinical investigation, surgical education, and healthcare outcomes research.

ABSTRACT ELIGIBILITY

•  The research must have been conducted at a Northern California institution with an
ACS-member mentor and conducted by a trainee or student of an accredited Northern
California surgical training program.
•  Abstracts should represent original research that has NOT been previously published.
Prior podium or poster presentation is allowed.

RESEARCH COMPETITION

•  Twenty abstracts will be selected for oral presentations (10 full oral, 10 quick shot) during
the NCCACS Annual Meeting, May 15-17, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.
•  As part of a NCCACS partnership with the Journal of Surgical Research (JSR), the top 10
abstracts will be invited to submit full manuscripts to JSR for expedited review as
“2026 NCCACS Annual Meeting Manuscripts.”
•  To be considered for expedited review, full manuscripts must be submitted
by July 30, 2026.
•  The Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, Surgical Trainee Research Award Competition
winner will receive a cash prize.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

•  The abstract word limit is 250 words. There are no other specific format requirements.
•  Submit via this web-based submission process only.
•  Graphs and figures are not required. Only one graph or chart per submission.
•  Graph or charts in .jpg format only
•  We will not accept .doc or .PDF file graphs or charts
•  Do not include institution names in the abstract body or Methods.
•  Include a title and a list of authors with institutional affiliations. Please include the
institution, phone, and email of the surgical trainee entering the competition and the
corresponding senior author/mentor of the work.
•  The surgical trainee in the author list who is entering the competition (typically the first
author) must have performed the research and must be available to give an oral presentation
of the work at the Annual Meeting.
•  You may submit more than one abstract, but only the highest scoring will be accepted.
•  ALL presenting authors must complete the disclosure information on page 5
of the submission form.