History of AACS Live Surgery Courses and Fellowship Programs

摘要

In 1973 at a rather secret meeting of the directors of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery headed by Dallas Whaley, Executive Director, a "white paper" was developed which defined "cold war" between plastic surgeons and other surgeons who were developing interest in cosmetic surgery. In a document entitled "Inner Group Conflict" the Director of the society advocated that plastic surgeons "stall and frustrate" the efforts of cosmetic surgeons "to achieve national recognition from organized medical societies. This document was to set the strategy for the plastic surgeons in their battle to suppress competition and, with some modification, as existed to this date.In order to achieve their goal of maintaining a near monopoly in the field, they initially attempted to limit attendance at their meetings to members of their own specialty, and while eventually they were forced to discontinue this practice, one of the net effects was that it obliged cosmetic surgeons to develop their own training programs. From its onset, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery has responded to this challenge by emphasizing education in the form of promoting lectures, meetings and live surgery courses and through its journal.