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. 

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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.

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

8:30-8:45 Welcome

8:40-8:45 Conference Overview and Objectives

8:45-9:05 Developing a Research Program: From Clinical Problem to Research Question

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

9:25-9:45 Transplant Team Science: Roles, Collaboration Models, and Early Agreements 

9:45-10:15 Break

10:15-11:05 Career Acceleration Strategies: Protected Time, Project Selection, and Funding in a Changing Landscape

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

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

10:55-11:05 Funding Surgeon-Scientist Research in the Current Political Environment: Alternative Funding and Strategic Sequencing

11:05-11:55 Research Ethics and Integrity for the Surgeon-Scientist

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

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

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

12:00-13:00 Lunch

Track II. 13:00-17:00 Concurrent Transplant Surgeon-Scientist Career Development Workshops

13:00-14:30 - Workshop A - Clinical, Outcomes, and Health Services Research in Transplantion

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

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

14:00–14:30 | From Question to Dataset: EHR, Registry, IRB, Governance, and Analyst Collaboration

13:00-14:30 - Workshop B - Specimen Workflows and Quality Control: Making Translational Research Reproducible

13:00-13:30  | Specimen Workflows and Quality Control: Making Translational Research Reproducible

13:30–14:00 | Choosing the Right Model, Assay, or Platform for the Question

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

13:00-14:30 - Workshop C - Clinical Trials, Interventional Studies, and Translational Innovation

13:00–13:30 | Feasibility-First Trial Design for Transplant Surgeon-Scientists

13:30–14:00 | Operational and Regulatory Essentials: Staffing, Budgeting, Monitoring, and Reporting

14:00–14:30 | Partnership Structures and Scientific Integrity: Industry, Devices, Innovation, and Publication Planning

14:30–15:00 | Break

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

16:30–17:00 | Roundtable Working Session

Sunday, October 18, 8:30-12:00

8:30-8:35 | Day 2 Welcome and Keynote Speaker Introduction

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

9:20-10:20 Session 1 - Multi-Omics Technology in Transplantation

9:20-9:40 | Selecting the Appropriate Omics Modality for the Research Question

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

10:00-10:20 | Multi-Omics in Organ Preservation and DCD: Biology of Injury and Repair 

10:20-10:50 Break

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

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

12:30-11:50 | Foundation Models and Multimodal AI in Transplantation: Promise, Limitations, and Failure Modes

11:50-12:00 | Conference Closing Summary

Program and speakers subject to change. 

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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