Looking Ahead: The SSAT Strategic Plan for the Next Decade

The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract’s (SSAT) mission is to advance the science and practice of surgery in the treatment of digestive disease. An essential core value of the SSAT is multidisciplinary collaboration with both its sister societies in the Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Council and other surgical societies in Gastrointestinal Surgery. In order to achieve the society’s goals, the strategic plan rests on the society’s values of interdisciplinary collaboration, scholarship, education, and discovery. The strategic plan also creates a meritocracy system to foster the development of future leaders for both the SSAT and the broader house of surgery. In the short term, this plan will: Re-organize committee structure and reporting responsibilities;Clarify committee goals and deliverables;Facilitate member participation in the committees and governance of the society;Enhance member services by utilizing enhanced communication strategies;Accelerate efforts to meet the Maintenance of Certification needs of the membership;Re-focus the SSAT’s energy on Quality and Outcome Assessment of GI surgery;Clarify and standardize the methodology for allocating funds for new projects.