USF Health’s Vic Velanovich, MD, has been named president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), an international organization that helps advance the science and practice of gastrointestinal surgery.

Dr. Velanovich is professor and vice-chair for Education in the Department of Surgery and the Vivian Clark Reeves/Joy McCann Culverhouse Endowed Chair for Pancreatic Cancer and Digestive Disorders in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

His one-year term as SSAT president began this month and ends in May 2024, when he will serve another year as chair of the SSAT Board of Trustees. SSAT, which was incorporated in 1960 and was initially named the Association for Colon Surgery, has chapter organizations around the world.

Across his career, Dr. Velanovich has published more than 270 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 25 book chapters, and more than 30 other academic publications.

More recently, Dr. Velanovich authored a book titled “Medical Persuasion: Understanding the Impact on Medical Argumentation,” a text that offers a comprehensive analysis of what makes an argument in medicine persuasive, noting that, although sound logical construction and true premises are required to establish the logical truth of a conclusion, this is insufficient for persuasion to occur.

In addition, Dr. Velanovich takes active teaching roles in MCOM’s MD program, including participating in a recent Gallery of Specialties that offered insight to medical students about the rigors and rewards of various specialties. Dr. Velanovich spoke about surgery.