This is the Call for Abstracts for the 91^st Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, which will be held February 14-17, 2020 at the Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California. The Program Committee encourages submission of your scientific contributions for presentation at the meeting and publication in JAMA Surgery. JAMA Surgery reaches nearly 22,000 readers in over 70 countries each month, and our papers enjoy the shortest time from presentation to publication of any major meeting. To submit your abstract click here now. Deadline for submissions is Monday, September 2, 2019 (11:59 PM PST).

All presenters of papers and mini-podium presentations are required to register for the PCSA Annual Meeting prior to arrival and are responsible for their own travel expenses.

The Program Committee has the responsibility to review and rank all abstracts that are submitted. Abstracts will be considered for both Podium Presentation and Mini-Podium Presentation.

Authors and Presenters:  Each paper presented at the annual meeting must have at least one PCSA Member  as an author, co-author, or sponsor. Submissions without a PCSA Member or PCSA Member Sponsor will not be accepted. The PCSA Member author/sponsor must be registered at the meeting and close the discussion.

An email will be sent to the PCSA Member author/sponsor with a copy to the submitting author notifying you of the acceptance of your material for presentation as either a Podium or a Mini-Podium.

Abstract Submission Guidelines – Please Read Carefully:

•  Abstracts must conform to the exact size and format specifications noted on the Abstract Submission Form.
•  Abstracts should be kept to 250 words. Abstracts that are too brief or contain insufficient data will not be considered favorably by the Program Committee.
•  No graph, photo and/or table are printed with accepted abstract submissions
•  Do not use any special characters within your abstract submission.
•  Do not reference any hospital or institution in the body of the abstract, or reference any other identifiers as abstracts are blinded to the reviewers.
•  Abstracts should not contain data submitted elsewhere concurrently or published previously, with the exception of the ACS Surgical Forum.
• If you select a Podium Presentation, you will automatically be considered for a Mini-Podium Presentation if your abstract is not selected for the podium.
• ·Authors with accepted Podium abstracts are required to submit their manuscript to the PCSA at pcsa@facs.org and their discussant two weeks prior to the PCSA Annual Meeting – no exceptions.
• ·Accepted Podium abstracts must submit an Original Investigation or a Research Letter in the structured format of JAMA Surgery. Please access the JAMA Surgery website for the most recent version of Instructions for Authors. This must be submitted 10 days after the meeting utilizing the feedback from the discussion at the meeting, Senior Authors and the review from the PCSA Publications Committee member.
• ·Authors are required to submit two multiple choice questions with their abstract submission for Self-Assessment Quiz and MOC Credit planning for the 2020 Annual Meeting. Each question is required to have 4 answers to choose from. True/False are not allowed and cannot contain the following verbiage “all of the above, none of the above, both a and b, etc. “. One question must be formatted as a case-based question. Please include the correct answer when supplying the multiple choices.  For details on how to write effective multiple choice questions, click here now. When supplying your answers, please place a note for which answer is correct. Please provide at least 4 answers.

REMINDER: All draft manuscripts must be sent electronically to discussants and PCSA one month prior to your presentation at the meeting. The paper will be sent to a Publications Committee for a pre-review and feedback will be sent to the authors at the end of the meeting.  It is also expected that the final version of the  Original Investigation or Research Letter will utilize this feedback and all feedback from the meeting to revise the manuscript. The deadline for submission is within 10 days after the conclusion of PCSA’s Annual Meeting.

Authors of accepted mini-podiums are not required, but are encouraged to submit their manuscript as Research Letters (not Original Investigations) to JAMA Surgery.

Notification of acceptance and all other correspondence related to the meeting will be sent to the PCSA Member author/sponsor with a copy to the presenter/author in November.

Trainee Forum Competition:

The PCSA is continuing the Trainee Forum competition and encourages trainees and their families to participate in the 2020 meeting.  A trainee is defined as a medical student, resident, and/or fellow enrolled in an ACGME-approved program.  The top-scoring trainee paper from each of the 4 Caucus Regions will be presented during the scientific session. The presentations are judged on clarity, focus, and relevance to surgical practice. Please indicate during your submission process if your paper is to be considered for the Trainee’s’ Forum Competition, and please submit a letter to pcsa@facs.org from the Program Director stating that the paper will be presented by the trainee, is predominantly the trainee’s work, and that the trainee is enrolled in a ACGME program.

New Member Award:

If you have been inducted as a New Member of the Association during the past three years, you qualify to compete for the New Member’s Prize. Please indicate during your submission process if you wish to be considered for this Prize.

Your PCSA Program Committee can plan and organize the best program if there are a large number of abstracts to be considered. Please be generous in submitting your best work.Submit your abstract by clicking here now. Deadline for submissions is Monday, September 2, 2019 (11:59 PM PST).

We look forward to seeing you in Carlsbad in 2020 for another outstanding scientific and social meeting.

Christian de Virgilio, MD

Recorder and Program Committee Chair