The Australasian Students’ Surgical Association (ASSA) is an entirely student-run, not-for-profit organisation committed to advocating and providing opportunities for medical students across Australia and New Zealand. In particular, our work is catered towards students with an interest in surgery or those who aren’t sure but would like to learn more. As part of this outreach, our activities fundamentally involve supporting and connecting the 26 local student surgical societies across our two countries, as well as international organisations such as InciSioN and IASSS so that medical students have access to opportunities wherever they are. Ultimately, our goal is to unite and inspire our future surgical leaders (and indeed, all doctors), improving the health and wellbeing of our communities and beyond.

ASSA was formally established in 2015 having operated under a different name and structure for years prior, but one that has seen tremendous growth and impact. We are in a period of exciting growth, having recently established a Board of Directors and introducing new initiatives such as the MASS mentorship program, which has served to connect students with the surgical community. A leadership position in ASSA requires dedication, passion and motivation, but the rewards and satisfaction are limitless. ASSA actively builds leadership skills in its executive, provides fantastic networking opportunities and enriches your overall academic experience at university.

The ASSC is the main event on the ASSA calendar, bringing together the 27 surgical societies of Australia and New Zealand. Held in the lead up to the RACS ASC the conference aims to inspire the future generation of surgeons with plenary speakers, research and surgical workshops. There is also a strong social and networking component to the event, with a cocktail night and gala night as the two main social events providing the opportunity for delegates to come away with connections with students from across Australia and New Zealand.

As ASSA continues to grow, this organisation needs a strong and committed committee to lead it forward, heralding new milestones and further progress. In these early, exciting times, advances laid by each incumbent committee are indeed imprints that will shape ASSA and the surgical landscape for years to come.

Application Process

Applications have not open for this 2024-2025 yet.

Role Details

Role description

The President is primarily responsible for overseeing the management of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association and the achievement of its mission and objectives. The President is expected to be actively engaged in the strategic planning for ASSA, and will coordinate progress reports on the association for internal and external viewing at designated time points during the financial year. The President is required to oversee the work of the Committee (including the ASSC Convenor/s) and other office bearers, such as sub-committee and project members. The President is also the official spokesperson of ASSA, and will be the main contact for external parties. Finally, the President is expected to initiate new corporate partnerships.

The role of President is open to the current ASSA Committee, the ASSC Committee, the TASMAN Committee and Surgical Society Presidents/Vice-Presidents only. All other positions within the ASSA Committee are open to any medical student (in 2022) from Australia and New Zealand.

Please see President Position Description for more details

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Aya Basam
  • 2021/2022 – Laure Taher Mansour
  • 2020/2021 – Davina Daudu
  • 2019/2020 – Jim Wang
  • 2018/2019 – William Ridley

Role description

The Vice-President (Internal)’s main role is to support the President in their activities, act as the deputy head of the internal organisation and functioning of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association. This includes liaising with all committee members ensuring that their tasks are completed and that they are connected to the goals and objectives of the organisation. The VPI is
responsible for the optimal internal functioning of ASSA across the committee, subcommittees, and branches. The VPI has two umbrella responsibilities to be constantly aware of: the organisational functioning in terms of administration and task achievement, and the organisational level thriving through connection and community within ASSA. Through organisation, a broad overview of the ongoing activities, and team building the VPI ensures the ASSA committee continues to work happily and efficiently as a strong team.

The VPI will also be responsible for ensuring the coordination and execution of the ASSA’s academic and research initiatives with the Academic Officer, Global Surgery Chair, and TASMAN representatives.

The VPI is also responsible for the oversight and coordination of ongoing ASSA research initiatives. Through coordination and collaboration with the Executive Team, Academic Officer, Global Surgery Research Officers, and TASMAN Representatives.

Please see Vice-President Internal Position Description for more details

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Angelina Arora
  • 2021/2022 – Emma Blackwood
  • 2020/2021 – Tyson Zhang
  • 2019/2020 – Kyle Raubenheimer
  • 2018/2019 – John Kefalianos

Role description

The Vice-President (External)’s main role is to support the President in their activities and act as the deputy head of the external organisation of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association. The VPE will be responsible for ensuring the coordination and execution of ASSA’s external events including, but not limited to, the Australasian Students’ Surgical Conference (ASSC), Golden Scalpel Games (GSG) and Leadership & Collaborative Research Day. The VPE must maintain ASSA’s strong external image to all Members, Stakeholders and Sponsors and fulfil the President’s key responsibilities when they are unable to do so. A major part of this role involves regular liaison with
Presidents of surgical societies across Australia and New Zealand. The VPE should encourage collaboration between Presidents, update them on ASSA’s activities and support them so that they can run their societies effectively.

Please see Vice-President External Position Description for more details

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Aiden Jabur
  • 2021/2022 – Karan Banker
  • 2020/2021 – Julia De Groot
  • 2019/2020 – Wasim Awal
  • 2018/2019 – Mahsa Sarrami

Role description

The Secretary is responsible for managing the records of the Australian Students’ Surgical Association. The Secretary is vital in ensuring the internal functioning of the organisation and is responsible for calling monthly meetings and taking minutes. The Secretary will be responsible for organising any required internal functions, such as casual meetings and social events for the committee. The Secretary also assists the ASSA Board by organising Board meetings, attending and
taking minutes at these meetings, and monitoring the ASSA Board email account. In 2021/22, the Secretary was also responsible for the coordination of the Mentoring Australasian Surgical Students (MASS) program.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Noelle Davis
  • 2021/2022 – Muhammad Ibrahim
  • 2020/2021 – Lachlan Arthur
  • 2019/2020 – Roberta Sidoti
  • 2018/2019 – Grace Dennis

Role description

The Treasurer is responsible for the financial management of the Australian Students’ Surgical Association. The Treasurer is key in organising the financial documents and transactions for the association, and they fill a crucial role in reporting the financial activities of ASSA to the Committee and ASSA members.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Liam Grouse
  • 2021/2022 – Aiden Jabur
  • 2020/2021 – Danny Deng
  • 2019/2020 – Laure Mansour
  • 2018/2019 – Bahjat Alirani

Role description

The Sponsorship Officer is required to seek and maintain corporate partnerships. The Sponsorship Officer will be responsible in arranging financial support from potential partners to fund the activities of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association. Another key role of the Sponsorship Officer is to ensure that ASSA’s obligations to its corporate partners are being fulfilled, ensuring that partners maximise their benefit from their relationship with ASSA.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Eric He
  • 2021/2022 – Liam Grouse
  • 2020/2021 – Charlotte Cornwell
  • 2019/2020 – Danny Deng
  • 2018/2019 – Rahul Makam

Role description

The Events Director the main event coordinator and manager of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association. As ASSA’s external events represent its services to members, the professional and competent organisation of these events is vital to the association’s long-term survival. The Events Director will be responsible for continuing the successful organisation of ASSA’s external events portfolio (including Leadership Day, ‘Beyond the Sterile Field’ and ‘So You Want to Be A Surgeon?’) whilst working to expand this portfolio with new ideas. They should also demonstrate a commitment to building upon the collaborative efforts between ASSA and external surgical societies, such as the EMPoWER in Surgery event and the Surgical State Hubs which were launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Neha Athreya & Uchit Gangoli
  • 2021/2022 – Aya Basam & Angela Frentiu
  • 2020/2021 – Upasana Pathak & Peter Goh 
  • 2019/2020 – Venesa Siribaddana
  • 2018/2019 – Reece Tso

Role description

The Academic Officer coordinates the ASSA Academic Sub-committee, which is involved in developing and delivering education and research initiatives for the ASSA membership base. The Academic Officer will help create, organise and manage the projects that come under their portfolio, such as online academic resources within Australasian Students’ Surgical Education Tools (ASSETs) and academic events such as the ASSA Case Competition. They will also be responsible for notifying ASSA members about upcoming conferences and courses, including the RACS Annual Scientific Congress and the Developing a Career in Academic Surgery (DCAS) course, including maintaining a calendar of important dates for abstract submissions. The Academic Officer will also liaise with the TASMAN Collaborative to oversee and assist in their research initiatives.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – William Ju & Natasha Warrell
  • 2021/2022 – Donna Peng & Lorane Gaborit
  • 2020/2021 – David Chen & Christine Jun
  • 2019/2020 – Kelly Ong
  • 2018/2019 – Jason Luong

Role description

The Chair is the main coordinator for the ASSA Global Surgery Sub-committee, a group of Australasian medical students who provide education, advocacy and research in Global Surgery. ASSA Global Surgery additionally acts as the Australian working group for the International Global Surgery Student Network (InciSioN), meaning the Global Chair serves as a link between the two groups. The majority of the Chair’s responsibilities fall under the banner of the ASSA committee, while there are various opportunities to be involved with InciSioN throughout the year.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Angelyn Neoh & Oscar Watson
  • 2021/2022 – Sarah Goh & Samuel Robinson
  • 2020/2021 – Roberta Sidoti & Daniel Lowe
  • 2019/2020 – Davina Daudu & Hamish Newman
  • 2018/2019 – Shebani Farik

Role description

The Policy Co-Officers’ main role is to oversee ASSA’s policy database which acts as a key component of ASSA’s emerging advocacy portfolio. Policies that are created or reviewed will be subsequently published and distributed to assist in achieving each policy’s calls to action. The Policy role serves to fulfil ASSA’s need for concrete documents to support the values and beliefs of surgically orientated medical students. More recently, the role has also evolved to include the
development and management of internal policies to guide ASSA governance and structure. In 2022-2023, multiple internal ASSA policies were developed and implemented by the Policy portfolio.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Luka Bartulovich & Niharika Gupta
  • 2021/2022 – Alex Mesecke & Jocelyn Widjaja
  • 2020/2021 – Lorane Gaborit
  • 2019/2020 – Audilia Sujana

Role description

The Promotions Officer is responsible for managing the social media presence, written publications and written documents, and ensuring the continued brand exposure of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association. The Promotions Officer will ensure regular engagement levels across all ASSA social media platforms, and the appropriate promotion of ASSA related news and content. The Promotions Officer will liaise with all committee members in ensuring that ASSA is presented professionally in all online correspondence and offline correspondence.

Previous officer bearers

serves to fulfil ASSA’s need for concrete documents to support the values and beliefs of surgically orientated medical students. More recently, the role has also evolved to include the
development and management of internal policies to guide ASSA governance and structure. In 2022-2023, multiple internal ASSA policies were developed and implemented by the Policy portfolio.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Victoria Chin & Darren Tan & Jaiden Nairne-Nahy
  • 2021/2022 – Cindy Xu & Winnie Theresa
  • 2020/2021 – Jiting Li
  • 2019/2020 – Elisa Tran
  • 2018/2019 – Teresa Liew

Role description

The IT Officer is responsible for maintaining the professional online presence of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Association through its official website, https://anzsurgsocs.org. This primarily involves updating and expanding the ASSA Membership Portal and overseeing its memberships and
payments. The IT Officer also assists other Committee members with their IT problems and is responsible for the ASSA Google Suites.

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Steven Zhang
  • 2021/2022 – Julia Silverii
  • 2020/2021 – Kate Murray
  • 2019/2020 – Jelle van der Have
  • 2018/2019 – Vanamali

Role description

The Podcast producer coordinates the ASSA Podcast Sub-committee, which is involved in creating and maintaining content for The Operating List, ASSA’s podcast for surgically inclined students. The Operating list is now in its second season, with many featured surgeons from across the country participating in the episodes. The Podcast Producer will manage the incoming podcast sub-committee consisting of podcast hosts and the social media officer to ensure smooth running of the team, and oversee the production of the next season. While The Operating List has an emphasis on education, the podcast producer will have the opportunity to lead the direction that the podcast takes in 2023!

Previous officer bearers
  • 2022/2023 – Daksh Tyagi & Alex Wilson
  • 2021/2022 – Angela Frentiu

Role description
Previous officer bearers

Role description
Previous officer bearers