The Foundation was formed in 1999 thanks to the vision and hard work of SAGES leaders including Greg Stiegmann, Ken Forde, Jeff Ponsky, and Barbara Berci and others who saw the need for an organization separate from SAGES in which the strategy was long-term. Years before conflict of interest regulations began to impact industry-surgical society relationships, they recognized the importance of building a corpus of funds, jump started by industry contributions, that would fund projects to support education and research in GI and endoscopic surgery and patient care.
The Foundation is a big part of the success of SAGES and, in addition to the above programs, has funded the Career Development Award, the Brandeis award, the Barbara Berci fund to support and develop young SAGES leaders, and numerous research grants and other projects.
Mission Statement
To support surgical education, training, research and projects or initiatives in the areas of gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery and related science and technology to improve clinical practice, improve patient safety and/or further the field of general minimally invasive surgery.