An Annual Oration has been a part of the scientific transactions of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery since its inception. The orator, appointed by the President, is a Fellow of the Academy. Samuel D. Gross, the first President of the Academy, asked John B. Roberts to give the first Oration, but Dr. Roberts insisted that Dr. Gross himself should have the honor. Dr. Gross gave the First Annual Oration, entitled “John Hunter and his Pupils”, on January 7, 1881. The Oration is usually given at the December meeting of the Academy and is traditionally presented without formal discussion. In the 1980’s, the Oration was named the Jonathan E. Rhoads Annual Oration, in honor of one of the most illustrious and faithful Fellows of the Academy, Jonathan E. Rhoads (1907-2002). Subsequent to this honor, Dr. Rhoads and his family initiated an endowment that enables surgical residents to attend the program during the evening of the Oration. A consistent presence at the meetings of the Academy well past his retirement, Dr. Rhoads attended the Oration in December, 2001, the last meeting before his death at age 94.

Jonathan E. Rhoads, M.D.

2024 - Dr. Ronald P. DeMatteo: "Rhoads, in 7"

2023 - Dr. Bernard Boulanger : "Corporatization and the Future of Surgery"

2022 - Dr. Robert Uzzo: "On the Origins of Kidney Cancer"

2021 - Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju: “The Choices We Make”

2020 - Julia A. Haller: Eye of the Storm: Ophthalmology, Innovation and the Pandemic (view presentation)

2019 - Elin Sigurdson:  "Rectal Cancer: Does everyone need everything?” 

2018 - Amy J. Goldberg: "Scoop and Run:  It’s not the Time that Matters"

2017 - Jeffrey P. Carpenter: "The Surgeon Innovator”

2016 - Jeffrey A. Drebin: “The Surgeon as Translational Researcher"

2015 - Charles J. Yeo: "Thomas Eakins’ Masterpiece: The Gross Clinic - A lecture about the founder of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, and the sale that shook the American art world"

2014 - Douglas L. Fraker: "Surgical Management of Adrenal Causes of Hypertension: Pheochromocytoma and Aldosteronoma”

2013 - Timothy J. Gardner:“American Surgery: Illustrious Past, Unsettled Future”

2012 - Linton A. Whitaker: “Terroir and the Cultivation of Quality”

2011 - Thomas G. Frazier: “Breast Cancer: The Past, the Present and the Future!”

2010 - James B. McClurken: “Evolution of Cardiac Surgery in Philadelphia: From ‘Firsts’ to Care Improvements via Collaboration”

2009 - Paul J. DiMuzio: "A Tissue-engineered Stem Cell Vascular Graft"

2008 - Herbert E. Cohn: "On Mentoring"

2007 - John R. Clarke: "Leading Ourselves Out of the Chaos of the Current Healthcare Crisis"

2006 - Richard Bell

2005 - James Mullen

2004 - Daniel T. Dempsey: "Quality Enhancement and Safety Improvement in Surgery in the Current Era"

2003 - Stephen P. Dunn: "Pediatric Transplantation"

2002 - Larry R. Kaiser: "Thoracic Surgery for a Neurologic Disease"

2001 - Michael Acker

2000 - Stanley Trooskin

1999 - Ali Naji: "Transplantation: Art and Science of Surgery"

1998 - Ed Doolin

1997 - John L. Rombeau

1996 - Stuart Myers

1994 - Ward O. Griffin, Jr.

1993 - Anthony J. Comerota

1992 - James L. Weese

1991 - John M. Daly

1990 - Dominick A. DeLaurentis

1989 - Wallace P. Ritchie, Jr.

1988 - Rudolph C. Camishion

1987 - Robert D. Harwick: "Treatment of Parotid Salivary Gland Tumors”

1986 - Bruce E. Jarrell

1985 - Francis E. Rosato

1984 - Simon Simonian

1983 - Jack Kolff

1982 - Michael O’Connor

1981 - Moreye Nusbaum

1980 - Clyde Barker: “The Role of Immunology and Pancreatic Transplantation in Diabetes”

1979 - Frederick B. Wagner, Jr.: "The Founding Fathers & Centennial History of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery"

1978 - David Wagner: "Necrotizing Neonatal Enterocolitis"

1976 - Leonard Goldman: "Malignant Melanoma – A Therapeutic Approach Related to Biologic Behavior"

1975 - Charles Fineberg

1974 - Joseph W. Stayman

1973 - Lloyd W. Stevens

1972 - James G. Bassett

1971 - William T. Fitts, Jr.

1970 - Brooke Roberts

1969 - H. L. Stahlgren

1968 - R. Robert Tyson

1967 - Thomas F. Nealon, Jr.

1966 - Kenneth E. Fry

1965 - C. Everett Koop

1964 - Henry P. Royster

1963 - Edwin W. Shearburn

1962 - John Y. Templeton, III

1961 - Donald R. Cooper

1960 - H. Taylor Caswell

1959 - James R. Jaeger

1958 - Orville C. King

1957 - Irvin E. Deibert

1956 - George Willauer

1955 - William H. Erb

1954 - George Rosemond

1953 - Julian Johnson

1952 - Herbert R. Hawthorne: "Problems in the Management of Massive Bleeding from the Gastro-Intestinal Tract"

1951 - J. Montgomery Deaver: "Acute Appendicitis in Children"

1950 - W. Emory Burnett

1949 - Francis C. Grant

1948 - Jonathan E. Rhoads

1947 - L. Kraeer Ferguson

1946 - John H. Gibbon, Jr.

1945 - Adolph A. Walkling

1944 - Calvin M. Smyth

1943 - Frederick A. Bothe

1942 - S. Dana Weeder

1941 - William Bates

1940 - Francis C. Grant

1939 - John B. Flick

1938 - Isidor S. Ravdin

1937 - Henry P. Brown, Jr.

1936 - Alexander Randall

1935 - A. Bruce Gill

1934 - DeForest P. Willard: "Relationship of the Parathyroid Gland To Calcium Metabolism"

1933 - George M. Dorrance: "Ligation of the Great Vessels of the Neck"

1932 - Eldridge L. Eliason: "Surgery of Diabetic Gangrene"

1931 - Hubley R. Owen

1930 - J. Stewart Rodman

1929 - Edward T. Crosson

1928 - Edward J. Klopp: "Surgery in Breast Tumors; Problems Concerning Diagnosis and Treatment"

1927 - Emory G. Alexander: "Suppurative Pericarditis from the Surgical Viewpoint"

1926 - Damon B. Pfeiffer: "The Principles Underlying the Surgery of Carcinoma of the Rectum"

1925 - John Speese: "The Surgical Aspect of Blood Dyscrasias Associated with Splenomegaly"

1924 - Robert H. Ivy: "Swellings of the Submaxillary Region"

1923 - Walter Estell Lee: "Post-Operative Pulmonary Complications"

1922 - George P. Muller: "Surgical Relations of the Sympathetic Nervous System"

1921 - J. Torrance Rugh: "The Surgery of Infantile Paralysis"

1920 - John G. Clark: "The Relative Values of Radium and Surgery in the Treatment of Tumors of the

Pelvic Organs"

1919 - None

1918 - None

1917 - Joshua Edwin Sweet: "Surgical Experience and Surgical Knowledge"

1916 - Edward B. Hodge

1915 - Frances T. Stewart: “The Operative Treatment of Arterial Thrombosis and Embolism”

1914 - Alfred C. Wood

1913 - William L. Rodman: “Cancer and Precancerous Conditions”

1912 - George G. Ross: “The Art of Surgery” target="_blank"

1911 - John H. Jopson: "Recent Advances in Pulmonary Surgery"

1910 - Astley P. C. Ashurst

1909 - John H. Gibbon

1908 - Charles H. Frazier

1907 - Edward Martin

1906 - Richard H. Harte

1905 - J. Chalmers DaCosta

1904 - G. G. Davis

1903 - R. G. LeConte

1902 - Joseph M. Spellissy: "Abscesses in the Right Iliac Region, and other Lesions not of Gynecologic or Appendiceal Origin Mistaken for Appendicitis"

1901 - H. R. Wharton

1900 - None

1899 - William J. Taylor

1898 - O. H. Allis

1897 - Thomas R. Neilson

1896 - James M. Barton

1895 - John B. Deaver

1894 - W. B. Hopkins

1893 - C. W. Dulles

1892 - Thomas G. Morton: “Progress in Surgery in 1891"

1891 - William G. Porter

1890 - DeForest P. Willard

1889 - John B. Roberts

1888 - Charles B. Nancrede: "Recent Advances in the Surgery of the Brain and Its Coverings"

1887 - J. Ewing Mears

1886 - R. J. Lewis

1885 - John H. Packard

1884 - John H. Brinton

1883 - William Hunt

1882 - D. Hayes Agnew

1881 - S. D. Gross