American Surgical Association

What American Surgical Association does

The American Surgical Association (ASA), established in 1880, is the oldest surgical association in the United States and operates as a private nonprofit professional medical association headquartered at 500 Cummings Center, Suite 4400, in Beverly, Massachusetts. The organization serves academic surgeons and surgical residents/fellows through a unified suite of member services centered on an annual scientific meeting featuring 32 selected research papers (drawing 500-600 physician attendees annually), publications including the Annals of Surgery journal (via partnership with Wolters Kluwer), ASA Transactions, and a periodic newsletter, and a fellowship-based membership program requiring sponsorship from current Fellows. Revenue is generated through annual membership dues, meeting registration fees (Fellow $500-550, Resident $350, Invited Non-Member Physician $550-600), journal subscription commissions through the Wolters Kluwer partnership, and Foundation donations supporting research fellowship awards.

The ASA Foundation, established in 1974 as a wholly-owned philanthropic subsidiary, supports the research and education mission through Research Fellowship Awards to young surgeon-scientists (46+ awarded since 1982). The organization maintains additional initiatives through its Global Surgery Task Force (consensus statement on US academic surgery's role in low- and middle-income countries), Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (2017 living document on academic surgery), and Ethical Leadership Working Group (2018 monograph). Strategic partnerships include American College of Surgeons (joint SOSSUS project), Wolters Kluwer (journal publishing), National Library of Medicine (archive housing), French Academy of Surgery (exchange program), and Internet Archive (digitized historical transactions). Governance is conducted through an elected Council with a separate ASA Foundation Board of Trustees.

Name

American Surgical Association

Legal name

American Surgical Association

Website

https://americansurgical.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1880

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The American Surgical Association (ASA), founded in 1880 and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, is the oldest surgical association in the United States, serving academic surgeons and surgical trainees through exclusive fellowship-based membership, an annual scientific meeting, scholarly publications including Annals of Surgery, and Foundation research fellowship awards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Medical Association (Surgical Society)

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Medical, Scientific & Healthcare Congress Organizers (THAHACAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare & Medical Congresses (MPAGAGAF)

Keywords

• Professional medical association
• Surgical education
• Academic surgery
• Surgical research fellowships
• Medical membership society

Headquarters

HQ city

Beverly

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues from Active, Senior, and Honorary Fellows. The association collects dues which provide access to members-only areas, reduced registration rates for the Annual Meeting, and discounts on Annals of Surgery subscriptions.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Registration fees for the annual scientific meeting. Fees vary by attendee type including Fellows, Non-Member Physicians, Residents, and Spouse/Partner/Guests.
3. Annals of Surgery Subscriptions: Through cooperative arrangement with Wolters Kluwer, ASA members receive a 20% discount on annual subscriptions to the Annals of Surgery, the official publication of papers presented at the Annual Meeting.
4. Foundation Donations: The ASA Foundation accepts donations through annual campaigns and planned giving programs to support Research Fellowship Awards for surgeon-scientists.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The American Surgical Association is a nonprofit professional medical association that provides fellowship membership, an annual scientific meeting with 32 peer-reviewed paper presentations, the Annals of Surgery journal in partnership with Wolters Kluwer, ASA Transactions and Newsletter publications, formal position statements, and ASA Foundation research fellowships awarded to young surgeon-scientists. It also convenes working groups on global surgery, equity/diversity/inclusion, and ethical leadership that produce authoritative monographs and consensus statements.

Product overview

The American Surgical Association is a professional medical association for surgeons, established in 1880. It offers a unified suite of member services centered around its Annual Meeting (featuring scientific sessions and presidential addresses), publications (Transactions, Newsletter, and the Annals of Surgery journal), and research initiatives through its Foundation Fellowship program. The organization also supports task forces on Global Surgery, Equity/Diversity/Inclusion, and Ethical Leadership, and maintains a membership program with a multi-stage application process. The ASA does not operate as a technology platform or SaaS product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Scientific Meeting Three-day annual scientific meeting of the American Surgical Association featuring Scientific Sessions with 32 peer-reviewed paper presentations, presidential address, forum discussions, awards recognition, banquet, and networking for Fellows, invited non-member physicians, residents, and spouses/guests.
• Fellowship Membership Program Exclusive fellowship-based membership for academic surgeons, including Active, Senior, and Honorary Fellows. Members pay annual dues that grant access to members-only areas, reduced Annual Meeting registration, and a 20% discount on Annals of Surgery subscriptions, with annual ballot presented at the Annual Business Meeting.
• Annals of Surgery Journal Subscription Annual subscription to Annals of Surgery, the official journal publishing papers presented at ASA Scientific Sessions, distributed through Wolters Kluwer with a 20% discount for ASA members (Domestic $279, International $434, inclusive of shipping).
• ASA Foundation Research Fellowship Awards Competitive research fellowship grants awarded to promising young surgeon-scientists through the ASA Foundation (founded 1974), supporting academic surgical research since 1982 with 46+ fellowships funded across the program's history.
• ASA Transactions Publication Annual ASA Transactions publication containing the scholarly papers presented at the Scientific Sessions of the Annual Meeting, transitioning to an online-only format with archive volumes back-dating to the founding era.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• American College of SurgeonscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASA collaborated with the American College of Surgeons on the SOSSUS project (Study of Surgical Services in the United States) initiated from Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen's 1969 Presidential Address. The organizations also coordinate Health Policy and Management Scholarship programs for Executive Leadership at Brandeis University.
• Wolters KluwercoreTechnology or IntegrationWolters Kluwer is the publisher of Annals of Surgery, the official publication for papers presented at ASA's Scientific Sessions. ASA members receive a 20% discount on subscriptions through this partnership.
• National Library of Medicine - History of Medicine DivisionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerASA's physical archives are housed at the National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine Division in Bethesda, Maryland. The archives include correspondence, minutes, speeches, audio recordings, photographs, artifacts, and bound volumes documenting organizational activities.
• French Academy of SurgeryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerASA has an ongoing exchange program with the French Academy of Surgery. ASA hosts in odd-numbered years at U.S. institutions near the city of the ACS Clinical Congress, with competitive selection of ASA Fellows to participate abroad.
• Internet ArchiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Internet Archive (501(c)(3) nonprofit) hosts digitized versions of ASA Transactions, approximately the first 40 years' worth, providing free access to researchers, historians, and scholars.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• American Medical Association: The largest U.S. professional medical association; AMA's JAMA publishing franchise and broader physician-membership model are a useful large-scale analog to ASA's Annals of Surgery journal and member-benefit structure.
• Society of Thoracic Surgeons: Specialty surgical society with membership, an annual meeting, a flagship journal (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery), and research awards. STS parallels ASA's full service portfolio in cardiothoracic surgery.
• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Large, established specialty surgical society offering membership, annual meeting, and journal (JAAOS) at much greater scale than ASA. AAOS is a useful broad incumbent benchmark for how ASA's niche positioning could scale (or not) within a single surgical specialty.

Direct peers

• Association for Academic Surgery: Focused specifically on academic surgeons and surgeon-scientists, overlapping closely with ASA's primary member segment. AAS provides a younger-career-stage counterpart to ASA's more senior fellowship, and both serve the same academic surgery talent pipeline.
• Society of Surgical Oncology: Specialty surgical society combining annual meeting, peer-reviewed journal, and research grant programs - structurally analogous to ASA. SSO is a relevant comparison for the membership-plus-meeting-plus-publication-plus-fellowship model.
• Society of University Surgeons: Long-standing academic surgical society with mission, membership-by-sponsorship, and scientific meeting model closely aligned with ASA. SUS serves a slightly earlier-career cohort but is otherwise a near-twin professional society in academic surgery.
• American College of Surgeons: Larger, broader professional association for U.S. surgeons; ASA has historically collaborated with ACS on the SOSSUS project and Health Policy/Management scholarships, making ACS the most directly comparable organization by mission, audience, and event programming.
• American Pediatric Surgical Association: Subspecialty surgical association with invitation/fellowship-based membership, an annual meeting, and a foundation supporting research. APSA mirrors ASA's professional society structure on a smaller subspecialty scale.
• American Association for the Surgery of Trauma: Specialty surgical society for trauma surgeons with membership, annual meeting, and academic/research mission closely paralleling ASA. AAST is a like-for-like comparison for ASA's elite, academic-focused service offering.
• Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES): Specialty-focused surgical society running an annual scientific meeting, fellowships, and journal publication. SAGES offers a useful comparison for ASA's combination of meeting, publication, and member-services model, albeit in a narrower subspecialty.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/surgical-association

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Surgical Association