LAUSR

the tremendous progress in the development of a number of trials locally as well as the fruitful international collaborations that have developed in the last few years. Finally, there was an in-depth discussion on commercialization, ethics and industry–university relationship by a panel of experienced medical entrepreneurs. Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood, founder of Avita Medical, shared her views on the challenges academics face when entering the world of medical products, and the importance of protecting intellectual property as well as the ethical implications. Dr Katrina Hutchison, who was involved in the development of the Macquarie Surgical Innovation Identification Tool, discussed the intricacies of ethics of surgical innovation and interdisciplinary collaborations. Assistant Professor Wendy Babidge provided insights from the Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures-Surgical, a global leader in Health Technology Assessment, and her views on working with Australian federal and state governments, international governments and other agencies to provide high-quality assessments to support their decision-making. The SAS of the RACS is a key part of the surgical community in Australia and New Zealand. It is a vibrant community of surgeons who share the passion for teaching, research and advocacy, to advance the achievements in every aspect of surgery and life as a surgeon. The 2020 Annual Academic Surgery Conference will be held in Adelaide in early November, while the Developing a Career and Skills in Academic Surgery course will be held in Melbourne, just prior to the Annual Scientific Congress. These are unmissable events for anyone interested in any aspect of academic surgery.