CAPS Annual Meeting- Réunion annuelle de l'ACCP
57th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Surgeons
September 24-26, 2026 at the Sheraton Newfoundland Hotel, St. John's, NL.
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated at our annual meeting in St. John's! We had such a wonderful 3 days with excellent scientific sessions, informative and practical panel presentations on trauma program certification as well as a very interactive educational session on trauma and injury prevention. A huge thanks to our CAPS Trauma and Education Committees!
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Our JPS/Fred Macleod lecturer, Dr. Peter Masiakos, provided an inspirational lecture on the development and evolution of firearms injury prevention programs as well as the vital collaborations with community advocates.
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The 2026 inaugural Geoff Blair Visiting Scholar, Dr. Juvenal Musavuli, presented his journey to his fellowship time at BC Children's Hospital and the knowledge he has gained so far for which he expressed deep gratefulness and thanks to the CAPS community.
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Dr. Annie Fecteau presented the results of the CAPS-funded study examining the safety and efficacy of chlorhexidine for surgical prep in the NICU population.
The winner of the 2026 CAPS Research Award: Dr. Joshua Ramjist, The Hospital for Sick Children. Project title: "From Fellow to Faculty: Defining Transition to Practice Needs in Paediatric Surgery".
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Congratulations to the winners of the annual meeting presentations as listed below:
| Award | Winner | Presentation Title |
| BEST BASIC SCIENCE PRESENTATION/ MEILLEURE PRÉSENTATION SCIENTIFIQUE | Paul Lerner, University of Alberta | Spatial Transcriptomic Profiling of Full-Thickness Surgical Specimens in Pediatric Crohn’s Disease |
| BEST BILINGUAL PRESENTATION AWARD/PRIX POUR LE MEILLEURE EFFORT DE BILIGUISME | Natalia Ayodele, McGill University | Developing A Pediatric Digital Companion: A Three‑Phase Co‑Design and Quality Improvement Study of Children’s Journey |
| SURGEONS’ DEN - PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD/ PRIX DU CHOIX DU PUBLIC | Shahyan Rehman, Yale University | Tumor-directed delivery of exatecan as a novel therapy for Ewing sarcoma |
| BEST MEDICAL STUDENT PRESENTATION/MEILLEURE PRÉSENTATION D'ÉTUDIANT EN MÉDECINE | Eseoghene Orogun, McMaster University | What’s important to them? Self-reported measures of constipation, fecal continence, and health-related quality of life among children and adolescents with anorectal malformations |
| BEST CLINICAL RESEARCH PRESENTATION/MEILLEURE PRÉSENTATION DE RECHERCHE CLINIQUE | Eve Wang, McGill University | Artificial intelligence-assisted ganglion cell detection in Hirschsprung's Disease: a comparative evaluation of two deep learning approaches |
| LANGER INNOVATION PRESENTATION/PRÉSENTATION DE L'INNOVATION LANGER | Katja Schmidhofer, Technical University Graz | Handlebar End Diameter Influences Pediatric Abdominal Injury Risk |
See the list of winners and their pictures in the links below:
2026 CAPS Annual Meeting Presentation Winners
Dr. Dickens Saint-Vil, CAPS President, presented his address at the meeting by capturing the history and progress of our organization.
At the end of the annual meeting, Dr. Saint-Vil passed on the CAPS Presidential Medal and gavel to the incoming CAPS President, Dr. Pramod Puligandla.
At the Annual Business Meeting, the CAPS membership voted in favour of the amendments proposed for the CAPS by-laws as well as the 3-year MOU with the Canadian Surgery Forum for joint meetings from 2027-2029. The membership also approved the nominations of Dr. Mary Brindle (Calgary) as President-Elect and Dr. Giuseppe Retrosi (Winnipeg) as 1st year Director. Congratulations to both and a huge thanks to our outgoing directors, Dr. BJ Hancock (Winnipeg) and Dr. Christopher Blackmore (Halifax).
Last but not least, we thank Dr. David Price, our local host, Ms. Charity Pascual, our meeting coordinator, Dr. Rob Baird, CAPS Program Chair, along with our hotel/AV/tour operator teams who made the meeting and social time in St. John's so memorable. Thanks to EVERYONE for making the 57th CAPS Annual Meeting in St. John's such a success!!
Please remember to complete your Section 1 and Section 3 credits by November 14, 2026:
Section 1: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BBBP6QJ
Section 3: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/97RVRBR
We hope that we can see all of you again in Calgary at the 58th CAPS Annual Meeting, September 15-18, 2027!
This picture of St. John's harbour at sunrise encapsulates the lasting memory of a wonderful 2026 CAPS meeting!
