Media Release
Brisbane Surgeon to Head RACS
17.5.2005
Brisbane Colorectal surgeon Mr Russell Stitz has been elected President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
(RACS).
He succeeds New Zealand surgeon Mrs Anne Kolbe – who was the first woman in the world to head a surgical college. A
specialist paediatrician Mrs Kolbe is currently the Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the North Shore Hospital.
A former President of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland, Mr Stitz is a senior colorectal surgeon at the
Royal Brisbane Hospital with a private practice at Wesley Hospital. He is a Past president of the Colorectal Surgical
Society of Australasia and a Colonel in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corp.
RACS is an internationally recognised organisation representing more than 6,500 surgeons in nine different specialties
in New Zealand and Australia. Ninety per cent of surgeons in both countries have been trained and examined by the
college. The key roles of the college are in advocacy, education, professional development and membership support.
ENDS