ACOMS Review - Spring 2019 ACOMS Review April 2019 | Page 6

Member Spotlight
Melissa Amundson, DDS
Head & Neck Surgical Associates
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, OR
Dr. Melissa Amundson is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Head
and Neck Surgical Associates and an Assistant Professor at Oregon
Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Amundson has
been a member of ACOMS since 2014. In 2018, due to her active
involvement in humanitarian work, the ACOMS Board of Regents
chose her to represent the College in the Global Alliance for Surgical,
Obstetric, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care (G4 Alliance). The G4 Alliance is comprised of over 80
organizations, who come together to build awareness and develop solutions to the existing
challenges in surgical care. Dr. Amundson will be joining the ACOMS Board of Regents in April
2019.
What is your goal as the ACOMS Representative for the G4 Alliance?
I would like to see ACOMS become more involved with G4 Alliance. The College is comprised
of experienced surgeons, who could bring their wealth of knowledge and experience to the
G4 Alliance and promote safe surgical care for all.
Please tell us about your current
humanitarian work.
I’m currently volunteering with Doctors
Without Borders/Médcins Sans Frontièrs
(MSF) on the Noma Project in Sokoto,
Nigeria and with Operation New Life
in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In 2016, I
joined the MSF Noma Project as the first
American oral and maxillofacial surgeon
to participate in this project. Since
joining, I have seen an increasing amount
of attention in training local surgeons
and residents. I hope in the next few years the education and training we are providing will
allow local surgeons and residents to sustain on their own.
In addition to MSF, I volunteer with Operation New Life as a voluntary faculty member
at the Medical School of Honduras, where I teach residents and local surgeons. I’m also
collaborating with the medical school to start a post graduate program for residents and
surgeons who want to specialize in oral and maxillofacial surgery.