IT HAS BEEN nearly six months since Nashville's Kyla P. Terhune, MD, MBA, FACS, departed Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University Medical Center and took-up her duties as the newly appointed senior vice president of the Division of Education within the American College of Surgeons (ACS). 

ACS is considered the largest organization of surgeons in the world. 

Nonprofit ACS says it has approximately 95,000 members, 2,500 hospitals active in its ACS quality programs, and 50 million or more patient records tracked through AQCS surgical registries -- all supported through mission emphasis on "healing all with skill and trust."

Dr. Patricia Turner

In ACS's Nov. 1, 2025, announcement of Terhune's appointment, ACS Executive Director and CEO Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, described her as "an extraordinary leader, clinician and educator" who has been chosen to contribute to advancement of ACS's "ability to delivery timely, evidence-based training and education, modernize College educational platforms, and optimize our offerings to help us deliver the highest quality care to our patients."

ACS described Terhune's educational philosophy as emphasizing "the importance of building systems of innovative educational practices that support the delivery of patient care."

In addition to the career and education details on her LinkedIn, Terhune summarizes her traits as "Lifelong learner. Innovator. Focused in education and healthcare."

In that same profile, she adds: "My goal is to increase quality care for patients everywhere it’s needed, empower those who provide health care to tap into their potential, and create educational and professional development systems of support. I primarily seek to do that by learning from and supporting thousands of surgeons in their work. In our collective work," she added.

Quoted in ACS's November announcement of her appointment, Terhune said, "I am very excited to join ACS—to take past experiences and apply them to serve its members—with a goal of fostering educational systems that promote professional development and skills to maximize both quality and access for surgical patients globally."

Yesterday in Memphis, Terhune delivered a visiting professorship lecture during an induction ceremony held by the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society Chapter at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Next week, on April 16, Terhune will discuss her career and lessons learned during a live virtual "Fireside Chat" produced under the banner of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators®. 

Her fellow discussant in the Chat is to be Mohsen M. Shabahang, MD, PhD, FACS, MAMSE, who is chair of ACS's Subcommittee of Novel Teaching and Assessment Methods and Educational Resources, within the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.

After receiving her undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Princeton University (1996), Terhune coached basketball and taught high school chemistry and biology at St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Dela.

She completed her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (2004).

Terhune became an ACS Fellow (FACS) in 2014. At Vanderbilt, she completed her surgery residency in 2011, her critical-care fellowship in 2009, and her MBA in 2016.

ACS's press release last fall provided further details on Terhune's time at VU. ACS noted that she "served as program director of the Vanderbilt surgery residency from 2014 until 2019 and then as the associate dean for graduate medical education at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and senior vice president for educational affairs and the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 2019 until September 2025. She also served as an associate chief of staff at Vanderbilt University Hospital with a practice in acute care surgery..." She remains an Adjoint Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt.

Terhune was also a staff surgeon and chief of general surgery (2016-19) in the Veterans Administration's Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. Her work in the VA facility included operating and attending in the surgical intensive care unit.

Terhune told VNC that one of the benefits of her MBA studies at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management was broadening her understanding of "strategic organizational behavior" in professional, corporate, entrepreneurial and other contexts.

She also emphasized the importance of clinicians, academicians, entrepreneurs and others keeping in mind that while innovations in practices, products and systems are vital over time, it is essential that innovations contribute to producing demonstrable and genuinely meaningful improvements in surgical care outcomes.

ACS has long sought to expose surgeons to emerging technologies and techniques (in addition to other formal training).

For example, in 2024 an ACS event's keynote speaker addressed "Developing an Ecosystem of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Advance the Future of Surgery and Academic Medicine."

Last month in Chicago, ACS held its "Dialogue on Surgical Simulation" event, which included discussion of the evolution of simulation in surgical education and consideration of ways in which artificial intelligence may drive the next evolution of surgical training. A Simulator/Model Competition was included in the event.

Other ACS event topics have included robotics systems, robotics surgery techniques, video-based technologies, telesurgery, AI in surgical procedures, and simulation for education and patient safety.

Looking forward--and consistent with Terhune's emphasis on the necessity of ensuring adequate gains in quality of care outcomes-- VNC noted that the preliminary agenda for ACS's Quality, Safety & Cancer Conference (Orlando, July 30-Aug. 2, 2026), suggests that event will contain discussions of quality improvement, associated costs, and related matters. 

Particularly given the current politico-economic environment, it seems important to note 501(c)(3) nonprofit ASC is active on many fronts informing its constituents of legislative and regulatory actions that might, e.g., undermine or slow advancement of surgical care and-or unduly suppress surgeons' reimbursement for care. 

ACS said more than 500 surgeons attended its recent Leadership & Advocacy Summit in the nation's capital. Surgeons are also encouraged to engage with state legislators on material issues.

Terhune's excellence in surgical teaching brought her in 2010 the inaugural David Leach Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME, also based in Chicago).

She also won the Philip J. Wolfson Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Surgical Education; and, she served for a time as secretary and treasurer of VUMC's H. William Scott Jr. Society.

She is also a past president of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, was a founding officer of the National Association of DIOs, and has served on both the ACGME Board of Directors and on committees for the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Now 51, Terhune is a native of Batesville, Ark.

Though her current role is anchored in ACS's Chicago headquarters, she said is able to spend a fair amount of time with husband Richard "Rick" Keuler (also Princeton Class of 1996). They have three children and reside in Davidson County.

Entrepreneurial footnote: Twenty years ago, Keuler created Tennessee Game Days, for avid gamers. Subsequently, Keuler and Nashville hospitality entrepreneur Bob Bernstein opened Game Point Cafe as a hub for board-game aficionados. Game Point is located within Bernstein's Bongo East cafe in East Nashville. VNC

.last updated 0910 9 April 2026