ACS Pfizer Humanitarian Award: October 2023

We are proud to announce that in October 2023, HRFU’s Founder and long-standing President, Charles J. Filipi, MD, FACS, received the American College of Surgeons/Pfizer Surgical Humanitarian Award. Dr. Filipi was recognized for his 20 years of humanitarian service: providing hernia repair services and encouraging others to volunteer their services in underdeveloped nations. 

Dr. Filipi is a pioneer in laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery, including hernia repair. In 2004, he used his knowledge of the gaps in global hernia care in the Dominican Republic, where surgical teams repaired adult and pediatric hernias. For 6 years, he took an average of three annual trips to provide operations and education in developing countries.

In 2010, Dr. Filipi and a colleague arranged for four surgical teams to visit Haiti, offering support after the country’s devastating earthquake and performing 776 acute operations.  In 2011, Dr. Filipi took a leading role in creating Hernia Repair for the Underserved. Hernia Repair for the Underserved has directly through surgery and indirectly through the education of local surgeons, operated on thousands of hernia patients. Approximately 2,000 operations have been performed by trainees, and 5,000 have been performed by hernia experts in seven developing countries. There have been no mortalities and a morbidity rate of .07% in these procedures. Our organization is extremely proud of his vision and fortitude to ensure these lifesaving services to patients in need that would otherwise not receive quality care.  

We thank Dr. Filipi for his continued service to HRFU and congratulate him on this well-deserved award!