University at Buffalo (UB)
Published May 13, 2022
The Buffalo News published a front-page story about Aaron Epstein, the UB surgical resident who recently returned from a monthlong mission in Ukraine leading his team of doctors and surgeons who trained thousands of Ukrainians in combat care and medical procedures. Epstein founded the Global Surgical Medical Support Group, work that the story notes has earned him the 2022 Citizen Honors Award, America’s second-highest civilian honor, which will be presented to him by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in July. In Ukraine, Epstein said: “The most dramatically awful things we’ve seen are areas that Russian troops occupied with instructions to vacate the population, either by escorting them out or executing them.” The story adds that UB has accommodated his aid work and that its chair of surgery, Steven Schwaitzberg, MD, recruited him for his achievements as a humanitarian and a doctor. The online story includes a short video interview with Epstein.