In 2025, many ASJ authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.

Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspective and insightful view as authors.

Outstanding Authors (2025)

Tan Chen, Geisinger Health in Pennsylvania, USA

Mohammad Al Tarah, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital, Kuwait

Adil S. Lakha, University of Oxford, UK

Outstanding Author

Tan Chen

Dr. Tan Chen is a double board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeon and assistant professor at Geisinger Health in Pennsylvania, USA, specializing in minimally invasive techniques, outpatient surgery, enhanced recovery, and complex spinal reconstructions. He completed his undergraduate studies in neuroscience with high honors at Dartmouth College and Harvard University, followed by his medical studies at Michigan State University. At the University of Toronto, he completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery and subsequently a combined orthopaedic and neurosurgical fellowship in complex spine and trauma surgery. His research interests include enhanced recovery after surgery, patient outcomes, emerging technologies and techniques, medical education and healthcare economics. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

To Dr. Chen, critical elements of a good academic paper include a clear thesis statement and reason for investigation, well-organized structure and data delivery, and clarity on the clinical significance of the results to the paper’s audience. In constructing a paper, he believes that it is important to see the forest for the trees. To not get bogged down in the details too much, and to focus on the paper’s overall message and significance.

“AME Surgical Journal provides a streamlined platform to distribute and share research on the latest medical advancements and topics, particularly for me in orthopaedic spine surgery, to a wide international audience,” says Dr. Chen.

(by Brad Li, Masaki Lo)

Mohammad Al Tarah

Mohammad Al Tarah is currently a first year resident in the plastic surgery board program of Kuwait. He started his scientific and medical careers in Norwich England where he received a diploma in foundation science, to which he progressed to the Netherlands. There he graduated from Maastricht University where he earned his MD along with his Bachelors and Masters degrees in medical science. He started his research career focusing on breast surgery with his masters thesis revolving around VECTRA 3D imaging and breast volumetrics. Afterwards, during his time in general surgery as an intern, he encountered a breast necrotizing fasciitis case that sparked his interest and made him keen on publishing this case as it is rare to see such presentation. His current research focus is shifting into craniofacial surgery focusing more on scar healing in post cleft lip repair patients. 

From Dr. Tarah’s perspective, authors require a number of skill sets that help carry them through the research, the writing and finally the publishing processes. 1) Patience and enthusiasm: as the writing process takes time and effort, one needs to have motivation and enthusiasm to do so. 2) Self critique: an author needs to constantly ask themselves questions like “Why am I writing this paper?” and “What will I add to the exisiting literature”. Knowing when to progress with writing is very important, but equally important is knowing when to abort an idea and not to insist on pushing through with it. 3) Leadership: a key skill when dealing with research, as delegating tasks, setting deadlines and managing a team of researchers can help make or brake a research and could aid gratefully in efficiency when writing a paper.

The way Dr. Tarah sees it, in writing, sometimes we slip into biases without even realizing. Writing a paper can be an immersive experience, where the author becomes ultra focused on his/her writing, and in doing so, falling into biases which takes place without the author being fully conscious about it. Avoiding such pitfall can be done by stopping every once in a while and going through the whole paper, asking oneself what his/her findings mean/entail, and asking for other authors involved as well as senior authors or supervisors to give their input and critique on the writing/finding. As our own vision sometimes maybe obscured when making our own writing.

“Academic writing can be very time consuming and tedious, not to mention the lots of effort required. As many may not be full-time researchers, as a result, many find themselves shuffling clinical work and having to make time for academic writing. However, the outcome of writing can be very rewarding and could potentially hold keys to helping many patients that the author may never meet or encounter. This is what motivates me during writing specially in my latest article that has been published in AME. I had to balance multiple factors to be able to complete that paper. My motivation through it all was the possibility of gaining reach and helping patients get an early diagnosis to whom I may never meet but I would still have some part in helping,” says Dr. Tarah.

(by Brad Li, Masaki Lo)

Adil S. Lakha

Adil Lakha is an academic clinician based at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His research focus is on hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, specifically on improving oncological outcomes for patients with pathology affecting the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. Recent clinical research work includes assessing the role of cell salvage in major liver surgery, enhancing the understanding of oligometastatic gastro-oesophageal cancers, and working on radiomics in liver cancer. He is currently working toward building a career in delivering clinical trials in this subspecialty area, as well as widening his skillset in translational research into cancer immunobiology. Connect with him on ResearchGate and LinkedIn.

In Dr. Lakha’s opinion, important skills in authorship involve excellent written and verbal communication, flexibility when projects go wrong, and creativity in devising new projects to provide fresh perspectives on research challenges. In addition, collaboration is critical in ensuring projects are delivered with a high standard with input from colleagues across clinical and scientific disciplines. Authorship also involves transparency with the reporting and analysis of data, and the flexibility of providing the data when appropriate.

Dr. Lakha believes it is imperative to be aware of different types of biases when producing academic work. This enables an author to acknowledge and address these in real-time, rather than reaching erroneous conclusions from ambiguous data. Collaboration with members of the research team also allows a failsafe mechanism to ensure that work produced is screened for overt bias. Finally, compliance with internationally recognized reporting standards, such as CONSORT, allows for standardization of the reporting of clinical research findings, thus providing a framework to produce high-quality scientific work.

“I find academic writing extremely rewarding. This includes grant proposals, manuscript drafting and editing, and peer review for surgical academic journals. As a clinician, it is imperative to manage time effectively, balancing clinical commitments with academic responsibilities. I often find wider reading for academic work provides me with greater depth in my clinical acumen, and gives scientific context to the decisions made at the bedside. Improving patient care and advancing our scientific understanding of the basis of disease are ultimately my motivating factors as an academic clinician, and as I progress through my career, I hope to utilize these as drivers for success, recognizing the need to adapt and evolve as a future leader in my field of interest,” says Dr. Lakha.

(by Brad Li, Masaki Lo)