AO NORTH AMERICA NEWS

Reports from the AO North America Education Committees

North American Maxillofacial Education Committee (NAMEC) Update

by Brian Alpert, D.D.S., Chairman

The North American Maxillofacial Education Committee and the North American faculty have had a productive year. Several regional Maxillofacial Workshops/ORP Courses in various areas of the country, an advanced symposium in Craniomaxillofacial Reconstruction in Florida, Distraction Osteogenesis courses in Louisville and Chicago, and our first Mid-Tier Challenges and Advances Course in Texas have been most successful. In addition, North America Maxillofacial faculty have co-chaired or participated in Maxillofacial courses in Davos, Britain, Japan, the Philippines, South America, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

In August, a Maxillofacial faculty retreat was held at the Sagamore in Lake George. Aside from the fellowship, a great deal was accomplished in that the faculty "brainstormed" a new and improved basic course template. Course and lecture outlines were developed and circulated to specific course faculty, to assist in standardizing content and avoiding repetition. This new template was first utilized at the Redondo Beach Basic/ORP Workshop in January 2000. Standardized title slides for each lecture, to which faculty will add their own clinical material, is next on the agenda.

Drs. Alpert and Ellis at the Maxillofacial Faculty Retreat last summer at the Sagamore.

2000 will see multiple Basic/ORP workshops in various parts of the country, co-chaired by three surgeons from the disciplines of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. An advanced symposium in Breckenridge, Colorado (see accompanying article), a "Challenges and Advances" Mid-Tier, featuring Distraction Osteogenesis versus Conventional Osteotomies for dentofacial and craniofacial deformities, and an "Orbital Challenges and Advances" were planned. International course participation in Paraguay, Chili, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan and Korea, as well as Davos, is also in the works.

A European Maxillofacial Education and Steering Committee has been formed and we of NAMEC are working closely with them as they embark on a true faculty organization in Europe for Maxillofacial. Indeed, the Chairmen of the respective education committees attend their counterparts' meetings. Another innovation and example of international cooperation is tying NAMEC or EESC meetings together with meetings of the MFEG (MFTK) and having an additional "invitation only" program in conjunction with these meetings. This June, both the NAMEC and MFEG will meet in Baltimore, with a faculty-only arthroscopic workshop to follow. We feel it will be more efficient use of time than crossing the Atlantic for an eight-hour meeting.