Susan Schelkun and AO North America members Steve Schelkun and Steve Olson enjoy an AO Alumni Reception held during the annual OTA meeting in October 2000.
A Letter from Eric Johnson...
Dear Colleagues:
Education of surgeons has been the major goal of AO North America since its inception in 1992, and this goal continues to keep us focused for the future. Last year was an exceptional year for AONA with regard to continuing the improvement of our educational efforts. Last year AO North America organized, through the Continuing Education Department, a total of 23 major courses in the various surgical specialties. We also sponsored a successful AONA Spine Faculty Retreat in Colorado in May and an Ad Hoc Committee Seminar "Uncommon Uses of Common Implants" during the Orthopaedic Trauma Association meeting in October. AO North America's three Education Committees were also very active in 2000, with a total of eight meetings held last year. Minutes of these meetings are provided to the presidents of the AO Foundation and AO International to keep Davos informed of our current educational activities and our future plans. One novel approach to AONA faculty education last year involved the creation of two electronic educational courses. These courses were presented, at AO North America's expense, in February and September in Phoenix, and were extremely well received. Faculty for these electronic workshops consisted of AONA members with exceptional computer skills who voluntarily gave up a weekend to travel to Arizona and teach fellow AONA faculty how to do computer presentations. The faculty was outstanding and deserves our grateful appreciation. The format of the courses was individualized to teach AONA faculty the basics of computer slide presentation, how to effectively manage clinical and radiographic images, and how to make PowerPoint presentations. By the end of the courses, participants were asked to electronically create their own presentations and give a presentation to the other participants. Since electronic presentation is the way most future lectures will be given, we are committed to helping our faculty become trained in this process, and plan to offer additional workshops in the future.
Susan Schelkun and AO North America members Steve Schelkun and Steve Olson enjoy an AO Alumni Reception held during the annual OTA meeting in October 2000. |
AO North America member Dr. Jeffery Mast was the John Border Memorial Lecturer at this year's Orthopaedic Trauma Association meeting and gave a wonderful presentation of his "evolution" as a trauma surgeon. Professor Rene Marti, from Amsterdam, was this year's first Hans Willenegger lecturer at the OTA annual meeting; his presentation of a career experience in corrective osteotomies for traumatic deformity was truly inspirational. Our sincere appreciation for these two icons of trauma surgery cannot be overstated, and AO North America was pleased to support both lectureships.
The AO North America membership continues to grow, and we appreciate the volunteer efforts made by so many of our AO faculty. This is the true bond between faculty at AONA courses. Volunteer education of surgeons has always been the tradition of the AO; it is this love of teaching that sets AO courses apart from other educational events of this nature.
AO North America members who knew Howard Rosen were deeply saddened by his untimely death last July. To honor Howard, AONA has established the Howard Rosen Table Instructor of the Year award beginning in 2001. Howard was one of our earliest members to embrace operative fracture management in North America and touched countless numbers of surgeons both in North America and the world. His loss is both personal and professional; everyone who ever met Howard benefited from his presence. Howard's true love was one-to-one interaction with course participants, and the AONA Steering committee has created the Howard Rosen award to honor annually a North American faculty member who truly demonstrates Howard's love of teaching in the practical workshop laboratory. The recipient of the award will travel the following year to Switzerland and be given the opportunity to participate as a faculty member in the annual English-speaking AO courses in Davos.
2000 was a great year for AO North America. Our efforts continue to produce the best educational courses available for surgeons, and we need to keep our cutting-edge educational format fine tuned for the future. All of our activities in surgical education involve interaction with the Continuing Education Department of AONA. These dedicated professionals, led by Joan Rousseau, are frequently not recognized for their exceptional hard work in organizing and producing the AONA courses year after year. Last year AO North America expressed its appreciation for this group by sponsoring a dinner for them, and we now take this opportunity to again acknowledge their efforts and thank them for helping AONA produce the best courses in North America.
The Steering Committee of AONA especially extends its appreciation to all AO course faculty and support personnel for your efforts in 2000, and we look forward to another very successful year in 2001.
Sincerely,
Eric E. Johnson, M.D.