| President's Message |
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Dean A. Nachtigall, D.O., FAOAO
As I begin my term as president of this great organization, I think it’s important to take a few moments to reflect on the AOAO’s humble beginnings. |
In 1941, we were founded by 10 osteopathic surgeons who were self taught and had a vision of our profession.
We owe them our eternal gratitude because their efforts led us to where we are today.
A quick glance at the following statistics illustrates just how far we’ve come over the past 67 years: We graduated 71 osteopathic orthopedic surgeons in 2008.
We currently have 399 residents.
We have over 1,400 members.
We have 100 members that have just started or just finished a fellowship. The same can be said about osteopathic medicine in general, which is one of the fastest-growing health professions in the nation. This is a fact evidenced by the following national statistics:
Over 3,300 students graduated from osteopathic medical schools this year.
We will have 5,000 graduates annually in the near future.
We have 15,000 students now; we will have 20,000 students in the near future.
The projection is that in 2020 there will be 100,000 osteopathic physicians.
We have 28 programs with several to start next year and several in the pipeline - and we have many more deserving students applying for these openings.
I am honored and proud to be a part of this academy and will do whatever I can to help train residents, assist with the certification process, and encourage the Education Committee to continue to upgrade our meetings. I will also work to ensure we adhere to the AOAO’s longstanding mission, which involves fostering the highest ethical and moral standards, providing education to our members, nurturing camaraderie between the members, as well as fostering and encouraging the residency programs.
Individually, we may not be able to train a comprehensive surgeon, but together, with affiliation agreements and friends in medical centers, our programs are flourishing, and we can be very proud of the end product.
I encourage each of you to participate in the academy in your own way. Consider the phrase “Of him to whom much is given, much will be asked.” We can take the time necessary to work with the people we train to ensure that their skills are cutting edge and they put their patients’ interests ahead of their own. I also urge you to
become involved in an existing program or start a new program,
step forward and teach our residents
become a mentor.
We need more programs and more openings in existing programs, but we will not compromise the quality of these programs. I am also optimistic that our recent graduates and fellowship-trained surgeons will share their experiences through lectures and make the academy and its membership even stronger.
But be careful. The young student you educate about the profession—the student you invite to apply to medical school—just might become the surgeon that tips us over the edge to become better than when you started this journey.
Dean A. Nachtigall, D.O., FAOAO
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The Orthopod - the new
Spring 2009 issue is available
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49th Annual Postgraduate Seminar
(May 1-3, 2009)
More information >>
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| Executive Director’s Message |
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Lee Vander Lugt, D.O., FAOAO
As I succeed the eminent and deeply respected Dr. Morton Morris as executive director of the American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics, I do so with a sense of reverence for the past and a genuine feeling of excitement for the future. |
Because I’ve practiced orthopedics for over three decades, I’m now at a point in my practice career where I’m looking forward to a little change in direction by getting out of clinical medicine without abandoning medicine itself by giving back to our academy. My immediate goals are to honor Dr. Morris’ commitment to various aspects of the AOAO while also moving ahead with some issues I think are important.
For example, I want to maintain and strengthen our residency programs as well as add new programs to ensure current and future osteopathic medical school graduates have a place to pursue their postgraduate training. I also want to continue enhancing our relationship with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, which is why we already have a liaison committee working on this matter.
As we move forward, I want to continue working with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) on the development of continuous osteopathic certification by making sure the process is driven by the specialty colleges and their respective certifying boards. Of course, I would also like to see our membership continue to grow, which is an understandably difficult objective to achieve in these tough economic times where everybody’s afraid to spend additional money on educational courses and membership dues. That’s why I want to make osteopathic orthopedic surgeons feel as if the AOAO is their professional home and family while ensuring the dues they send to the academy are well spent and well accounted for.
I truly consider it an honor and a privilege to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Morris and those who went before him in leading our academy from being a relatively small organization to one the AOA really respects and looks up to today. I look forward with great expectation to working with all our members and residents. Please contact the executive office with your concerns and thoughts for improvement. I want to encourage communication and interaction within our academy, so please get involved. The AOAO needs your commitment as well as your expertise.
Lee Vander Lugt, D.O., FAOAO |
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