Hand Surgery

Fortunately, the historic roots of the Hand Surgery Section of the A.O.A.O. have been preserved in a thorough publication authored by Dr. Jerry Taylor from Southfield, Michigan. On December 11, 1980 he submitted his history for publication in the Orthopod at the request of Dr. Daniel Morrison, editor in Chief. The Hand Surgery Section gratefully acknowledges the contribution by Dr. Taylor. For the most part the following summary is as originally written with only minor revisions to reflect proper verb tense with the passage of time. Steven J. Heithoff, D.O. Secretary/Treasurer Hand Surgery Section, A.O.A.O. October 1999.

The Hand Surgery Section of the A.O.A.O. was officially founded on October 15, 1980. The roots of the Hand Surgery Section were extremely informal. They began at A.O.A.O. yearly meetings in St. Louis and Atlanta in 1972 and 1973. A small group of A.O.A.O. members interested in hand surgery met informally and discussed the possibility of presenting papers on hand surgery in association with the Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Specialists. Present at those early discussions were Drs. Boyd, Bowden James Trussel, David Smith, John Drabing, Paul Sadick, John Herzog, and possibly one or two others. It was agreed upon that the first presentation of paper was to be at the 1974 meeting held at the Americana Hotel in Bal Harbor, Florida. Dr. Bowden volunteered to be the program chairman. During the 1974 meeting, a one half day session of hand surgery was presented on a very informal basis to an audience of approximately 20-25 surgeons who were interested in hand surgery. The program was well received and it was decided to present the papers on a yearly basis.

Dr. Jerry Taylor was chosen as program chairman for the 1975 meeting, a position he held for several years except for the 1976 meeting, which was organized by Dr. Shimon Zuckerman. The programs were presented in Washington in 1975, New Orleans in 1976, Los Angeles in 1977, Atlanta in 1978, Las Vegas in 1979 and Hollywood, Florida in 1980. Each year, the program improved as did the attendance and audience participation. This represented the improved training and surgical experience of these speakers and of the audience as well. Attempts were made to have as many different speakers participate in the program. The original interest was to keep the Hand Surgery Group informal. Initially, there were no membership rosters, officers, dues or elections.

Eventually, the Board of Directors of the A.O.A.O. recognized that a formal organization of the Hand Surgery Group into a Section would be beneficial to all A.O.A.O. members as well as to those specifically interested in hand surgery. As the 1977 yearly meeting of the Board of Directors of the A.O.A.O., Dr. Jerry Taylor was elected to serve as chairman of the newly formed committee on hand surgery. As chairman, he was instructed to organize and present a one half-day session on hand surgery as given as a part of the yearly A.O.A.O. meeting. Furthermore, he was instructed to develop plans for the formation of a formal Hand Surgery Section as an affiliate of the A.O.A.O. During 1978, Drs. David Smith and Harold Battenfield were added to this Committee to act as liaisons between the hand surgeons and the A.O.A.O. From that point on, rapid progress was made and it became apparent that it was only a matter of time before the Hand Surgery Section would be a reality. A constitution and By-Laws were formulated by the Committee and approved by the Board of Directors of the A.O.A.O. Subsequently, the A.O.A.O. approved an amendment to their By-Laws in October 1980, to allow for the formation of Sections in Academy, thus allowing for formal acceptable of the Hand Surgery Section as the first Section of the A.O.A.O.

At noon on October 14, 1980, the first official business meeting of the Hand Surgery Section of the A.O.A.O. was called to order at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Attending were approximately 2/3 of the 33 charter members of the newly formed Section. This short meeting marked a successful culmination of the efforts of several A.O.A.O. members in the development of a field of Hand Surgery. It was hoped by all concerned that the Hand Surgery Section would continue to grow and be successful and serve as a template for the probable formation of other Sections under A.O.A.O. At that first official meeting, the By-Laws and Constitution of the Hand Surgery Section were approved by its members and the charter officers were elected. The newly elected President was Jerry A. Taylor, D.O., of Southfield, Michigan. The Vice President was James Trussel, D.O. of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Secretary/Treasurer was Terry Weingarden, D.O. of Garden City, Michigan. Elected to the Board of Directors of the Hand Surgery Section were Christopher Najarian, D.O., Peter Ajluni, D.O. and Edward Burke, D.O. Later that evening, at the Annual Awards Banquet of the A.O.A.O. the formal hand surgery certificates were given to those charter members who were present. Those not present at the Awards Banquet received certificates at the 1981 Annual Awards Banquet.

The goals of the Hand Surgery Section were to provide education in the field of Hand Surgery to all A.O.A.O. members and to aid and assist Osteopathic Orthopedic residents obtaining hand surgery rotation as a part of their residency training program. In Michigan, the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Orthopedic Surgeons developed a program which automatically provided for a three month hand surgery rotation in the Detroit area for all third or fourth year residents in the seven Michigan hospitals approved for Osteopathic Orthopedic training. Other areas or hospitals were encouraged to develop a similar program for their residents and the Hand Surgery Section offered to assist them when possible in obtaining a hand surgery rotation.

The Hand Surgery Section has continued to present a half day program on Hand Surgery as part of the A.O.A.O. program at the Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Specialists. Membership in the Hand Surgery Section was initially open to all A.O.A.O. members who had a minimum of three months of formal hand surgery training or had performed a minimum of 50 open surgical hand procedures within the preceding 12 months. The following is a list of charter members in the Hand Surgery Section: Peter Ajluni, D.O., Elliott Ames, D.O., Harold Battenfield, D.O., Boyd Bowden, D.O., Edward G. Browning, D.O., Edward Burke, D.O., Jerry L. Cole, D.O., David J. Conaway, D.O., John Drabing, D.O., David Ernst, D.O., Robert Halter, D.O., Lawrence Holen, D.O., Robert R. Kaneda, D.O., Dennis Kolarik, D.O., Thomas T. McCarthy, D.O., Daniel L. Morrison, D.O., James Murray, D.O., Dean Nachtigall, D.O., Christopher Najarian, D.O., Gerald Papp, D.O., Henry Parcinski, D.O., Edward Rockwood, D.O., Paul Roose, D.O., S. Paul Sadick, D.O., Richard Scott, D.O., Donavan Secrest, D.O., David Smith, D.O., David Solce, D.O., Maxwell Stepanuck, D.O., Jerry Taylor, D.O., James Trussell, D.O., Terry Weingarden, D.O., J. Brendan Wynn, D.O. Jerry A. Taylor, D.O. Southfield, Michigan First Past President Hand Surgery Section, A.O.A.O. Initially submitted to Orthopod 12/11/80 Revised 10/12/99