Dr. Mark Getelman gives his first message as President of the Arthroscopy Association of North America:
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is my great honor to serve as your President of the Arthroscopy Association of North America. I hope you and your families remain healthy and safe through the pandemic. With the vaccine rollout, there is a promising light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, and I am sure we are all optimistic and anxious to restore normalcy to our daily routines.
I would like to begin by offering my sincere thanks and appreciation to Immediate Past President, Dr. Brian Cole, for his outstanding leadership during such an unprecedented year. Taking over at the peak of an intensifying pandemic was an intimidating task, but he kept AANA focused, relevant and agile, which proved to be successful. Thank you for guiding us and advancing our mission through a difficult year.
As I begin my term as AANA President, I have great optimism about the programming we will be able to offer; yet, I recognize that we will need to remain nimble as we still struggle with the pandemic. The Board of Directors and I are focused on making a positive impact for our membership. That said, I wanted to share a few exciting initiatives and projects that are already underway.
Working with the leaders of AOSSM, we are delighted to have created the first-ever AOSSM-AANA Combined 2021 Annual Meeting. The educational program is outstanding, and this meeting proves to be a landmark event for both our societies. I recognize that most of us have stayed near home for the last 14 months and are eager to safely gather and learn together again. What better way to do that than with your colleagues, at the AOSSM-AANA Combined 2021 Annual Meeting this July. I look forward to greeting you all there!
I recognize that the success of our society requires the collective efforts of all our members. The AANA community, with our international outreach, represents more than 6,500 members from 80 different countries, adding incredible richness to our content and a global perspective to our programming. We strive to provide a welcoming environment, engaging volunteers from all backgrounds, and I promise to ensure AANA will continue to grow and improve in this area. The AANA Diversity & Inclusion Task Force created a formal statement for the organization and we will be as dedicated to the Diversity & Inclusion Statement as we are to our mission. I encourage every member to volunteer and contribute to the AANA community.
I am also pleased to introduce the Military Advanced Surgical Training (MAST) program. Building off the success of the AANA/SOMOS collaboration at the Orthopaedic Learning Center, AANA has worked diligently to secure funding in order to provide advanced arthroscopic education and training opportunities for the military Orthopaedic Surgeons who care for our U.S. soldiers and their families. AANA and SOMOS will administer the MAST program through Education & Training Immersion; Epidemiology & Surveillance; and more extensive laboratory-based surgical education training.
As you may know, 2021 marks AANA’s 40th Anniversary. There have been enormous advances in our field and growth in our membership, and we look forward to celebrating throughout the year, culminating at the 2022 AANA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. In honor of this celebration, AANA has launched the production of a 40th Anniversary monograph that will be released at the 2022 meeting. Drs. Jonathan Ticker, Jessica Ryu and Michael O’Brien are leading this ambitious project and I can’t wait to see the final product. Thank you to all the AANA members and corporate partners that are contributing to this commemorative publication.
I’d like to conclude by recognizing and thanking the dedicated AANA Board of Directors for their support and engagement in the coming year. We have much to accomplish and with their involvement, I know we will be successful.
Sincerely,
Mark H. Getelman, M.D., FAANA
AANA President
You may see the original post on the AANA website: A MESSAGE FROM AANA PRESIDENT MARK H. GETELMAN, M.D., FAANA