AAOS: Passing the Torch

There’s been a change in command at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

Vermont orthopedic surgeon David A. Halsey, M.D., became president of the organization today at its 2018 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La. His presidency marks year three of a four-year commitment of volunteer service, after serving as a vice president of the Academy for the previous two years.
 
“It is my privilege and sincere honor to serve as president of an organization I strongly believe in and deeply value,” said Halsey. “The healthcare landscape is evolving every day and a variety of opportunities and challenges are ahead of us. Together with the board, I will work alongside the AAOS staff leadership to continue the critical and careful look at education, partnerships, quality and advocacy communications to ensure our 38,000 members are set-up to succeed in various practice settings, and can continue to provide the best possible care to patients.”
 
For more than 30 years, Halsey has been helping patients with disorders of the joints, muscles and bones. Currently, Halsey is the chief of Orthopaedic Surgery Division at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and a full professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vt. Prior to joining the full-time academic faculty, he was in a private practice for 18 years in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.
 
Halsey earned a bachelor of arts degree at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., and his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He completed a general surgery internship and orthopaedic surgery residency at University of Vermont.
 
Halsey has served in dozens of leadership roles across 15 different Academy councils and committees over his 20 years of volunteering for the AAOS, including two terms on the Board of Directors, chair of the Board of Specialty Societies, chair of the Board of Councilors, chair of the Council on Advocacy and as a board member of the Association Orthopaedic Political Action Committee. He also served as an officer of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, a member of the executive committee of the Vermont Orthopaedic Society as well as the Vermont Medical Society’s Board of Councilors. He was recognized by the Vermont Medical Society in 2016 with the society’s Physician of the Year Award.
 
Additionally, he has served as an advisor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as both a specialty society member of the American Medical Association’s Relative Update Value committee, a multi-disciplinary group of medical specialty societies who offer assistance in helping to determine reimbursement values to CMS, and the Commission on Ambulatory Payment Classification.

Serving as Halsey’s first vice president is Philadelphia, Pa., surgeon Kristy L. Weber, M.D., who will make history next year as the first female president of the Academy.
 
Weber is the chief of orthopedic oncology in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Sarcoma Program in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. Weber specializes in diagnosing and treating adults, adolescents and children with bone and soft tissue tumors, and she focuses on complex limb salvage techniques around the hip, knee, shoulder and pelvis.
 
“It is an honor and a privilege to continue serving in a leadership capacity for AAOS,” said Weber. “My colleagues and I treat patients every day with musculoskeletal conditions amidst a sea of new rules and regulations. I will continue to work tirelessly to help unify and collectively unite our voices in both quality and advocacy issues to ensure that we all can continue to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.”
 
Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Weber earned a bachelor of science degree in animal science (pre-vet) and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She earned her medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. Weber completed her orthopedic residency training at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and a two-year research/clinical fellowship in orthopedic oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
 
Weber started her career as a faculty member at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she created a large clinical practice in orthopaedic oncology and developed a basic science research program related to osteosarcoma metastasis to lung and to renal cell carcinoma metastasis to bone. She then became the Virginia & William Percy professor of orthopedic surgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she also served as the division chief of orthopedic oncology and the director of the Sarcoma Program.
 
In 2006, Weber received the Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for her research in metastatic bone disease, and her continued research initiatives have greatly contributed to the understanding of this disease. Weber was recruited to the University of Pennsylvania Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2013.
 
For more than 16 years, Weber has held numerous leadership roles to help advance the orthopedic profession. She chaired the AAOS Council on Research and Quality for four years and served on the AAOS Board of Directors. Weber has also served on the Boards of the American Orthopaedic Association, Orthopaedic Research Society, Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society. She served as the president of the Maryland Orthopaedic Association in 2009.

Second in line to the presidency is New York City surgeon Joseph A. Bosco, III, M.D., a professor and vice chair for the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Langone Health. He specializes in sports medicine, total knee replacement, shoulder and elbow surgery.
 
“I am honored and privileged to become second vice president of AAOS and serve my colleagues in this capacity,” said Bosco. “We will continue to prioritize and respond to the needs of our 38,000 members, in order to advance the Academy toward greater success—all with the end result of delivering the highest quality of care to our patients.”
 
As a native New Yorker, Bosco earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and attended the Larner College of Medicine at University of Vermont in Burlington. He completed an internship in general surgery and a residency in orthopedics at University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., and completed his fellowship in adult reconstructive surgery at University of Arizona in Tucson.
 
Bosco has been a long-time active member of the AAOS, and was elected to the Academy’s Board of Directors in 2013. He also was a member of the 2005 Leadership Fellows Program, and previously chaired the Annual Meeting Committee and served on the Council on Education.

New to the AAOS Board of Directors is Boston, Mass.-based surgeon Elizabeth G. Matzkin, M.D., MS. She is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School and the chief of women’s sports medicine and surgical director of women’s musculoskeletal health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She specializes in providing care and the prevention of sports injuries, including minimally invasive arthroscopic knee and shoulder surgery, cartilage and ligament repair and joint preservation.
 
Matzkin received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. She received her master’s degree in applied physiology from The Chicago Medical School and attended medical school at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Matzkin completed her internship and residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, followed by a fellowship in orthopaedic shoulder and sports medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
 
Matzkin is a former team physician for Duke University men’s football team and the men’s and women’s basketball teams. She currently serves as a team physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, U.S. Paralympics Soccer Team, U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team and is the head team physician of Stonehill College.

Matzkin has been actively involved with the AAOS for more than 11 years and currently serves as chair of the Women’s Health Advisory Board. She previously also served on the Communications Cabinet and the Guidelines Work Group for the Non-Surgical Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee. Matzkin participated in the Leadership Fellows Program as both a mentor and a fellow (Class of 2012 and 2017) respectively, and held other numerous volunteer leadership positions within the Academy.
 
Joining Matzkin on the Board is Tennessee surgeon Thomas W. “Quin” Throckmorton, M.D., a professor and orthopedic residency program director at University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Campbell Foundation.
 
Throckmorton has been active in clinical teaching at all levels, including medical students, orthopedic residents and fellows. As the director of resident research at Campbell Clinic, he expanded the infrastructure of the research group and increased the academic and scientific output of the program.
 
He earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and then entered a fellowship in shoulder and elbow surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
 
Throckmorton has been actively involved in the AAOS for many years. He previously served on the Annual Meeting and Central Program committees, and was a member and chair of the Central Instructional Course Committee. Throckmorton participated in the Leadership Fellows Program, and also held numerous volunteer leadership positions within AAOS. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors and the Education Committee for the Mid-American Orthopaedic Association.
 
Philadelphia-area surgeon Alan S. Hilibrand, M.D., MBA, became treasurer-elect of AAOS, assuming the position of treasurer in 2019 for a three-year long commitment. The treasurer serves as chair and one of three voting members of the AAOS Finance Committee. The committee manages the finances and fiscal health of the Academy, which has more than 38,000 members.
 
Hilibrand is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spine surgery. He is the vice chairman of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Joseph and Marie Field Professor of Spinal Surgery, and professor of Neurological Surgery at the Rothman Institute and the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, both in Philadelphia. Additionally, Hilibrand is the co-director of Spinal Surgery and director of the Spine Fellowship at the Rothman Institute.
 
Hilibrand earned a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. He completed an orthopedic surgery residency at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a spine and spinal cord injury fellowship with Dr. Henry Bohlman at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He recently earned his MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
 
Hilibrand has served in numerous leadership roles over his dozen years volunteering with AAOS. For the past four years, he served as chair of the Communications Cabinet and as an AAOS Board of Specialty Societies Presidential Line representative for the Cervical Spine Research Society. Hilibrand was selected to participate in the Academy’s Leadership Fellows Program (Class of 2005). He also has served as a deputy editor for The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2009-2014), and as a member of the CME Courses Committee (2011- 2014).
 
In addition to serving in these roles, Hilibrand was selected as an AOA-ABC Traveling Fellow in 2007, and served on the AOA Board of Directors from 2008-2014. He also served as the president of the Cervical Spine Research Society in 2014-2015, and served on the Board of Directors of the North American Spine Society as the chair of Continuing Medical Education and as the chair of its Advocacy Council.