News from AAOS: Building Orthopaedics Campaign Launched at AAOS Annual Meeting

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) kicked off its 2014 annual meeting in New Orleans, La., by launching a $7 million campaign to fund a new headquarters for international orthopedic education and the orthopedic profession. The campaign is dubbed “Building Orthopaedics: The Foundation of Our Future.”

The 180,000-square foot facility, currently under construction in Rosemont, Ill., will include a state-of-the-art Orthopedic Learning Center (OLC), and will serve as the professional home for 25 orthopaedic organizations, including the AAOS.

“This is an unprecedented fundraising campaign, calling on all members of our profession and our industry partners to invest,” said Joseph Zuckerman, M.D., chair of the Building Orthopaedics Campaign Steering Committee. “Our patients, our practices, and our field as a whole, all stand to benefit from our vision today.”

As Americans age, demand for orthopaedic procedures will continue to grow. For example, the number of knee replacement surgeries is expected to increase from 700,000 in 2010 to an estimated 3.5 million in 2030, and hip replacement surgeries from 225,900 to 572,000.

“We’re facing a generation of growing demand for our practice, a world of new possibilities for patient care, and a host of new challenges and realities in healthcare,” said Daniel J. Berry, M.D., member of the Building Orthopaedics Campaign Steering Committee. “We must be ready to rise to the challenge by preparing for increasingly complex cases, by training the next generation of surgeons, and by pioneering and disseminating new practices and technologies.”

The new OLC will be twice the size of the current facility and offer:

• Distance learning opportunities, including an international reach for webcast courses and virtual/simulated surgeries;
• A 24-station skills lab, which can be divided into two 12-station labs to accommodate multiple courses at the same time; and
• An OLC auditorium, which will be able to seat up to 180 participants, divisible into three separate rooms, with state-of-the-art technology.

The AAOS’ equity partners for the headquarters, scheduled to open in December, are the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA), the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), the American Association of Hip & Knee Surgeons (AAHKS), and the Orthopaedic Learning Center (OLC).

To date, the Building Orthopaedics campaign has secured more than $4.4 million in financial commitments including:

• $1.2 million from Smith & Nephew.
• $1.2 million from ConMed Corp.
• $500,000 from an individual surgeon who wishes to remain anonymous.
• Financial support from 80 percent of the orthopaedic surgeon members of the partner organization governing boards.

The members of the Building Orthopaedics: The Foundation for Our Future Campaign Steering Committee are Honorary Chair Howard J. Sweeney, M.D.; Chair Joseph Zuckerman, M.D.; and members Jeffrey S. Abrams, M.D.; AAOS President Frederick M. Azar, M.D.; Daniel J. Berry, M.D.; Freddie Fu, M.D.; Mark Hutchinson, M.D.; David Templeman, M.D.; Russell Warren, M.D.

“The new orthopaedic center will provide a modern headquarters for a changing profession,” said Howard J. Sweeney, M.D., honorary chair of the Building Orthopaedics Steering Committee. “We invite our colleagues and partners to invest in the future of orthopaedics and, most importantly, in the health and well-being of our patients.”