Maybe the best part of my job this year is that I can introduce you to your next AOS president Ned Amendola. Ned's career spans decades during which he's been a pioneer in the technical aspects of surgery, led multiple organizations, and truly has been one of the most influential surgeons of our generation. Born in southern Italy, Ned's family emigrated to Canada, and he spent much of his life and career in Ontario. In fact, he met his wife Allison there in the 10th grade biology. He went on to earn his medical degree and completed his orthopedic residency at the University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada, followed by a fellowship in sports medicine, foot and ankle, and hand surgery. His involvement in college football for the University of Western Ontario included 2 national championship games and 3 years as a first team All-Star. His passion for the sport and his own team physicians inspired him to begin a career in orthopedic surgery. In 2001, Ned moved to Iowa as a professor and director of the sports medicine program, head team physician and chair of the student athlete Healthcare and advisory Committee at the University of Iowa. He then moved in 2015 to Duke, where he currently serves as the division chief for sports medicine and the head team physician and chief medical officer for Duke Athletics. He was named the director of the James R Ubaniac Sports Science Institute and the Virginia Baker Flowers Distinguished Professor. Ned has dedicated his career to leadership and orthopedics, serving on the board of trustees of RAF, past president of AOSSM and the Herodicu Society, the board of directors of ISICAS and ANA. Ned has been academically prolific and won numerous research awards, making him having a lasting impact on our field. His notable achievements, to me, his most notable achievements are not the ones easily searched for or read. He has been a mentor and a leader who has influenced hundreds of young surgeons and continues to push the world forward with collaborative efforts. Moreover, he generally wants the House of Orthopedics to work together and brings the goal of unity to the forefront of our organization. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand and join me in welcoming the ninety-third president of the AOS Doctor Ned Amendola. Well thank you Paul for that uh kind introduction and uh good morning everyone. I love that speech about gratitude, and Paul, I can tell you that I'm in complete agreement. That we have a very strong organization and membership and now is the time to look at our governance moving forward. It is truly an honor to serve you as the next president of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. The academy has a long and rich history. As many past presidents have acknowledged, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Benefiting from the remarkable contributions of the leaders who came before us. As Jim Beaty appropriately stated in his address, when you see a turtle on a fence post, they didn't get there by themselves. I'm one of those turtles. Oh. I need to express my sincere thanks to the long list of individuals who have been my role models and mentors and to those who have given me the opportunities. To contribute To such a great profession and be involved in many leadership roles in the various orthopedic organizations. I want to thank my wife Alison and her family for getting me interested in medicine. Edward J. Blair, um, you see pictured here it was, uh, my father-in-law loved being an orthopedic surgeon and helping his patients. He practiced in Canada, was never happy with the government-driven health care as part of the single payer system. And he ended his career by working in Malawi, Africa for 12 years as the only orthopedic surgeon in the country of 11 million people. He created this uh clinical officers program and he was awarded the Humanitarian award by the academy in 1992. As you heard, I, I trained at Western University in London, uh, Canada, and I need to recognize many individuals, but in particular two individuals who've had a significant impact on me and thank them for their sage advice and counseling over the years. Peter Fowler was the consummate team physician who taught me how to be one. Cecil Rohbeck, who's here today with his wife Linda was the chair of the program in London, Ontario when I was a resident. Taught me how to be a surgeon and leader. We've remained very close. He's a great mentor and friend. So you can see my development took a lot of work it's impossible to mention everyone individually involved. I would like to thank all my colleagues, fellows, residents and students at the University of Western Ontario. At the University of Iowa and presently at Duke University that provided friendship and inspiration and many moments of encouragement throughout my career. Last and most significant, I must express my deepest gratitude to the most important people in my life, my wife Alison, my 4 wonderful children along with their significant others, and our growing family. They've always been there for me supporting our family through every challenge and helping keep me from getting out of line. So while we need to respect our past, the title of my presentation today is really about why the need for change and moving forward and why it's critical for the future success for us not only as individuals but for our profession and the academy. Membership organizations need to continuously evolve to stay relevant and thrive as the world transforms through technology, social movement, global challenges, organizations must adapt to meet the expectations and the needs of their members. And the patients that they serve. A famous Greek philosopher once stated the only constant in life is change. Ben Franklin modified that to add one's ability to adapt to these changes will determine your success in life. And so it's over its long history this organization has consistently shown the ability to adapt to changes in practice, surgical advances, subspecialization, reimbursement and external challenges beyond our control. Personally I'm well acquainted with change and the necessity to adapt. I was born in southern Italy. Calabria, my parents had the courage to leave their homeland and uh and immigrated to Canada for employment. I spent 10 years practicing in Canada where I trained then moved to Iowa in 2001 and now been a Duke for the past decade. Given this history, practicing in very different healthcare systems and then being introduced as the 93rd president of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons is truly the definition of the American dream. We all of us contribute to this great profession on a daily basis, taking care of our patients and I can tell you the academy is well equipped and I can assure you remains committed to supporting all of you. The leadership of the academy is in good hands. I've had the opportunity to work closely on the presidential line with doctors Buddy Savo, Kevin Bozick, Paul Thornetta, and Wilfred Gibson. And congratulations to Michael Parks who'll join us as the next 2nd vice president. I look forward to working with you as well. Along with the past leaders of this organization, all these leaders have had a significant positive impact on the strength and success and have continued to move the academy forward. Unity within the House of orthopedics has consistently been a priority in the messages of many past presidents. Doctor Sawa restored the focus on unity in our orthopedic community, strengthening relationships with our partners, especially societies, state societies, and all groups involved in Moscow's care. Teamwork and unity is essential for this organization to evolve and adapt. Doctor Boze consistently highlighted the critical importance of maintaining a high performing and strategic board of directors at every meeting. His leadership helped ensure that the board remains a vital and intentional component of our organization. In order to evolve and move the organization forward, it's imperative to have an effective board of directors. Both of my predecessors, Doctor Bozick and Torneda underscored the importance of embracing change. In addition, in his address, it's not about me, Doctor Torneta highlighted what matters most to our members, our commitment to patient care. Orthopedic surgery has a profound impact helping patients regain function for work, daily activities, and sports. Every decision we make and every action we take is focused on meeting the needs of the patient before us. A strong team is essential for success and collaboration is deeply ingrained in our organizational philosophy. I want to acknowledge the dedication of the academy staff whose efforts ensure smooth operations and strong support for the board councils and committees. Special thanks to our CEO Tom End and his exceptional team for their unwavering commitment to excellence and keeping us informed and focused. So as a result, here we are 2025, we have a very strong and healthy membership driven organization continuing to make significant strides into the future. It's difficult to cover everything the academy does for our membership, but I just want to give you a couple examples that we are in a very good position. Very strong organization education under the leadership of Andrew Schmidt remains at the core of what the academy provides for our members with a large number of committees and volunteers involved. We continue to lean on our priorities surrounding expertise, engagement and collaboration with our specialist societies while embarking on any potential educational opportunities. In discussions with members and especially societies, there are many strategic questions you you also may be thinking about like does the annual meeting resonate with the current needs and expectations of all our members and stakeholders? The Education council and an annual meeting committee led by Matt Proventer are focused on improving and constantly evaluating what we do. It's amazing to me how much work goes into the annual meeting and all the programming and educational activities. Research and quality are vital in ensuring that orthopedic surgeons deliver optimal care while continuously trying to get better in their practice. The Research and Quality counsel led by David Jessivar have led the way in the application of scientific knowledge and to our practice of orthopedics. The academy continues to support our members through a broad array of quality based initiatives. In addition to many activities last year you saw the publication of 4 new clinical practice guidelines, 8 new appropriate use criteria, and 2 new academy tool kits. All the members can access all of these through the redesigned ortho guidelines app. Since the academy's launch of the registry program over six years ago under the leadership of Bill Maloney, the program's data has consistently contributed to significant advances in the orthopedic community. The family registries continues to exhibit a steady growth, with over 3.8 million procedures recorded across five orthopedic registries. The registry program is committed to its mission to collect clinical information that provides data for performance measurement and quality improvement initiatives. Advocacy continues to be a strong focus of the academy and it should be supporting all orthopedic surgeons and their ability to practice. Adam Bruggeman is the chair of the advocacy council and along with the Office of Government Relations and uh Wayne Johnson leading the orthopedic pack continue to drive our advocacy agenda. It's a new government administration and we will continue to add to the list of priorities here listed on our agenda. So in February a year ago at the annual meeting, the academy approved its next strategic plan for the next 5 years with 4 overarching pillars. Members, patients, culture, and the Mosco hero community. The new strategic plan reflects the academy's continued evolution and growth towards the future and provides direction for our ongoing activities as the leader in muscusketo health and consistent advocates for our members and their patients. Thanks to your dedication, volunteers and staff, we've made significant strides in moving the strategic plan forward. We have worked hard to foster bidirectional communication throughout the year we've held presidential line calls with all specialty and partner societies to engage and support each other in achieving common goals. Additionally, we've attended all the state society meetings to connect with and listen to our members. I've mentioned several times already that patient care is at the center of everything we do as physicians and surgeons. With our surgical skills we make a positive and permanent influence on our patients' lives. And so by increasing patient engagement, advocacy, and education, the academy can have a greater impact on improving musculoskeletal health. In addition, looking at ways to engage patients in understanding, communicating and networking about orthopedic surgery, they can interact with others on the value and the benefit of orthopedic surgery with the new strategic plan we are focused on our members and we'll continue to evolve our organization and culture. Our efforts to modernize governance to ensure an adaptive, inclusive and sustainable organization supports our culture goal. I want to restate the importance of embracing change, adapting, and progressing as an organization. I'm sure that many of you are familiar with this diagram about the life of an organization. The academy is sitting somewhere along this curve. And as you just heard, we've got a very strong organization, but now is the time to make sure we're continuing to move in the right direction. Speaking about change, you're familiar with Larry Dorr, well known in the arthroplasty world, founder of Operation Walk he was one of my patients. He was a big supporter of Iowa, invited us to attend the Rose Bowl game, uh, here, uh, we're in his box between Stanford and Iowa. There was another individual sitting in the corner whom I approached that it happened to be Spencer Johnson, the author of this book Who Moved My Cheese, who is a close friend friend of Larry's. We engaged in a long discussion about his bestseller about change, but really the ability to adapt to change. The point I'm making is that change is a necessity and essential in every organization, including our academy. To support the strategic direction, organizations must embrace governance as an active process, balancing values and traditions with evolving external conditions. Change is essential to ensure relevance, sustainability, and continued value for our members even if the challenges, if it challenges the the comfort of the status quo. So we went through a long process looking at how we can evolve and improve all facets of this organization. We we launched this process with the goal of improving the effectiveness and performance of our board. We provided all the board members with essential information, including comparison data, data reports, bylaws, ensuring everyone had a clear understanding of the current state and the challenges ahead. We focused on one key question what areas should we consider changing to become a more informed and more effective board of directors? Several governance workshops were held with opinion leaders, members, and consultants. Our primary objectives were twofold. To ensure that the board is well informed about the issues that directly impact patient care and second to improve the board's overall performance. So the proposed changes to the bylaws aim to modernize the organization's governance framework ensuring it is both streamlined and responsive to current needs. The revisions will help clarify roles, responsibilities, and procedures, reducing ambiguity and improving operational efficiency. The structure of the nominated committee is also modified in the proposed bylaw changes. It's important to identify leaders who not only possess the expertise to lead the academy but also adaptable, collaborative, and aligned with the organization's mission and values. What's not changing I can assure you we're still going to be a member driven organization. The academy is going to continue to be the voice of all orthopedic surgeons. The academy cares about and wants to collaborate with the entire Muscocial community. So coping with change within an organization and within our profession requires a commitment to continuous improvement, especially in the face of increasing competition and rapid advances in technology. We have to keep our eyes on the ball. Embracing technology such as artificial intelligence and digital health can enhance our efficiency and effectiveness, enabling us to offer more accessible services and streamline operations. However, as we integrate new tools we must remain focused on our core mission and vision, ensuring that technology serves to strengthen, not overshadow our commitment to quality care and and needs of our membership. At the heart of this evolution is the value proposition for our members. We must continually demonstrate how these changes will benefit. Them you whether through improved service delivery, more innovative solutions or greater responsiveness. So in conclusion, it is a great honor for me to serve as your ninety-3rd president and represent you. I am committed to working together to advance our strategic plan while preserving our values of leadership, diversity and innovation that defines our organization. One of our key priorities will be to ensure that our members have the tools, resources and support necessary to meet the evolving demands of your practice and provide exceptional care to your patients. We will be focusing on the patient pillar of our strategy highlighting orthopedic surgery as a leader in Muscocial care. Our commitment to communication and collaboration with all of you, the musculoskele community, especially societies and orthopedic organizations will drive progress in our field and strengthen the profession of orthopedic surgery. I want to thank you all for your attention. And I'll call Paul back on stage.
