AAOS 2024 Annual Meeting: In San Francisco this week, I can't wait to meet up with friends and colleagues, learn all the newest and latest things going on in my specialty, and take a look at the Exhibit Hall and see what's new in the world. Welcome to the 2024 AAOS Annual Meeting in San Francisco. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to serve our over 39,000 members as the President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, which is the premier orthopaedic specialty society in the world. The Academy remains the premier place to see all of orthopaedics all in one spot and the best place to catch up with old friends, especially those that aren't in your specialty. So I'm excited to see some of the new research for orthopaedics and also some of the new technologies. I think the sheer size and scope of this event is what truly sets the bar. This is one of the few conferences where you can meet orthopaedic surgeons from all throughout the world. For me, one of the things I'm really excited about is meeting up with one of my mentors. She's actually over on the east coast and I'm here on the west coast, so I'm looking forward to reconnecting. It's great to get that in person connection. Yes, it's easier to maybe do things remote. But there is something to be said about actually being in person. It's organic. It gives you a chance to see the people who are doing things similar to you. But also learning a new technique. Maybe there's a different way I could be negotiating with a payor source. Maybe I do want to do that MBA. Those are the kind of connections you really can't get unless you're in person. There's so many things you can do. I mean, you can look at the posters, if you want something more interactive, you can look at surgical techniques in the OrthoLive and Ortho Video Theater. You can wander into the podium presentations and hear what sort of cutting edge research is going on all over the place and you can develop your career at the Career Center. So there's a lot of different things you can do with the Academy. I'm excited today to see an ICL. There's a lot of good ICLs here. Actually, this is my first AAOS and so it will be my first ICL this afternoon that I'll go to, so I'm excited. I'll be looking forward to learning tips from experts and other strategies on how to set myself up well for early practice. I think the caliber of educators here, clearly, these are all people who are experts in their field who have done a ton of research, both well known and very well versed on the topic they're talking about. What we have is a truly innovative program. We have things like OrthoDome. It's unbelievable. You can see the scratches on the retractors. OrthoPitch, talking about innovation, what we can do to help our patients get better, how to get them back, more efficient, safer and faster. The pitch is going to be what type of product, what type of innovation have you come up with? The best thing about the Academy is just if you're a geek like we are and we get immersed in this stuff and there's something around every corner I told you, I'm not part of this tonight. I'm just a fan in OrthoDome, hearing about the pitch competition. Because of the innovation that comes out of here. It's where the world comes to learn orthopaedics. Right behind me is the fabulous Exhibit Hall, where you get the opportunity to see everything that's been on the market and things that are possibly coming to the market and just learn new and innovative ways to take care of our patients. It's like every possible device company you ever could imagine and some that you can't imagine. Of course, the level of knowledge that is being shared here is outstanding. This is the third year in a row that we'll have Happy Hour in the Hall. Come and enjoy a drink, intermingle with your colleagues, go to the booths, learn something from industry. It's a great time for everyone. For us Chileans is very important to be here as a Guest Nation, it's a real honor for us. The Academy is a great place to learn, to teach, discover new research. But in addition to that, there's a lot of fun here. When I think about the Annual Meeting, one of the things that I always consider for myself is I'm coming not for me, but on behalf of my patients. And when I get here, I see that there's 10,000 other people doing exactly the same thing. So everyone who shows up at this meeting, they're not coming here because they want to have a good dinner, although hopefully they do. They're coming here because they want to do better for their patients. Because everything that we do as orthopaedic surgeons is founded not in ourselves, but in those we serve.
