President's Message
By Joel D. Stewart, MD
VOS President
Joel D. Stewart, MD
VOS President
Dear Virginia Orthopaedic Society Members,
For those who were not at the 2008 Annual Meeting in Wintergreen, you missed a great time and an outstanding meeting. Congratulations to Drs. Douglas Boardman and Mark Willis for their work in making the meeting such a success. Drs. Thornhill and Iannotti were great speakers and presented interesting new research and reviews.
I was inducted as President at the meeting, taking over for Dr. Wilford Gibson. As a brief introduction, I have been living in Virginia since 1993, when I started my internship at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth. I have “homesteaded” in Tidewater, completing a ship tour, residency, a fellowship in foot and ankle, before returning to Portsmouth. I have served on the VOS Board of Directors for four years, first as a member at large and as a representative from the military. I am getting out of the Navy this summer, but am staying in Virginia Beach.
There are many military orthopaedic surgeons in all of the services serving in Virginia. I am happy to let them know, like the AAOS, the VOS has a discounted rate for military membership.
Dr. Gibson and the Board worked with Cal Whitehead to create an agreement with Physical Therapists regarding access to care, which was a major issue last year. This year, the issue for the VOS and the Medical Society of Virginia is the Malpractice Cap which is due to “expire.” The VOS website has more information about how to help with this issue. For those of you who want to contribute to the Ortho-PAC, links are available at www.vos.org and on the Legislative News page of this newsletter .
For those members who haven’t made it to the meetings in Charlottesville or Wintergreen, we have changed the meeting format over the past two years. We still have basic science and new research from the teaching programs and others, but the meetings also feature Virginia surgeons speaking on clinical topics of interest, encouraging clinical case-based discussion.
The 2009 Annual Meeting will be at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront, a beautiful setting on the water. We plan on trying to maximize the Continuing Medical Education while still allowing you time with your family at the beach. If you have specific topics you would like our chairmen Drs. Robert Gaines, from NMCP, and Romney Anderson, from Walter Reed in DC to cover, let us know.
I look forward to serving the Virginia Orthopaedic Society. Get the word out to your local colleagues, who may or may not be members. If they are members, encourage them to come to the 2009 Annual Meeting, and if they're not members, let them know about VOS and the benefits of joining.
Joel D. Stewart, MD
President, Virginia Orthopaedic Society