Volunteer's Note
The Commercial Support Committee is involved with maintaining and building the all-important relationships between the Hand Society and Industry.
Commercial support for the ASSH has greatly expanded over the last decade, allowing us to avoid increasing registration fees for our Annual Meeting, while at the same time increasing the number of educational activities. Another member benefit resulting from the work of the Commercial Support Committee is the expansion of the Industry Forum program (formerly Product Demonstration Workshops), which takes place in conjunction with the Annual Meeting.
Members of the Commercial Support Committee are continually developing their network of industry contacts to help support and promote ASSH and AFSH initiatives. Committee members, along with members of ASSH/AFSH leadership, also participate in face-to-face meetings with industry throughout the year to discuss new support opportunities and develop long-lasting relationships with our corporate partners.
Each year, committee members spend time on the exhibit floor during both the AAOS Annual Meeting and the ASSH Annual Meeting to reinforce relationships and make new ones. The committee serves as the "eyes and ears" to identify promising new companies and encourage participation in our Elite Partners program.
Outside of the Annual Meeting, industry plays a key role in supporting our small courses, including: the Comp Review Course, lab courses, joint international programs, and the new Regional Industry Forum Program. Commercial support also provides key funding for ASSH research grants and has been instrumental in launching the first of the Comprehensive Hand and Upper Extremity 2-year fellowships. Committee members facilitate industry giving through ongoing communication and help demonstrate the value of supporting ASSH/AFSH activities.
Currently, the CSC is engaged with developing and collecting market research data that can be reported to industry to help support new or improved product development. Several new initiatives under review involve web-based eAlgorithms/eCatalog, as well as an Innovation Greenhouse program to look for novel solutions for our unsolved problems in Hand Surgery.
Edward Diao, MD
Chair, Commercial Support Committee
Apply for Plastic Surgery Visiting Professorship; Deadline June 1
The Plastic Surgery Visiting Professorship Program seeks to encourage plastic surgery residents to pursue a career in hand surgery and to increase involvement with the ASSH.
Each year, six to eight plastic surgery programs are selected to host an ASSH visiting professor– an accomplished plastic hand surgeon who serves as a "role model" for trainees and students.
The 2012-'13 academic year visiting professors are Neil Jones, MD, from the University of California, Irvine (pictured above, left) and Jeffery Friedrich, MD, from the University of Washington (pictured above, right).
If your institution is interested in hosting a visiting professor in the 2012-'13 academic year, please complete the
application form. Visit the
ASSH website for more information. The deadline for applications is June 1, 2012.
AMA Membership Update
AMA rules stipulate that in order to qualify for a seat in the AMA House of Delegates, 25% of our members must be AMA members. Currently, we are 30 members shy of the 25% mark.
Thank you to the ASSH member who notified us this week that she joined or rejoined the AMA since January 1, 2012:
Carrie R. Swigart, MD
Have you joined or rejoined the AMA since January 1, 2012? Please let us know by contacting amitchell@assh.org so we can track the progress of your AMA membership. ASSH will reconcile our membership list with the AMA to get credit for our members. Have your voice heard: Join the AMA.
Could You Use a Hand Surgery Resident and Fellow Fast Track Grant?
The AFSH recognizes that hand surgery residents and fellows can benefit from a research funding mechanism that offers a small amount of funding to seed innovative projects related to hand surgery.
With this in mind, we've established the Hand Surgery Resident and Fellow Fast Track Grants. The scope of the project is smaller, and funding is awarded more quickly than the traditional AFSH basic science and clinical research grants.
Hand surgery fellows or surgical residents in ACGME-accredited programs are eligible to apply. Funding will be limited to one applicant per institution. Up to $4,000 will be awarded per project.
The deadline for proposals is August 1, 2012. Visit the
ASSH website for more information.
Attend the US Bone and Joint Initiative Young Investigators Initiative and Workshop Program
The AFSH will sponsor two ASSH members to attend the 2012 US Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI) Young Investigators Initiative and Workshop Program.
This program is designed to provide early-career clinical investigators an opportunity to work with experienced researchers in our field and to assist them in securing funding and other survival skills required for pursuing an academic career.
This workshop series is open to promising junior faculty, senior fellows, or post-doctoral researchers who wish to secure funding for hypothesis-driven research. It is also open to senior fellows who are doing research and have a faculty appointment in place or confirmed.
The deadline to apply is July 15, 2012. Visit the
ASSH website for more information.
Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) is delighted to announce the establishment of an orthopaedics program in Ethiopia linked with the Black Lion Hospital and the Myungsung Christian Medical Center in Addis Ababa.
Black Lion Hospital is an 800-bed government hospital on the grounds of Addis Ababa University and is the major referral hospital for the country. In 2007, a four-story rehabilitation facility was opened, which houses the Departments of Orthopedics and Physiotherapy.
Myungsung Christian Medical Center was opened in 2004. It has six operating rooms and 95 beds, with 11 ICU beds. Two trained orthopaedic surgeons and residents from the Black Lion Hospital rotate through this center for clinical training.
The focus of the program will be to provide teaching and training to physicians, residents, and medical students in trauma, pediatric orthopaedics, knee arthroscopy, hand and upper extremity, foot and ankle, spine, general orthopaedics and other orthopaedic areas as needed. Volunteers will provide training in a variety of ways, including conducting ward rounds, surgical demonstrations, bedside training and didactic lectures. Lectures will be provided to both residents and medical students during their various academic modules.
There will be four to six volunteers recruited each year for two- to four-week assignments. Volunteers should be active or retired physicians who are board eligible/certified in orthopaedics. Final-year residents will be accepted if paired with an attending physician.
For more information, contact Andrea Moody at
a.moody@hvousa.org or 202-296-0928, ext. 19.
Thank You to AFSH Donors
Gregory M. Alberton, MD
Jack Choueka, MD
Oriente A. DiTano, MD
Steven C. Haase, MD
James C. Johns, MD
John G. Kelly
Moheb S. Moneim, MD
Jose J. Monsivais, MD
Paul F. Nassab, MD
Steven S. Shin, MD
Nicole L. Strauss, MD
The AFSH Annual Report was sent out April 14. If you haven't had a chance to review it, you can
read it here.
Did you know you can now support the Foundation (AFSH) through automated monthly payments? Visit www.afsh.org/donate to complete an auto-pay form, or contact afsh@assh.org.
Medicare Report Confirms Need to Prevent Pay Cut of Nearly 30 Percent - from AMA
A report released Monday by the Medicare board of trustees highlights the need for congressional intervention to stop a devastating cut to physician payments.
The
2012 Medicare Trustees Report, which outlines the Medicare program's financial state, explains that current legislation leaves physicians facing a nearly 30 percent cut in Medicare payments beginning January 1. The cut would come after a decade of nearly frozen payment rates, during which time the cost to care for patients has increased by more than 20 percent. Unable to afford the expenses of caring for Medicare patients, many physicians already have been forced to leave the program, as confirmed by a
2010 survey.
Read more.
The authors observed mice lacking an intestinal vitamin D receptor and found that the mice still had normal serum calcium levels even when given a low-calcium diet. Increasing vitamin D levels stimulated bone turnover and suppressed bone matrix mineralization, resulting in extensive hyperosteoidosis, and hypomineralization of the entire bone cortex.
The authors state that the findings indicate that maintaining normocalcemia appears to have priority over skeletal integrity in mice.
Read the complete study.