ORS brings clinicians, biologists, engineers together to promote orthopedic research

Membership for the society has increased nearly 50% in the last decade.

Issue: October 2012

Founded in 1954, the Orthopaedic Research Society has a rich history of furthering musculoskeletal research through a multidisciplinary approach.

The society has two main arms to accomplish this goal: the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, which was created in 1983 as a venue for orthopedic surgeons to learn about the latest developments in musculoskeletal research, and the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Annual Meeting.

The notion of an annual meeting was conceived by a small group of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) members, including Philip D. Wilson Sr., MD, who wanted a conference focused on orthopedic research. Eleven presentations were given at the first ORS meeting, held in 1954.

Basic science focus

Joseph A. Buckwalter, MD, a long-time ORS member, noted that the draw of the ORS meeting — basic science research — was influenced by such society co-founders as Ignacio V. Ponseti, MD, who was the society’s first president.

“He came to the United States from Spain, did his orthopedic training here in the U.S. and went on to found a laboratory devoted to connective tissue biochemistry,” Buckwalter said. “He was trying to find the causes of scoliosis and other skeletal deformities. He did basic science research and was one of the leaders of the group that wanted a high-quality orthopedic research meeting.”

Frequently, the ORS annual meeting was held in conjunction with the AAOS annual meeting and was known for bringing orthopedic surgeons, biologists, engineers and bioengineers together to discuss musculoskeletal issues.

“Many of us old-timers yearn for the days when the ORS meeting was a single track, and all those biologists and clinicians and bioengineers were in the same room listening to the same papers,” Timothy M. Wright, PhD, of Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, told Orthopedics Today.

Current Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) president Theodore Miclau III, MD (right) meets with past president Brian Johnstone, PhD, at the 2012 annual meeting.

Images: Orthopaedic Research Society

Rapid growth

The society has continued to increase steadily. Its membership of 1,800 in 2002 increased to 2,700 in 2012. Wright noted such growth has made it somewhat difficult for attendees to interact with others in different professional disciplines. Past ORS President Adele L. Boskey, PhD, said the ORS plans to introduce networking sessions for members across specialties to further to facilitate these interactions.

“[The meeting] is a forum for presentation, but more than that, it is in the halls outside the meeting that people interact, and it gives the opportunity for people from opposite sides of the country or opposite sides of the world to get together, discuss data, plan experiments and plan research articles,” she told Orthopedics Today.

Current ORS President Theodore Miclau III, MD, noted that the membership of the ORS has grown with that of the AAOS, making it difficult to accommodate both meetings in a combined setting.

“Because both organizations have grown substantially, it has become increasingly difficult to put on both meetings at the same time from a logistics standpoint,” he told Orthopedics Today.

In 2011, the ORS held its first annual meeting separate from the AAOS annual meeting. While the ORS meeting was successful, society leaders noticed a lack of orthopedic surgeons and international members. In 2012, the ORS and AAOS resumed having a combined meeting.

“While we met separately in 2011 and will in 2013, the ORS board is working hard with the academy with planning on co-locating the remaining meetings in 2014 and beyond,” Miclau said.

The issue goes beyond deciding on whether to have separate or combined meetings with the AAOS.

PAGE BREAK

Jo A. Hannafin, MD, PhD, (left) 2009 winner of the ORS Women’s Leadership Award is pictured with Adele L. Boskey, PhD.

“I think societies often feel, correctly so, that one of the ways they thrive is to get bigger. But getting bigger comes with logistical nightmares. What do you want to accomplish? Where do you want to focus your efforts in disseminating information? I think that is where the academy becomes important,” Wright said. “I would make the argument, the Academy needs the ORS and the ORS needs the Academy.”

Moving forward

In 2010, the ORS met to discuss a 5-year plan, which included working with other research-based organizations to develop international collaborations and to support the growth of other national orthopedic research societies.

“We have to try to keep the society interesting and relevant to these growing fields, while at the same time, we are the one organization that has all the different disciplines under our umbrella,” Miclau said.

Another challenge the organization faces is the emergence of other research meetings with ties to orthopedic societies. “I think the challenge is to figure out innovative ways on how to play that role at a time where everyone’s attention span is shorter just because there is so much information out there,” Wright said. – by Jeff Craven

Adele L. Boskey, PhD, is Starr Chair in Mineralized Tissue Research at the Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th St., New York, NY, 10021; email: boskeya@hss.edu.

Joseph A. Buckwalter, MD, can be reached at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Dr., Iowa City, IO, 52242; email: joseph-buckwalter@uiowa.edu.

Theodore Miclau III, MD, can be reached at the Orthopaedic Trauma Institute, San Francisco General Hospital, 2550 23rd St., Building 9, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94110; email: miclaut@orthosurg.ucsf.edu.

Timothy M. Wright, PhD, can be reached at 535 East 70th St., New York, NY, 10021; email: wright@hss.edu.

Disclosures: Buckwalter is on the board of directors for Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation and is a consultant for ISTO Technologies and Bioventus. Miclau is the committee chair of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and a consultant for Merck and Amgen Co. Wright receives an honorarium from the ORS for editing the Journal of Orthopaedic Research. Boskey has no relevant financial disclosures.