Stand Up and Be Counted 2008*

Abstract

It is an honor and pleasure for me to address you as the incoming 121st President of the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA). Today, I will speak to you about the AOA's commitment to leadership and how, through recent changes in its activities, it has embraced the challenge to “stand up and be counted.” But, first, I want to mention how my institution, the New York Orthopaedic Hospital, has been closely associated with the AOA and how I chose the title “Stand Up and Be Counted.” The New York Orthopaedic Hospital and Dispensary was founded in 1866, and there have been nine directors1. The Hospital sold its building in 1950 and became part of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and now New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University. Of the nine directors, three have been presidents of the AOA: Newton M. Shaffer, Harold M. Dick, and myself. Newton M. Shaffer, our second director, was one of the founders of the AOA. As nicely outlined in Dr. Urbaniak's A History of the American Orthopaedic Association, a preliminary meeting to discuss the formation of the AOA was held in Shaffer's New York apartment2. The AOA was formed in 1887 as the first orthopaedic association of its kind, and Newton Shaffer was the second president in 1888, following Virgil Gibney. The third director of the New York Orthopaedic Hospital, Russell A. Hibbs, one of the most famous orthopaedic surgeons in the history of our profession, was initially rejected. It appears that several influential AOA members did not like the manner in which he replaced Newton Shaffer as director of the New York Orthopaedic Hospital, and they blocked his admission. However, he was later unanimously accepted on the merit of his work concerning spinal fusion. Harold Dick was our eighth director …