Congratulations! On June 12, 2009, at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), Douglas R. Dirschl, MD, Frank C. Wilson Distinguished Professor and Chairman of UNC Department of Orthopaedics, was elected by the membership to enter the presidential line of the American Orthopaedic Association. This commitment, which begins immediately, will culminate with Dr. Dirschl serving as the 124th president of the AOA from June 2011 to June 2012.
Founded in 1887, the AOA is the oldest and most distinguished orthopaedic association in the world. It has been the parent of several major orthopaedic organizations, including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, and the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Membership in the AOA is achieved by those who have made a significant contribution to education, research, and the practice of orthopaedic surgery. The AOA is the only orthopaedic organization that so strongly emphasizes a single theme of purpose: leadership in orthopaedics.
Dr. Dirschl has been a member of the AOA since 2001, and has served the organization in a variety of ways. He was program chairman for the 2005 AOA Annual meeting, chaired the American, British, and Canadian Fellowship Committee from 2003-2006, and served as chairman of the AOA Critical Issues Committee from 2006-2009. Additionally, Dr. Dirschl has had an instrumental role in the development and national launch of AOA's Own the Bone Program for fragility fractures and bone health and chairs the Own the Bone Multidisciplinary Advisory Board. Dr. Dirschl also serves on the AOA's Orthopaedic Institute of Medicine Council, a group that recently authored a comprehensive report on the crisis in access to emergency orthopaedic care across the United States.
Dr. Dirschl is the second UNC orthopaedist to serve in the AOA presidential line: Frank C. Wilson, MD, emeritus chief of UNC Orthopaedics, served as president of the AOA in 1987.
