The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) strives to champion the interests of patients with musculoskeletal conditions, serve the orthopaedic profession, and advance the highest quality musculoskeletal health. For over 20 years, the AAOS and the National Institutes of Health have collaborated in the development and implementation of annual musculoskeletal research symposia. These symposia allow leaders in academia and industry to discuss and define the state-of-the-art as it pertains to a topical area of orthopaedics/musculoskeletal health and to define future research directions. New developments in musculoskeletal research will benefit the nearly 1 in 3 Americans who suffer from a musculoskeletal condition.
The Specific Aims of these symposia are to: 1) Define the current status of clinical and pre-clinical research and practice in important areas of musculoskeletal medicine;2) Identify areas of need for new or additional research;3) Define needs and opportunities for translating laboratory research into clinical practice;4) Stimulate the current and future research agendas for the musculoskeletal community;5) Provide education to the musculoskeletal community, including practicing physicians, from these symposia in the form of a timely publication on the AAOS Research Development Committee symposia Website, as well as in print, through an existing relationship with the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) and/or the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS);and 6) Promote interaction between stakeholders in the area of musculoskeletal medicine, industry and government. Funding is requested to provide partial support for the next five AAOS/NIH symposia, occurring in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. The following topics will be covered: 2011 Comparative Effectiveness Research: What's the Value? (CER) 2012 Musculoskeletal Oncology (MO) 2013 Developmental Biology and Regeneration in Orthopaedics (DBRO) 2014 Influence of Sex and Gender on Musculoskeletal Health (ISG) 2015 Pain and Orthopaedics (PO) Two or more senior investigators from the relevant disciplines have been selected to co-chair each symposium. Symposium co-chairs ensure the inclusion of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities both as faculty and as invited guests. The co-chairs are responsible for deciding where to hold the symposium and who to invite and developing the strategic questions the sessions will address. They are also responsible for budgets, as well as for overseeing the publication of proceedings and conclusions of the symposium in a timely manner. For the subsequent proposed symposia, chairs have been identified and the goals and context of each topic have been summarized.
Musculoskeletal disorders annually cost the United States $849 billion (7.7% of the gross domestic product), in healthcare services and lost economic productivity. Moreover, musculoskeletal conditions account for almost 507.9 million visits to physicians'offices and 17.5 million hospital discharges annually. As such, nearly one third of Americans suffer from a musculoskeletal impairment that requires active medical care. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons research symposia strive to advance the science of musculoskeletal healthcare by establishing priorities for future research and disseminating the state-of-the-art to the musculoskeletal community so as to improve the lives of Americans and decrease the financial burden to our society.
