AO Trauma Latin America – Annual Report 2022

The largest global group of dedicated orthopedic and trauma surgeons and researchers striving for excellence and volunteering for a common goal.

2022 Highlights

Members

Educational Events

Participants

Articles Published with our direct support

Fellowships completed

Governance

Regional Board

The AO Trauma Latin America Regional Board is composed of the following members:

Rodrigo Pesantez

Chairperson

Term of office:
01 Jul 2020 – 30 Jun 2023

Jorge Barla

Chairperson Elect

Term of office:
01 Jul 2020 – 30 Jun 2023

Paulo Barbosa

Education

Term of office:
01 Jul 2021 – 30 Jun 2024

Miguel Zublin

Community Development

Term of office:
01 Jul 2021 – 30 Jun 2024

Vincenzo Giordano

Research & Development

Term of office:
01 Jul 2020 – 30 Jun 2023

Antonio Machado

Regional Manager

Since:
01 Aug 2020

Country Councils

In addition, countries have their own governing bodies to support the regional operation. The AO Trauma country chapter is a means to consolidate the aspirations and unique needs of national groups and provide opportunities for local members to get involved. A country chapter is managed by an elected AO Trauma Country Council.

Education

Educational Activities

AO Trauma provides high quality educational activities to thousands of surgeons and health-care professionals each year. In Latin America, 51 educational events were held for 3,109 participants in 2022.

Complete Activities Reports

Education Highlights

AO Regional Courses 2022 Latin America

In its very first edition, Regional Courses were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2022.

The event featured seven courses over a full week, covering five AO clinical divisions. Over 130 of the world’s leading experts in trauma, spine, craniomaxillofacial, veterinary, and reconstructive surgery gathered in Rio to share their knowledge and experience in a dynamic, comprehensive, and interactive event with more than 400 surgeons.

Jubilee Project

As part of the AO’s 60th anniversary celebrations, the AO Trauma Latin America Regional Board—in its effort to advance the AO’s mission of promoting excellence in the care and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders—presented an AO Jubilee project to improve the outcome in open tibial shaft fractures in Central American countries. Supported by the AO Jubilee Fund, this AO Trauma Latin America project is making headway in its aim to educate local surgeons on the management of open tibial fracture resulting from road traffic accidents.

Hospital Based Seminars

Events based on hospitals or clinics are an excellent choice in terms of time efficiency, convenience, and educational value. We continue to hold events in the most diverse hospitals in our region.

AO In-hospital

Designed exclusively for AO Trauma faculty, it is a stress-free way to organize high-quality, regular, in-hospital training events for junior orthopedic trauma surgeons, residents, and general trauma surgeons.

Faculty Development

Our faculty training programs provide the framework for exploring a variety of teaching methods, with emphasis on practical skills, and for guiding participants through the specifics needed to deliver high-impact lectures. They also demonstrate how to lead interactive discussion groups and effectively run practical exercises.

Network Development

Latin America Members Trend 2019-2022

Membership per countries

Brazil

Members

Registered users

Mexico

Members

Registered users

Chile

Members

Registered users

Colombia

Members

Registered users

Guatemala

Members

Registered users

Peru

Members

Registered users

Argentina

Members

Registered users

Ecuador

Members

Registered users

Paraguay

Members

Registered users

Venezuela

Members

Registered users

Others

Members

Registered users

Congresses and exhibitions

Throughout the year, we had the pleasure of participating in a number of congresses by partner societies.

LXVII Congreso Nacional de Ortopedia de la Ciudad de Mexico

Colegio Mexicano de Ortopedia y Traumatología (CMO)

April 27 - May 1
🇲🇽 Mexico City

XXVII Congresso de Trauma Ortopédico

Sociedade Brasileira de Trauma Ortopédico (SBTO)

May 18 - 21
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro

XXXII Congreso Nacional de Ortopedia y Traumatología

Federación Mexicana de Colegios de Ortopedia y Traumatología (FEMECOT)

October 26 - 29
🇲🇽 Veracruz

52 Congreso Peruano de Ortopedia y Traumatología

Sociedad Peruana de Ortopedia y Traumatología (SPOT)

September 21 - 24
🇵🇪 Lima

XII Congreso Paraguayo de Ortopedia y Traumatología

Sociedad Paraguaya de Ortopedia y Traumatología (SPOT)

October 5 - 7

🇵🇾 Asuncion

XXII Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Panameña de Ortopedia y Traumatología

Sociedad Panameña de Ortopedia y Traumatología (SPOT)

October 27 - 29

🇵🇦 Panama

XLII Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Dominicana de Ortopedia

Sociedad Dominicana de Ortopedia y Traumatología (SDOT)

December 2

🇩🇴 Provincia de Altagracia

Community Grants

To support AO Trauma’s consistent growth worldwide, we offer countries the opportunity to apply for Community Grants to fund events and activities that promote diversity and enhance myAO usage and engagement. Here are the results from this year!

Argentina

Social media management

Brazil

Annual Brazilian Trauma Meeting attendance, video production

Chile

Social media management

Colombia

Social media management

Guatemala

Giveaways

Mexico

Social media management

Paraguay

Hospital visits

Uruguay

Faculty dinner

Hospital Visits

In order to reach out to the next generations of surgeons and to introduce them to the AO, its principles, and the educational and research opportunities offered by the foundation, as well as the membership programs and benefits the country council members organized visits to several hospitals in their home countries.

Three pilot editions were held in 2022:

🇨🇴 Manizales

September 23

Hospital Universitario de Caldas

80 participants

Chairperson

🇨🇴 Julian Escobar

Faculty

🇨🇴 Amparo Gomez
🇨🇴 Claudia Medina
🇨🇴 Carlos Valderrama

🇨🇴 Popayan

November 25

Hospital Susana López de Valencia

82 registered participants

Chairperson

🇨🇴 Juan Manuel Concha

Faculty

🇨🇴 Alejandro Sandoval
🇨🇴 Amparo Gomez
🇨🇴 José Luiz Osma
🇨🇴 Rodrigo Pezantez

🇵🇾 Asunción

December 22

Hospital de Especialidades Quirúrgicas INGAVI (IPS)

No previous registration

Chairperson

🇵🇾 Jorge Sisa

Faculty

🇦🇷 Carlos Sancineto
🇵🇾 Osvaldo González
🇵🇾 Ramón Burró

Podcast

Close and Personal is a series of podcasts created to show the personal side of renowned trauma and orthopedic surgeons in the region and worldwide. Interviewed by one of their peers in a friendly and informal setting, guests talk about life and the things they are most passionate about in addition to their professional work.

All episodes are available on Spotify:

Fellowship

The AO Trauma Fellowship Program offers a unique educational experience to the most promising young surgeons in the entire field of orthopedic surgery. With this program, AO Trauma provides a gateway to our worldwide network and fosters cross-pollination and networking opportunities across our global community.

Fellows have the opportunity to learn from leading AO Trauma experts in carefully selected and renowned centers, covering the entire scope of orthopedic surgical procedures performed around the world. The duration of the AO Trauma fellowship program ranges from 6 to 12 weeks.

Fellowship programs performed during the year in Latin America:

Short-term Call

Total applicants

Completed

Visit the Expert

Total applicants

Completed

2022 call for fellowship programs to be held in 2023:

Short-term Call

Total applicants

Visit the Expert

Total applicants

Applicants Country for the 2023 Short-term Program

7

6

5

3

2

1

Research

AO Trauma Latin America stimulates research as a tool to capacitate surgeons. We offer different opportunities in order to encourage our members to continue researching, learning and improving patient care. We also provide specific tools to help them to conduct their scientific studies, such as:

Orientation on how to develop a scientific paper
Assistance to launch surveys and to analyze statistical data
Proofreading for translations prior to publication
Peer review
Guidance on how to submit a publication

Grupo de Apoyo a la Investigación (GAI)

The Grupo de Apoyo a la Investigación (GAI) is a group who meet regularly to discuss research projects and plan activities. Members of the region can submit their scientific research proposals to receive scientific mentoring and specific financial support.

Throughout the year, the group met on several occasions to further discuss the projects in the region:

February 24th – Online
May 17th and 18th – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
August 25th – Online
November 17th – Online

Vincenzo Giordano

Amparo Gómez

Carlos Valderrama

Fernando Bidoleguli

Guido Carabelli

Jorge Velarde

José Arturo Xicará

Marco Altamirano

Matheus Azi

Robinson Pires

William Belangero

In 2022, the group was involved in 19 ongoing projects, of which:

have been concluded and published

has been accepted

are still ongoing

The group also promoted a Research Symposium during the XXVII Congresso Brasileiro de Trauma Ortopédico (CBTO), on May 18, 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the participation of 60 attendees.

Several online Talk Shows were also conducted:

Liderazgo, Educación, Investigación en Latin America: buscando lo mejor de los tres

March 8

74 participants

Contributors

🇧🇷 Vincenzo Giordano
🇨🇴 Claudia Medina
🇲🇽 Claudia Arroyo

Investigación colaborativa y de asociación: motivaciones, necesidades, desafíos y recompensas

August 23

64 participants

Contributors

🇧🇷 Vincenzo Giordano
🇦🇷 Fernando Bidolegui
🇧🇷 Robinson Pires

Cuatro manos son mejores que una: acciones conjuntas y estudios transversales en América Latina

November 8

53 participants

Contributors

🇧🇷 Vincenzo Giordano | AO Trauma
🇦🇷 Emilio Fantin | AO Trauma
🇧🇷 Nelson Astur | AO Spine
🇦🇷 Diego Quinteros | AO VET
🇧🇷 Nicolas Homsi | AO CMF

Injury Journal Supplement

The AO Trauma Latin America road map of research

AO Trauma members from Latin America conducting research can learn more about the open call for the Injury Journal supplement by following the links below. The supplement will contain up to 30 articles and aims to promote Latin American members’ orthopedic trauma research and stimulate the growth of scientific studies in the region.

AO Trauma Research Olympiad

For the first time, the AO Trauma Research Commission organized an AO Trauma Research Olympiad. Each region selected two candidates, who were invited to Davos to present their research projects in the competition. The project, led by Peter Giannoudis 🇬🇧, underscored the importance of research, fostered a culture of clinical and basic science research, and strengthened the bonds between the AO Trauma regions through a spirit of respectful competition.

Projects had to be original clinical research that had not been published or presented in the 6 months prior to the application for participation in the AO Trauma Research Olympiad.

Latin America was represented by Gonzalo Guillermo Garcia 🇦🇷 and Tiago Baumfeld 🇧🇷. Baumfeld was awarded a medal for the research project titled “Biomechanical cadaveric model validation and comparison of synthetic neoligamentplasty and transarticular screws in Lisfranc subtle lesions.”

AO Trauma Latin America’s Tiago Baumfeld of Brazil won the silver medal in the first-ever AO Trauma Research Olympiad, conducted during the AO Davos Courses 2022 in Davos, Switzerland, in December.