Abstract
This is a visual representation of the abstract.
Video Transcript
We . . . We are a part . . . We are a part of all that we have met . . .
“We are a part of all that we have met”—Simple words. Truly simple words. But when placed together, they have such depth, such texture, such meaning, and as such, words that are part of a most famous verse written by someone much more eloquent than me. And yet, I would say, those simple, but special words, “we are a part of all that we have met” also epitomize this most special organization—AOSSM.
Conceived in the minds of legendary physicians nearly half a century ago; forged with the determination of great leaders; nurtured and cultivated by the passion, by the commitment, and by the expertise of countless members; always guided and sustained by the most talented, focused, and devoted professional team—so many of whom are here in this hall right now—evolving and enduring the most difficult and challenging of times and celebrating the most rewarding and most impactful of times—AOSSM—a mere thought at first, scribbled on a napkin, founded on the pillars of education, of research, of publishing, and of fellowship and that has grown aided by the momentum of—
Collaboration
Engagement
Mentorship
Advocacy
And that is the essence of a timeless, a peerless organization; an organization today that is the premier global sports medicine society, supporting the efforts of orthopedic surgeons and other sports healthcare specialists in their quest to care for athletes and active people of all sizes, all shapes, all ages, all sports, all levels of competition and abilities—that is AOSSM.
I am certainly a part of all that I have met. Again, simple words. But those simple words have been such a large part of my life, our life as a family. Our children have heard them recited over and over and over and applied to every conceivable life situation. And in fact they’re all smiling right now. They joke that those words helped them on their college, graduate school, and professional applications, and at least I know now that they were listening to me! And now, finally, I get to use them—for me, for us! But I do deeply believe “We are a part of all that we have met.”
But who am I a part of? Personally? Academically? Professionally? Well Jim Bradley has given you a glimpse into my life. I was fortunate to be part of a most supportive, loving family growing up in the very industrious, truly gritty, northeast corner of Pennsylvania in a town made famous by coal, by electricity, and of course by “The Office.”
My parents owned and operated a family business with a long history in Scranton. They taught our family the importance of hard work, determination, compassion, kindness, and generosity. My 4 siblings, Billy, Angela, Michele, and Tommy, have all taken different paths in life, but have done so with that same determination, kindness, and compassion. They remain a central part of my life, and I am so very proud to call them my sisters and brothers.
Educationally, I’ve been so very fortunate through Scranton Prep High School, Holy Cross College, Georgetown University Medical School, Thomas Jefferson University Residency, and Kerlan-Jobe Sports Medicine Fellowship. Those years were formative in so many ways and have given me the closest friendships of life. But most importantly, it was during that time that I met the love of my life, Patti. She is no doubt my far better half. She makes me so much better than I would ever have been. Those years from Boston to Washington, and then Philadelphia to Los Angeles, were highlighted by the most important events of my life—our wedding and the births of our 4 children, Michael, Matthew, Emma, and Caroline—changing our lives forever in the very best way.
But after finishing fellowship, we returned to Philadelphia, to the Rothman Institute and Thomas Jefferson, inspired by Dick Rothman who fiercely promoted the dual mission of clinical and academic excellence. And since, I have had the humbling opportunity to watch a Sports Medicine Program grow from 2 surgeons in 1992 to now 25 fellowship-trained surgeons in 2021, who I am truly blessed to call partners—all so much smarter, so much more talented, so much more eloquent, and certainly so much better looking than me—guided by a Rothman and Jefferson Operational Staff who are peerless and who, day in and day out, provide the highest level of care to so many athletes. I thank them all for being a part of all that I have met.
During these past 30 years, I’ve been particularly impacted by my opportunity to participate in the care of the Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Team, learning the importance of collaboration and engagement as a medical staff with our outstanding athletic trainers, Major League Baseball’s Team Physicians Association, Medical Advisory Committee, and Commissioner’s Office. But particularly memorable was the 2008 season, not just because of the World Series, which certainly was amazing, but because it taught me how incredibly difficult it is for an athlete and for a team to win at that most elite level, physically, and as this meeting has taught us, mentally and emotionally. And in homage to Frank Jobe taught me one of life’s lessons. The Phillies had just quite dramatically eliminated Dr Jobe’s Dodgers from the National League Championship to move into the World Series, and Dr Jobe wasting no time, immediately called me. His words remain with me, “Michael, I taught you to be more respectful to your elders,” and I could just see him smiling through the phone. And he went on to say, “Don’t let the pressure of life’s events prevent you from enjoying what will be one of the most memorable of times”—words that transcend any one event, and he was so very right.
But also my time working on the Orthopaedic Learning Center Board of Directors has shown me the importance of collaborating with other societies for a common cause: the education of others. I thank the outstanding staff of the Orthopaedic Learning Center (OLC) led by CEO Lise Puckorius for the opportunity to serve.
And then there’s my time with AOSSM. I have been so very fortunate to have a long history with this great society, more than 30 years inspired by those who educated, who collaborated, who engaged, who mentored, who advocated at Skills Courses, at Specialty Days, at Annual Meetings—so many of whom are in this audience—and since then having the humbling opportunity to serve AOSSM. But most importantly honored to have the future of sports medicine, young emerging physicians, including people for whom I care so deeply, engage in, learn from, and benefit by all that is this great organization!
But most importantly, who am I personally? Well, I’m this—my family. This is how I would hope to be defined because I am so very much, ever so thankfully, a part of all this.
Caroline, your fortitude, your global earth consciousness, your awareness of all that is good and kind and healthy, your deep artistic sense, your compassionate touch, your sheer presence—and now even more with Ray.
Emma, your focus, your passion for life, your organization, your perseverance, your emotional insight, and your gentleness and care for all, your sheer presence—and now even more with Ren and Finn and of course Brooks.
Matt, your exuberance, your playfulness, your humor, your life balance, your keen awareness of others, your sheer presence—and now even more with Kelly and certainly Kia.
Michael, your resilience, your diligence, your fortitude, your intellect, your sports medicine acuity, your humbleness and kindness, your sheer presence—and even more with Aidan and certainly Frankie and Kerfluffle.
And then there’s Patti. Thank you for inspiring me to be better, for taking care of me through all of it, for being my compass, my beacon, my soulmate, the most important part of all that I have met. Your kindness and generosity and beauty are limitless. I love you deeply.
And so I am a part of all that I have met, for which I am so fortunate, because all that, all of you make me so much better than I would ever have been if not for you.
And so, we understand the importance of walking that path of life together and recognizing how we are a part of each other. But how does that help us to better deal with the immense pressure, the intensity, and the complexity of Sport, of caring for the athlete in 2021, during this most challenging time? Let’s watch this video that I think speaks to this immense pressure, this intensity, this complexity—The Jungle, by Jamie N Commons and X Ambassadors. You can feel it. It’s deep. It’s palpable. It is so very real. It’s sports as we now know it—real time. And these athletes navigate this pressure throughout their athletic careers. But their ability to navigate is dependent on a variety of qualities. And after a year with so many challenges and largely devoid of organized sports, it’s most appropriate for us to take pause right now and truly consider those qualities, those rarest of qualities to which they aspire.
There must be a starting point, a raw, natural degree of talent or expertise; the ability to visualize in 0.25 seconds from a distance of 60′ 6″ the precise position that a 5¼-ounce round mass of cork and rubber and yarn and leather propelled at 100 mph will be in space in order to contact it with a 33-ounce honed piece of maple – that is raw, natural talent that very few people on this planet possess.
But coupled with that talent is a measurable degree of repetitive training. Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours speaks to this phenomenon. That concept was originally applied to music, but does simply “practice make perfect”?
Well, in elite sports, certainly not. These truly gifted athletes possess, in addition to raw talent and grueling training, an intuition, epitomized in the memorable Game 5 World Series play by Chase Utley in the 2008 Classic that arguably won the World Series; no time to think where to throw the ball, just do it.
Is there anything more? Well of course. There is a deep, profound determination, epitomized in the iconic scene from the movie Rocky as he runs up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, a true Philadelphia favorite, made even more memorable, by the equally iconic Rocky music.
But these athletes must also be able to manage the most intense stress, balancing the enormous physical challenge of the sport with the equally enormous mental pressure as our Presidential Guest Speaker, Eddie George, has shown us.
And laced through all that is a true bravado. When that pivotal moment occurs, “I want the ball, or the puck, or the bat!”
But the most successful athletes also possess a keen sense of both Self and Team —“this is my time; this is your time; this is our time.”
And finally, navigating those quintessential moments, as Eddie George so eloquently spoke to in his address. That is what elevates the athlete to the highest level. Knowing that this is THE time, as embodied in the final scene of the movie Whiplash, or Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself”—“when you only get one shot”—and even in Tennyson’s Ulysses, that this is the time “to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.”
All of that rolled together is the intensity, the complexity, the challenge of BEING an athlete today. Not every athlete possesses all those qualities, but they all aspire to them. And all those qualities are eerily remindful of qualities that are also woven through the art of CARING for those athletes, yes, CARING for those athletes. This pressure, this intensity, this complexity exists for us as well as we walk this path of sports in 2021 with our athletes. It’s what we live and we breathe each and every day in our practices. So how do we, as their health care providers navigate that? Well, I would say that we do that by–
Collaborating with each other to learn more
Engaging each other and these great societies
Mentoring those who will follow in these footsteps
Advocating, a-l-w-a-y-s advocating for those we oathed to care for —our athletes
No doubt, though, the challenges of providing care to our athletes in 2021 are formidable and heightened by a year that has changed the way we practice orthopedics, the way we educate, the way we research, and the way we live each and every moment. And during this time, we have been so painfully distanced, so geographically separated. But in spite of all the challenges of this past year, this great society has arguably never been more intellectually, educationally, spiritually connected. And as such, we as a society have accomplished truly great things this past year. Our most recent initiatives are timely; they are poignant; and they have been guided by those 4 core principles that have echoed throughout the year:
Collaboration
Engagement
Mentorship
Advocacy
And so what have we achieved?
In terms of Collaboration, poet John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (John Donne, Devotions 1624). The essence of sports, of playing on a team, lies in cooperation, sharing, and collaboration. And perhaps nowhere more notably has AOSSM collaborated this past year than in this, this truly extraordinary, first-ever Combined AOSSM/AANA Annual Meeting. This meeting has showcased the highest level education and research provided by the world’s leaders in all areas of arthroscopy and sports medicine while also deeply celebrating each great society’s longstanding traditions. I want to sincerely thank Brian Cole, as 2020-2021 President of AANA, for walking this path with us, the AANA Board of Directors and Professional Team, our AOSSM Board of Directors and Professional Team, our Combined Program Committee, including the 4 outstanding Program Chairs (Nik Verma & Kevin Bonner from AANA, and Steve Cohen & Brett Owens from AOSSM). Without the combined, collaborative efforts of all of these people and so many more, this extraordinary event would not have been possible.
But AOSSM has also continued this year other highly impactful collaborative initiatives such as the following:
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has joined AOSSM on our monumental 50th Anniversary Research Initiative. Under the guidance of Academy President Daniel Guy, the Academy Board, and Academy CEO, Tom Arends, the Academy has gifted $100,000 to seed our 50th Anniversary Research Initiative.
In that same collaborative spirit, we have also received $120,000 in funding from OREF that will be focused on sports medicine research through our Emerging Leaders Program. Special thanks to OREF President, Richard Kyle, the OREF Board and CEO, Lee Grossman—truly outstanding collaboration.
We’ve also collaborated with–
The Biologic Association which held its 2nd annual summit here at this annual meeting
FORUM, the Female Orthopaedic Surgeons Society, highlighted here at this annual meeting
ISAKOS in our Global Program Series here in Nashville
ESSKA, SLARD, and APKASS and the multiple US Host Sites for our ongoing Traveling Fellowship Tours
The National Council of Youth Sports newly joined with our rich STOP Campaign to reach more than 60 million youth athletes
NATA in Sports Health circulation
Major League Baseball and the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society for our upcoming 2021 Baseball Course
and The OLC here in Nashville as the inaugural event for the new OLC Mobile Lab and its restructuring under the governance of the Academy
That, all that is Collaboration.
In terms of Engagement, Edward Bond wrote, “If you engage people on a vital, important level, they will respond.” Engagement requires an awareness of that world within which we live and work, a willingness to listen and to see, and a bravery to interact and declare our thoughts. Perhaps nowhere more notably has AOSSM engaged during this past year than through our fundraising efforts with the vitally important and hugely successful AOSSM Million Dollar Drive Campaign. Because of your loyalty and support combined with the matching gifts of philanthropists, Ken Langone and Stan Druckenmiller, this campaign has been the most successful non-named, non-industry funded campaign in AOSSM history and one of the most successful in the history of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and all its Specialty Societies —raising over $2.25 million dollars. The importance and the impact of that CAN NOT be overstated. This fund will allow AOSSM to continue its high level of sports education and impactful research efforts, especially during this uniquely challenging time.
AOSSM has also engaged this year through other truly impactful initiatives such as the following:
Our Medical Publishing Group’s engagement with societies around the world through the American Journal of Sports Medicine (AJSM), with its No #1 orthopaedic journal impact factor, Sports Health thriving with its 3 partner societies, the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine (OJSM) as a leading open access sports journal, our exciting Easy Reider Podcasts initiated at this annual meeting and now, initiated in 2021, our new Video Journal of Sports Medicine (VJSM)
Our AOSSM Council of Delegates, which acts as the direct conduit to our entire membership
Our AOSSM Research Grant Program that has distributed more than $600,000 dollars in grant support this past year
The AOSSM Play Book, our new online learning system and surgical video library
and Our Corporate Advisory Group which engages with all our loyal industry partners
That, all that is Engagement.
In terms of Mentorship, the words of Steven Spielberg resonate: “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” And so to that point, this past year, AOSSM has fostered this ideal of mentorship most notably through our newly created AOSSM Emerging Leaders Program. Designed exclusively for the 43% of AOSSM members who have fewer than 10 years of experience, the purpose of the AOSSM Emerging Leaders Program is to interest, to embrace, and to nurture the highest quality sports physicians in our society by ensuring that their voices are heard as we sculpt the future of AOSSM. We’ve done this through several Emerging Leader initiatives such as our AOSSM Emerging Leaders Nightcaps or virtual small group sessions, the AOSSM Emerging Leaders Resource Center and Educational Zone, and at this 2021 Annual Meeting, the inaugural AOSSM Emerging Leaders Retreat.
In addition to our Emerging Leaders Program, AOSSM also has other impactful mentorship initiatives this past year such as the following:
The AOSSM Fellows Course which initiates all fellows each year to their sports fellowship training
Our AOSSM Leadership Committees which focus on providing participation for residents, fellows, and members below 45 years of age
Our new Virtual Mentorship and Onboarding Orientation
and our highly successful AOSSM Fellows Webinar Series
That, all that is Mentorship.
In terms of Advocacy, the words of William Faulkner are so poignant: “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.” This past year has painfully, but importantly, focused us on advocacy and its challenges that we MUST be aware of and address to be the best we can be for our athletes. The importance of this, of advocacy, epitomized by the words and life of our Presidential Guest Speaker, Eddie George, cannot be overstated. AOSSM has fostered this ideal of advocacy most notably throughout this past year through our powerful, our impactful, and our essential AOSSM Diversity Initiative. In this truly challenging time, AOSSM seeks to advocate for all our athletes and our members regardless of race, gender, age, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and disability through the establishment of this Diversity Initiative which includes such programming as The AOSSM Diversity Task Force that will engage all our leadership and programming through Diversity Webinars, Diversity Education for Membership Onboarding, and AOSSM Pathways to Leadership.
AOSSM has also advocated this year through other highly impactful initiatives such as the following:
Our STOP Campaign which advocates for all youth athletes in all sports
Our Team Physician & Advocacy Committee which has worked in tandem with the US Center for SafeSport
Our involvement in the NCAA Diversity Task Force which advocates for diverse student-athletes
Our development of an Athlete’s Mental Health & Well-Being Tool Kit for all AOSSM Members that has been highlighted at this meeting
All of that, all of that is Advocacy.
Well, these are the profoundly impactful initiatives that we have cultivated throughout the past year that speak to Collaboration, Engagement, Mentorship and Advocacy. And in doing so, we acknowledge what we have done, what we’ve been through, and how we can be better for our athletes, for our families, and for each other. It reminds us again, as Tennyson writes, “We truly are a part of all that we have met.”
But we don’t end here. We can’t drop the mic. We must look to the future. Just asking the questions of how and why is not enough. We must be brave enough to take that step and not be afraid to stumble along the way. As Winston Churchill famously said, “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm” because you see that we must strive to be our best each and every day! Why?
For them, for our patients, for the athletes that we’ve promised to care for. And how do we be our best?
Well, we must collaborate on cutting-edge, emerging research and education, through AOSSM with other sports and orthopaedic societies to share thought and insight on how to be better!
We must engage with each other, with our co-providers, with this great society, AOSSM, and all it has to offer to push the limits of our specialty!
We must mentor the new members of AOSSM who will guide this society in the future to even greater places!
And we must, we must always advocate for our athletes, whether it’s for recovery from their musculoskeletal injuries or prevention of sexual harassment, or gender inequality, or mental illness, or racial and socioeconomic injustice!
Because in doing those things—we lead.
And as we begin this most momentous 50th year for our society, we set the stage for the future of AOSSM. So follow your heart, be true to it, be diligent and focused, be hardworking and inquisitive, be passionate and honest and caring. I didn’t invent that. I learned it from you, from all of you. I learned it from our Presidential Line, Ned Amendola, Chuck Bush-Joseph, Neal ElAttrache, Jim Bradley, Kurt Spindler, and Mark Miller and our CEO Greg Dummer. I learned it from our AOSSM Past Presidents and Board of Directors, from Committee Chairs and Members, from our Professional Team, from mentors, from partners, from friends. I learned it from my family and most certainly, I learned it from you, Patti. And I would say that by following your heart, by doing that, well, we as a society are destined for success.
And so, you see “We are a part of all that we have met.” Those truly simple words by Tennyson transcend all. They transcend profession, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, politics, and certainly, most certainly sports. Those words speak to our hearts. They are palpable; they are real. They are a touchstone as we walk the challenging path, not just of sports medicine, but of life. And when you walk that path with those who have been a part of your life, a part of all that you’ve met . . . Caroline, Emma, Matt, and Michael, thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to pursue this, for standing by my side in spite of the great challenges. I love you all so very much, and I am so very proud of each of you. And Patti, thank you for inspiring me to be better, for walking this path with me, for being the most important part of all that I have met. I love you deeply, so much more than my simple words could ever express. And so when we walk that path of life with those who have been a part of us, well then we can be assured that we have collaborated; we have engaged; we have mentored; and we have advocated. Because, as we come full circle:
“we [truly] are a part of all that we have met.”
“we are a part”
“we”
I thank you all so deeply for the most humbling opportunity to be a part of that, to serve you and this great organization—all that is AOSSM.