Full Slate of Officers Chosen to Lead AAOS Over the Next Year

Members of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) have elected a full slate of officers to lead the organization through the next year.

John J. Callaghan, M.D., and Daniel J. Berry, M.D., are set to assume the reigns as president and first vice president, respectively. The rest of the administration will be comprised of second vice president John R. Tongue, M.D., and Academy communications cabinet chairman Michael F. Schafer, M.D.

Tongue, of Lake Oswego, Ore., has a private practice in Tualatin, Ore., and is clinical assistant professor at OregonHealth Sciences University in Portland. A graduate of Northwestern University inEvanston, Ill., and the St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, Tongue was an intern and general surgery resident at the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Training Program. He also completed a sports medicine fellowship at the Orthopaedic Fracture Clinic in Eugene, Ore., and a hand surgery fellowship at the University of California in San Francisco.

Tongue has served on numerous AAOS committees and task forces, including the Council onEducation, the Committee on Public Education and the Council on Research. He plans to focus on improving communication with members during his tenure as second vice president.

“Improving communication with our members, patients and the media has always been and will continue to be a very important issue to me,”Tongue said. “I recognize that health care is rapidly changing, which means the needs of our members will change as well. I look forward to engaging with my peers to learn more about their needs so that the Academy can continue to move forward with the programs, benefits and services that will help us provide better care for our patients.”

Schafer currently serves as chairman and professor of the orthopaedic surgery department at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital inChicago, Ill. He also serves as an orthopaedic surgery consultant for the Veteran’s Administration Westside Hospital inChicago. In addition, he has served as an orthopaedic consultant for the Chicago Cubs for 30 years and was the team orthopaedic surgeon for the Chicago Bears for 10 years.

After earning his medical degree from the University of Iowa inIowa City, Schafer completed an internship at ChicagoWesley Memorial Hospital and a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University. He then completed the National Foundation Traveling Fellowship inSpine Surgery inAustralia and the American Orthopaedic Association NorthAmerican Traveling Fellowship.

Active in several professional societies, Dr. Schafer sits on the Academy’s Board of Directors and is a member of the Chicago Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Scoliosis Research Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Orthopaedic Association, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and the RuthJackson Orthopaedic Society.

In his new position with AAOS, Schafer and members of his cabinet will plan, organize, direct and evaluate ongoing communications vehicles and provide media relations expertise to various branches of the Academy’s structure.

“I am honored to serve as the next Chair of the Communications Cabinet and look forward to ensuring that the Academy continues to improve its communication efforts,” said Schafer. “The next several years are going to be critical to the future of medical care in our country, and our members, patients, the general public and the media need to be kept abreast of all the new orthopaedic issues and initiatives that will affect them.”

In addition to electing a new president, first and second vice president, and communications cabinet chairman, AAOSmembers chose two of their colleagues to sit on the Board of Directors and two others to serve on the Academy Board of Specialty Societies.

Kevin P.Black, M.D., and Daniel W.White, M.D., were elected to the AAOS board. Black, of Hershey, Pa., earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, N.Y., and completed his internship at the New York University Medical Center in New York City. He returned to the University of Rochester for his orthopaedic residency training and then completed a sports medicine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

White serves as the chief of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation services at Evans Army Community Hospital in Fort Carson, Colo. He earned his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and completed an internship and orthopaedic residency at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.

After residency, Dr. White deployed to Iraq where he spent 13 months on a surgical team in Baghdad. He earned numerous awards and military decorations, including a Bronze Star Medal and a Meritorious Service Medal. Upon his return to the U.S., Dr. White continued his training with a sports medicine fellowship at Keller Army Hospital in West Point, N.Y.

Members elected Gregory Mencio, M.D., and M. Bradford Henley, M.D., to serve on the Board of Specialty Societies.

Mencio, of Nashville, Tenn., is professor and vice chairman of orthopaedics at Vanderbilt Medical Center and chief of pediatric orthpaedics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hopsital at Vanderbilt in Nashville.

After graduating from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.,Mencio completed a general surgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pa., and an orthopaedic residency at Duke University in Durham, N.C. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (formerly known as Newington Children’s Hospital) in Hartford, Conn.

Henley is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also maintains an attending position at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the level I trauma hospital for the region.

After earning his medical degree at the University of Washington, Dr. Henley completed an orthopaedic residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas. He then completed a trauma fellowship at Technical University of Munich in Munich, Germany.