World Wide Course Committee Update

Benny Dahl, MD, PhD, DMSci
Worldwide Course Committee Chair

The core activities under WWC consist of three types of courses: the traditional WWC course in conjunction with a national spine society meeting, Hands-on-courses and the new Current Concept Courses (CCC). A CCC is organized by the SRS/WWC in cooperation with a national or regional spine surgery society and is not held in relation to a national spine meeting, but as a stand-alone event.

The first Current Concept Course under the WWC umbrella took place in Prague from March 30 to April 1, 2017. With a total of 103 participants from 30 different countries and excellent support from Martin Repko as local chair, there is agreement that this format should be one of the cornerstones of future WWC activities.

The second WWC in Brazil was held in conjunction with the 16^th Annual Congress of the Brazilian Spine Society in Rio de Janeiro on April 19, 2017. The local hosts were Luis Eduardo Munhoz da Rocha, André Andújar, and Helton Defino and supported by Renato Muniz Teixeira, President of the Congress. Almost 100 spine surgeons attended the course, including many young colleagues from Latin America. This ensured an active discussion throughout the day-long program.

Besides these two courses the WWC is proud to have the Ganga Operative Spine Course as part of its educational program. Hosted by professor Rajasekaran, the course was held April 7 to April 9, and was as usual a great success.

At the Global Spine Congress in Milan, the WWC hosted a symposium with the title, "What Distinguishes a Single Discipline versus a Multidisciplinary Approach to Spinal Deformity Surgery." The symposium was very well attended thanks to an excellent program planned by Marinus de Kleuver, Sigurd Berven, and Marco Brayda-Bruno.

The WWC activities in the second half of 2017 includes a Hands-On-Course in Nijmegen, Wednesday, June 28 to June 30; Current Concept Course in Shenzhen, China, October 13-15 and a Hands-On-Course in Bangkok, Thailand, October 22-24.

A WebEx meeting for the WWC was held April 30 to discuss the completed activities of the WWC as well as planning future activities. The next meeting in the WWC will take place during the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

Chair: Benny T. Dahl, MD, PhD, DMSci,  Committee: Marinus de Kleuver, MD, PhD; Ferran Pellisé Urquiza, MD, PhD; Ibrahim Obeid, MD; Ahmed M. Shawky, MD, PhD; Zezhang Zhu, MD, PhD; Luis E. Munhoz da Rocha, MD; Yong Qiu, MD; Haluk R. Berk, MD; David S. Marks , FRCS; Rajiv K. Sethi, MD; Praveen Mummaneni, MD; Rodrigo A. Amaral, MD; Sergey Kolesov, MD, PhD; Takuya Mishiro, MD, PhD; Ibrahim A. Omeis, MD; Fernando Techy, MD; Naveed Yasin, FRCS (Tr & Ortho); Morio Matsumoto, MD; Firoz Miyanji, MD, FRCSC; Yat Wa Wong, MD