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President's Message

Muharrem Yazici, MD
SRS President 2020-2021

We are going through very special and tough days. None of us have had a similar experience in our lifetime. Coronavirus can be compared to the Spanish flu in terms of microbiological features, transmission rate, and fatality. But today’s world is very different from that of the 20^th century.

Inside this Issue

Historian Corner
AANS-SRS Joint Task Force Update
In Memoriam
IMAST Committee Update
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force Update
Health Policy Committee Update
Education Committee Update
Global Outreach Committee Update
Global Education in Spine Deformity Committee Update
Pediatric Device Task Force Update
Needs Assessment Task Force Update
Safety & Value Committee Update
Treasurer's Report
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Hot Topic Articles

Global Education in Spine Deformity Committee Update
IMAST Committee Update
Treasurer's Report

Historian Corner

George H. Thompson, MD
SRS Historian

Did you know that in 1947…
Dr. John H. Moe established the Scoliosis Service at Gillette State Hospital for Crippled Children in response to a need to fill the void in the field of spine deformity care.

And in 1964…
Dr. Moe established a Continuing Education Course on Scoliosis which was offered in the fall.

AANS-SRS Joint Task Force Update

Praveen Mummaneni, MD
AANS-SRS Joint Task Force Co-Chair (SRS)

For the last several months, individuals from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) have been meeting and discussing ways to better forge a partnership between both our societies, as well as the orthpaedic and neurosurgeon communities as a whole.

In Memoriam

Aroldo Carlos Legarreta, MD
December 1, 1955 -
January 21, 2021

Michael Francis O'Brien, MD
June 14, 1954 -
December 18, 2020

Seymour "Zeke" Zimbler, MD
April 18, 1934 -
February 14, 2021

IMAST Committee Update

David L. Skaggs, MD, MMM
IMAST Committee Chair

All are invited to the 28^th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST) on April 23-25. IMAST will again be offered virtually in response to the COVID pandemic but in contrast to last year, the IMAST Committee has been able to prepare for a virtual meeting from the beginning of the planning process and take in to consideration your feedback on consuming virtual education.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force Update

Laurel Blakemore, MD & Serena S. Hu, MD
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force Co-Chairs

At the behest of the 2019-2020 SRS Presidential Line, a request for volunteers to serve on the SRS Diversity Task Force this past fall resulted in nearly 35 members desiring to be involved in this important effort.

Health Policy Committee Update

Paul T. Rubery, MD
Health Policy Committee Chair

Despite the impact of the COVID pandemic, The Health Policy Committee (HPC) has had a productive year to date, and looks forward to more progress in the coming months. The HPC has found “Zoom” to be helpful and we have had several well attended HPC conference calls supported and organized by Courtney Kissinger from the SRS office. There are three notable projects about which the HPC would like to update the members of the SRS.

Education Committee Update

Amer Samdani, MD
Education Committee Chair

The Education Committee is tasked with developing educational content for the Annual Meeting, webinars, exploring partnerships with outside organizations, and working with other committees under the umbrella of the Education Council.

Global Outreach Committee Update

Kota Watanabe, MD, PhD
Global Outreach Committee Chair

The Global Outreach Committee serves as a networking community that provides a platform for exchanging ideas and strategies related to independent outreach programs. The committee also develops and disseminates educational materials to improve these programs.

Global Education in Spine Deformity Committee Update

Ahmet Alanay, MD
Global Education in Spine Deformity Committee Chair

This committee, formally known as the Worldwide Course Committee has changed its name to the Global Education in Spine Deformity Committee. It has also formalized separate subcommittees consisting of strategic planners for our three course types: Traditional Worldwide Course (WWC/ambassador courses), Current Concepts in Spine Deformity (CCSD/regional courses), and the Spine Deformity Solutions: A Hands-On Course (HOC/Cadaver Courses.)

Pediatric Device Task Force Update

Patrick J. Cahill, MD
Pediatric Device Task Force Chair

The joint SRS/POSNA Pediatric Device Task Force have several updates. Our main activity is to interface with regulatory bodies with the goal of improving access to new technology and innovations for our pediatric patients. Great progress has been made in this regard.

Needs Assessment Task Force Update

Haluk Berk, MD
Needs Assessment Task Force Chair

The goals of the Needs Assessment Task Force is to assess and improve SRS members' ability to educate broadly about spine deformity – both to other specialists and by them. Anesthesiology, pulmonary medicine, physiotherapy, intraoperative neuromonitoring would be areas of interest in interdisciplinary education.

Safety & Value Committee Update

Christopher P. Ames, MD
Safety & Value Committee Chair

The 2020-2021 Safety & Value committee continues to further develop and refine the core safety checklist project begun under past chair Lloyd Hey. Individual checklist modules will undergo formalized priority weighting to determine the critical versus optional component designations.

Treasurer's Report

Serena S. Hu, MD
Treasurer

As is well appreciated, this past year was a challenge for all of us, and for the Scoliosis Research Society as well. The pandemic required a late decision to have our IMAST meeting virtually, which was an untested experience at the time. Instead of full registration fees, we only charged for CME credits; most of the industry support was inapplicable.

March 2021

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Safety & Value Committee Update

Christopher P. Ames, MD
Safety & Value Committee Chair

The 2020-2021 Safety & Value Committee continues to further develop and refine the core safety checklist project begun under past chair Lloyd Hey. Individual checklist modules will undergo formalized priority weighting to determine the critical versus optional component designations. Once this is formalized and agreed upon by the research council, this will be made available to all members via the SRS website. These checklists can then be customized to the needs and requirements of individual surgeons and sites.

In addition, the Safety & Value Committee has begun a new core project reviewing currently available risk and outcome prediction tools in the adult and pediatric surgical population. The goal will be to determine in a formalized way utilizing user experience survey tools how well existing platforms meet the needs of members and their patients. Hopefully this analysis will provide guidance in SRS research project prioritization, future prediction tool development and their ideal user experiences to facilitate usage by SRS membership.

Chair: Christopher P. Ames Committee: Lloyd A. Hey, Past Chair; Sajan K. Hegde; Karen S. Myung; Michael L. Schmitz; Franklin K. Gettys (C); Antonio Hurtado (C); Mark E. Oppenlander (C); Dominick A. Tuason (C); Vijay Yanamadala (C); David W. Gray; Themistocles S. Protopsaltis; Richard M. Schwend; John T. Smith; Michael Glotzbecker, Chair Elect; William Francis Lavelle; Firoz Miyanji; Vikas V. Varma