Leadership Development
Developing leaders is at the core of AOA’s mission. AOA leadership programming is valuable to any orthopaedic surgeon seeking to gain new skills or further enhance existing knowledge.
Critical Issues
AOA addresses stimulating and controversial issues impacting the orthopaedic profession. By assembling leaders across all subspecialities, the AOA tackles the most relevant topics to improve musculoskeletal care.
Graduate Medical Education
AOA’s Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (CORD) program provides a forum for orthopaedic educators to exchange best practices and ideas. CORD affiliates collaborate to advance resident and fellow education.
Thank you to our AOA Members and All Meeting Attendees for an outstanding 2025 Annual Leadership Meeting in Minneapolis. Join us next year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 12-16, 2026 for the 2026 Annual Leadership Meeting!
Being a Fellow of the American Orthopaedic Association (FAOA) signifies leadership, achievement, and recognition for exceptional accomplishments across all subspecialties and practice settings within the profession. More than 1800 members have completed the rigorous membership process to earn this designation.
Total AOA Members
Members & Growing!
Years as an Organization
Years Serving Orthopaedic Leaders
Annual Meeting
The meeting begins on May 12, 2026.
Emerging Leaders Program
This continuum of learning for developing orthopaedic leaders in their 5th year of residency through their 10th year of clinical practice provides rising orthopaedists, newly in practice, a peer network poised to impact the specialty now and in the future.
CORD Program
Facilitating excellence in musculoskeletal graduate medical education, CORD leads the advancement of best practices by providing a forum to exchange ideas and search for solutions to major challenges
Own the Bone Program
This program engages the orthopaedic community to close the 82% osteoporosis treatment gap and encourage the bone health management of fragility fractures with tools and education to support hospitals, practice groups, and health.
Recent Blogs & Posts
Getting Involved in the AOA: By J. Benjamin Jackson, MD, MBA, FAOA, and Sara Galli, MD
Getting Involved in the AOA...
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Leadership Book Review: Wisdom from a Storied Career
With his own podcast, multiple books, and even guest appearances on popular TV shows, Jocko Willink is rising to the status of a h...
Read MoreMember Testimonials
Serena S. Hu, MD, FAOA, AOA Past President
“The AOA APEX program is a great opportunity to learn how to manage in the increasingly business-oriented world that medicine is becoming. Learning these skills from business educators, surrounded by likeminded orthopedic colleagues, is incredibly valuable and useful.”
Keith Kenter, MD, Hon ScD, FAOA
"The AOA Annual Meeting offers advanced lectures regarding critical issues in medicine and orthopaedic surgery, discussions on resident and fellow education, and delivers detailed symposia on leadership and personal development. It also provides a time for us to network across orthopaedic surgery subspecialties with other leaders in our field and to engage in meaningful dialogue. For me, this is the premier leadership meeting that I never want to miss.”
Matthew R. Schmitz, MD, FAOA
“The Annual AOA Leadership Meeting is by far my favorite get together. To have so many diverse Orthopaedic Leaders from various subspecialties getting together to share best practices, swap stories, and educate one another makes it a can't-miss opportunity. In addition, getting to catch up with great friends from across the country and help develop the next generation of leaders is why this meeting gets blocked off on my calendar annually."
