“Receiving the Diversity Award is a real highlight in my life,” said Dr. Jackson. “The people who have worked with me on diversity initiatives have inspired and educated me. I learned a great deal from them and am thankful that together, we are creating a stronger foundation for the future of our specialty.”
Published 4/1/2010
Past President’s diversity efforts remembered
Douglas W. Jackson, MD, of Long Beach, Calif., has encouraged diversity in the orthopaedic specialty for more than 30 years, both as a leader and volunteer with the AAOS and within his community. Those efforts were honored at the 2010 AAOS Annual Meeting when Dr. Jackson was presented with the eighth annual Diversity Award.
First to explore the diversity issue
An active leader in the Academy since 1979, Dr. Jackson has served on various committees as well as on the board of directors. In 1997, as AAOS president, he appointed an ad-hoc committee to explore the issue of diversity in the orthopaedic surgery specialty. This committee eventually led to the creation of the AAOS Diversity Advisory Board, which has fostered diversity within the Academy in various ways.
Over the years, the AAOS Diversity Advisory Board has created a mentoring program for minority medical students; coordinated a cultural competency residency program “grand rounds” that has reached 570 orthopaedic residents at 19 residency programs and regional society meetings; and collaborated with the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society and Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society on a unity advertising campaign to draw qualified medical students from diverse backgrounds into orthopaedic surgery.
Creating a “ripple effect”
In nominating Dr. Jackson, Ramon L. Jimenez, MD, wrote: “The ripple effect set off by Dr. Jackson’s pronouncement that diversity was the initiative that the AAOS needed to foster, promote, and embrace continues to resonate. Thousands of orthopaedic surgeons, residents, and students have benefitted directly and indirectly from this initiative.
“In addition,” continued Dr. Jimenez, “our orthopaedic patients, who have benefitted from good culturally competent care and who have gained access to treatment by the increase of women and underrepresented minority orthopaedists, must be counted as beneficiaries of Dr. Jackson’s work.”
“The AAOS has made great progress in the diversity of its membership composition, with the goal of more closely reflecting the society we serve,” said Dr. Jackson. “However, we need to continue to encourage, mentor, and make people of all backgrounds feel welcome within our specialty. More diversity in our membership will enrich us as physicians and as individuals serving all our patients.”
A practicing orthopaedic surgeon for more than 40 years, Dr. Jackson is currently president of the Memorial Orthopaedic Surgical Group and medical director of the Joint Replacement Center at Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif.
Dr. Jackson earned his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he completed a rotating internship and an orthopaedic surgery residency at the L.A. County Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. During the Vietnam War, Dr. Jackson served on the orthopaedic surgery service at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Dr. Jackson has held other leadership positions in a number of orthopaedic organizations, including board of trustees member of the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation; past president and member of the board of directors of the Arthroscopy Association of North America; past president of the Association of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Directors; and past chairman of the Council of Musculoskeletal Specialty Societies (now the Board of Specialty Societies).