Symposium Explores Lessons Learned from War
Homeland defense has increasingly been at the forefront of national concern, with incidents of domestic and international terrorist activity garnering headlines. The Extremity War Injuries Symposium XII: Homeland Defense as a Translation of War Lessons Learned, held Jan. 31 – Feb. 1, 2017, in Washington, D.C., focused on disaster preparedness, as well as ongoing research efforts to identify knowledge gaps and highlight state-of-the-art treatments for extremity trauma.

The symposium was held in conjunction with the AAOS, Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA), Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons (SOMOS), and Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS). The program included presentations and collaborative discussions on domestic readiness, disaster education, communication between providers, and developing response teams. Specifically, experts focused on topics that ranged from responding to disasters such as the Boston Marathon bombing to maintaining skills for rehabilitation and chronic care of patients with combat injuries. Andrew Schmidt, MD, and MAJ Daniel Stinner, MD, were cochairs of EWI XII. LTC Justin Orr, MD, was scientific director, and COL (Ret.) James Ficke, MD, FACS, served as EWI project team chair.

Full coverage of the EWI XII Symposium will appear in an upcoming issue of AAOS Now.