Message from the President

Abstract

This is an exciting time for me, writing my first Message from the President for JPOSNA®.  Having been involved in the early discussions about starting our own journal back in 2015 and seeing it thrive and grow in 2022 is truly an amazing experience. The decision to start JPOSNA® and to make it the official journal of POSNA was a result of the foresight, wisdom, determination, and hard work of so many people. It is truly our journal, our home for the latest information and knowledge, and reflects who we are as an organization.

POSNA is healthy and growing and so is our journal.  We have had a record number of applicants for membership this year. Annual Meeting attendance has increased from COVID-19 lows, and 2023 in Nashville may be one of the largest ever. The value of face-to-face interaction, friendship, and camaraderie we get from in-person meetings is invaluable. We are grateful to our industry partners whose support for our mission also continues to grow with us. In this changing environment, our organizational growth needs to be smart growth, meaning we need to recognize and position ourselves to take advantage of new opportunities as they come along. JPOSNA® also continues with smart growth. We are now on our third edition that contains original research, and in addition to our four quarterly issues, we are developing two supplements: one will be devoted to the 2022 Pre-Course, chaired by Julie Samora, MD, PhD, on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity and the other to Advances in Pediatric Orthopaedic Education and Technical Training, edited by Elizabeth Hubbard, MD, to be published August 15. The number of submitted papers, videos, and abstracts continues to grow as well. This continued growth needs to remain focused on things that will allow us to continue our educational mission to our membership, allow for long-term financial stability/profitability, and ultimately pursue Medline and PubMed access. Work in all of these areas is currently underway.

POSNA is an organization powered by volunteers and so is our journal. Part of our special and unique culture of POSNA is a strong spirit of volunteerism. This year, we had 108 members volunteer for positions on 27 various committees through the CAP process. Almost 21% of our members serve on at least one or more of our committees. Our educational and outreach missions are powered by this selfless volunteer spirit and include global outreach care, research, and education. 

This same volunteerism is driving the success of JPOSNA®. Special thanks need to be given to Ken Noonan, MD, our Editor-in-Chief; JR Cruz, MD, Deputy Editor Research; Bryan Tompkins, MD, Deputy Editor Technology; and Lisa DuShane, Managing Editor, for their countless hours of effort into making this a journal we can all be proud of and call our own. Our smart growth has been focused on expanding our expert section editors and our review board, again, all volunteer positions. One of the big concerns starting this journal in our time-constrained environment is the lack of reviewers and reviewer burnout.  Our volunteer spirit put these concerns to rest when 173 members signed up to be reviewers, again, something that truly makes this journal our own.

POSNA is diverse and so is our journal. As I mentioned in my incoming Presidential Address, diverse organizations are better organizations due to the power of differing viewpoints, experiences, and opinions. While POSNA is certainly leading in diversity within orthopaedic surgery, we still have work to do. Exciting initiatives such as the formation of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee and the Lead Like Lori Lectureship series, which will start at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Nashville led by Lindsay Andras, MD, and Brandon Ramo, MD, to honor Lori Karol, MD, our friend, mentor, and first female POSNA president, continue to improve our organization. Our Board of Directors continues to become more diverse, and we are also better as a Board and an organization because of this.

This diversity is reflected in many ways in this current edition of JPOSNA® and it is this diversity that makes JPOSNA® unique and special. Because we are not constrained to the article format of traditional journals, we can provide so many more types of educational content and value. In this edition, for example, we have a diverse range of formats from original research, technique videos, surgical tricks and tips, business/coding information, expert opinion, and best paper/abstract/videos from the 2022 Annual Meeting in all areas of pediatric orthopaedics. We have a wide range of authors, both male and female, from senior surgeons, mid-career surgeons, and newer surgeons, residents, and fellows from inside and outside of North America. Articles in this edition include those on language, gender, religion, adaptive sports, and age. There is also an invited paper on the experiences of our recent POSNA-EPOS Traveling Fellows—Jennifer Bauer, MD; Maryse Bouchard, MD; and Jaime Deming, MD. This diversity in authors, topics, and formats highlighted in this edition shows the value and power of diversity within our journal and our organization.

This is a unique time for both POSNA and JPOSNA® as we emerge in a changed post-pandemic landscape. While some organizations failed during COVID, POSNA and JPOSNA® not only survived but thrived. We thrived because our strong core mission of patient care, education, research, and providing the best possible care to our patients will never change, our culture of volunteerism and diversity of thought and experience are strong, and we have had the courage to make difficult but smart decisions when necessary.