“We are fortunate to have a steering committee that is working with Dr. Greenwald for 18 months during this transition. The reality is that attendance at all meetings has dropped off due to social media and the fact that everyone can watch training videos online. That ups the ante and thus we have to offer something unique.”
“One point of growth is that as CCJR has evolved it has attracted an increasingly high percentage of international participants. There is a unique value to being able to interact in person with the names these physicians see in textbooks.”
“We will be examining what content we might include that would attract new sponsors and exhibitors. Additionally, our goal is to be more interactive, with more industry workshops on new techniques and technologies. We plan to have faculty leading surgical demonstrations as there is a lot of new technology coming to the forefront—like robotic surgery—so there are a lot of opportunities for education that are not lecture-based.”
“After July 1, 2020 the societies are formally in charge of the program. Dr. Greenwald will remain on the program committee, with Daniel J. Berry, M.D. leading that group.”
Dr. Greenwald: “I have made mistakes over the years but have learned and refined the learning didactic…and the word has really gotten out. A couple of months ago Dan Berry was at a conference in Russia when the event organizer approached him and said, ‘See? We are the CCJR of Russia.’”
Expanding Learning Opportunities
“As time goes on, I would like to see variations in the program that promote learning for other parties, including nurses, technicians, engineers and scientists. And we could further vary the dynamic by which topics are introduced. The format of the six-minute presentations followed by the discussion is something I took from the debates at Oxford University all those years ago. Other orthopedic meetings have copied that format to good use. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’ And it certainly keeps me thinking ahead.”
“Even though I will no longer be at the helm, I want the meeting to live on,” says Dr. Greenwald. “Over the next several years I am looking forward to encountering several young surgeons who will come work with me and learn the nuances of what it takes to make things come out flawlessly. The goal should always be to project excellence so that the only thing participants need to do is sit in their seats and learn.”
While the helmsman may have changed, the ship of state for CCJR is not only as strong as ever, it is even more prepared to carry tomorrow’s orthopedic surgeons into arthroplasty’s evolving and exciting future.
