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| AOSpine Vision and Mission statement |
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| Vision |
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Our vision is to deliver the knowledge, experience, and evidence to improve patient care, patient outcomes, and ensure cost effective spine surgery.
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| Mission |
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Our purpose and responsibility is to shape our members skills and understanding of spine principles; to establish new values and incentives for the creation of knowledge, the sharing of wisdom, and the development of new tools and techniques that improve patient care, patient outcomes, and the cost effectiveness of spine surgery.
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| How our organization works |
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AOSpine was established in June 2003 and operates under its own template of governance through the AOSpine Board.
AOSpine functions via a matrix structure:
- Global Commissions
- Regional Boards
- Country Councils
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| AOSpine Global Commissions |
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The commissions operate globally, but have no direct authority within a region. They aim to share expertise and leverage resources across the regions; ideally to help define, integrate, and implement coherent policies for the general good of the organization.
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| AOSpine Regional Boards |
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AOSpine consists of five regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and North America. Each region has a Board with its own budget and is fully responsible for all of the region's actions and activities, driving faster decision making and ensuring all activities are relevant to regional needs.
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| AOSpine Country Councils |
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Within certain regions, the Regional Boards operate an integrated network of AOSpine Country Chapters which are led by Country Councils, which provides even greater opportunities for local members to get involved, build, and strengthen the organization.
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| AOSpine Board Structure |
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| AOSpine Reporting and Collaboration |
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BOARD-Holds strategic and operational decision making capacity and budgetary control within its defined sphere of influence.
COMMISSION-A global, fixed steering group with an open duration, subordinate to the AOSpine Board.
COMMITTEE-A regional, fixed steering group with an open duration, subordinate to the relevant AOSpine Regional Board.
COUNCIL-Administrative & decision-making unit of an AOSpine Country Chapter. It may or may not have budgetary control.
TASK FORCE-A team which is created for a specific project with a dedicated budget & disbands once the project is completed.
Boards, Commissions, and Councils are elected.
Committees and Task Forces may be appointed.
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| The creation of a spine specialty within the AO Foundation |
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The AO (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen) was founded in 1958 by a group of Swiss surgeons: Maurice E. Müller, Robert Schneider, Hans Willenegger, and Martin Allgöwer. They had the idea to conduct research into bone healing, with particular reference to the influence of the mechanical environment of the fracture upon its healing pattern.
In the late '90s a group of spine surgeons led by John Webb, Max Aebi, and Paul Pavlov supported by the AO's industrial partners pushed for greater autonomy for the spine surgeons within the AO.
In 2000, the Board of Directors of the AO Foundation, having recognized the special needs and the market dynamics of spine, created an AO Specialty Board for Spine Surgery. The AO Spine Board was given responsibility to grow spine as key competence of the AO Foundation, with a charter to specifically manage and promote the distinctive needs and desires of spine surgeons within the AO.
This specialty group has its own governance for its educational, scientific, product development, and administrative issues while remaining in close collaboration and partnership with the Foundation's other institutes and regions.
In the last three years AOSpine has gone from strength to strength and established itself as a widely accepted academic and scientific group in the spine world. As Mike Janssen, Chairman AOSpine states:
"Spine surgery today is increasingly characterized by a merging of specialties. The old walls separating these specialties are being broken down by the shared goal of advancing the field of spine care."
The organization has gone through some structural changes in order to rise to the new challenges of spine surgeons around the globe. The AOSpine Board provides strategic planning and support to the affiliated AOSpine Regions. Each AOSpine region has their own budget, authority, and the responsibility to drive local activities within the AOSpine framework.
Today AOSpine has a membership of around 8000 surgeons, researchers, and allied spine professionals. AOSpine continues to grow, taking the AO model to a new level by providing new programs, new ideas, and a team committed to spine!
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