In just a few days, the worldwide spine surgeon community will come together in Milan, Italy, for the Global Spine Congress (GSC). The importance of this AOSpine flagship event is growing every year. For the 2017 event, a record number of 1048 abstracts were submitted, and we look forward to welcoming again a high number of participants at the congress!
Global SpineCongress
This special focus issue of our AOSpine newsletter brings you the highlights of this year's GSC. I would like to take the opportunity to make you aware of a few important events for AOSpine Members. Please don’t forget to join us at the Members Assembly on May 4th, and make sure you don't miss the opportunity to help shape the future of AOSpine on May 5th, when the AOSpine Member Representative Election takes place.
AOSpine Member Representative
You will be able to find all information on the shortlisted candidates in this issue of the newsletter as well as in the GSC App. Don't forget to come visit the AOSpine booth. Follow the event live on Twitter on @AOSpine, and share your experiences with the worldwide online community using the hashtag #gscmilan2017.
Members-only sessions
In this newsletter you can also find information about another AOSpine Member privilege at the GSC—the Members-only sessions. At these exclusive sessions you will be able to learn from experts about how you can get involved into AOSpine research, how to teach in different cultures, about pearls of practice of each region, how to write and publish a scientific paper, as well as the launch of the AOSpine Sacral Classification system, and several other topics. Find more information check out the final GSC program www.gsc2017.org
AOSpine Knowledge Forums
Also in this issue of the newsletter, we will give you insights into the AOSpine Knowledge Forums, which are international working groups in five pathologies, and a pioneering concept generating knowledge by AOSpine.
Member Assemblys
Furthermore in this newsletter you will be able to read the interview with Dr. Kornelis Poelstra, who has conducted over 400 robotic-assisted surgeries. In the related feature story and the interview you will get the latest updates about robotics in spine surgery and what the future will most likely bring in this regard.
We hope that you will find this issue of the newsletter interesting and look forward to continuing to improve spine care worldwide with you in Milan shortly!
With best wishes,
Dan Riew
Chairperson,
AOSpine International
