Martin Allgöwer Memorial Fellowship

Martin Allgöwer was the leading figure among the AO founders in providing a solid basis of scientific research to the organization. He was one of the founding members of the AO in 1958 and from 1959-1963 served as Head of the Laboratory from Experimental Surgery in Davos. From 1979-1982, he was President of the AO and from 1984-1988, President of AO International. He also served as the first President of the AO Foundation from 1984-1992.

Allgöwer's scientific curiosity went beyond the scope of the musculoskeletal system. After post-graduate work in tissue culture research in Basel and the burn unit of the Texas Medical Center in Galveston, he wrote his dissertation on "The cellular basis of wound repair." His exploration of the role of human monocytes could be seen as a precursor to later studies of stem cells. His extensive list of publications includes co-authoring four consecutive editions of the AO manual and over 600 scientific articles.

Funding & deliverables

The Martin Allgöwer Memorial Fellowship funds a fellowship at an European AO Trauma Center for one to six months. The award consists of round-trip airfare travel expenses (up to $1,500) to the site of the fellowship and a monthly stipend to cover lodging, meals and incidentals.

During the fellowship experience, the fellow will be expected to be an active member of the orthopedic trauma service at the host clinic. Because of the prestigious nature of this fellowship, the host clinic will make every effort to expose the fellow to unique and challenging cases. Active participation as a scrubbed assistant is possible in most European clinics.

The fellow will also be expected to share their ideas and perspectives with the host clinic. A report must be submitted providing a summary on the fellowship experience which will be reviewed by the AO Trauma North America Fellowship Committee. This report will be adapted into an article for publication in the AO Trauma North America newsletter.