Fireworks, delicious desserts, and a warm AO welcome; our AO College class of 2021 has begun!
The start of the AO College journey (a joint venture of AO Trauma, AO Spine, and AO CMF) started off with a warm and festive welcome featuring some delicious desserts and delicacies. Our AO icons were leading the way as we kicked off this project with a truly vibrant AO initiation!
AO College is a new cross-divisional pilot project aimed at fulfilling the needs of young surgeons across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region. Our first cycle started this July, with a genuinely diverse, motivated, and enthusiastic first cohort of young surgeons across our three targeted clinical divisions—AO Trauma, AO Spine, and AO CMF. With top participants selected from over 200 applicants, our founding faculty—Sabine Girod (AO CMF), Amir Elbarbary (AO CMF), El-Zaher Hassan (AO Trauma), and Mohammad El-Sharkawai (AO Spine)—were proud to welcome our new stars and the next generation of MENA surgeons into the AO College.
“In AO CMF, I am proud to say that of the 24 participants we have, 12 are female surgeon colleagues.”
Amir Elbarbary, chairperson for AO CMF MENA Regional Board, celebrating this milestone in diversity, inclusivity, and equity
“A dream come true!”
El-Zaher Hassan, chairperson for AO Trauma MENA Community Development Committee
“Words cannot describe the amount of work and effort that everyone has put in during the last year or so in creating this exciting project, this is a very big project, and we hope this will be helpful and beneficial to all of you.”
Mohammad El-Sharkawi, past chairperson of AO Spine MENA Regional Board
“I'm so grateful to the AO Foundation as well as our new class for supporting us in realizing our dream.”
Sabine Girod, project pioneer and chairperson, and chairperson of AO CMF Community Development Commission
The start of the AO College journey (a joint venture of AO Trauma, AO Spine, and AO CMF) started off with a warm and festive welcome featuring some delicious desserts and delicacies. Our AO icons were leading the way as we kicked off this project with a truly vibrant AO initiation!
AO College is a new cross-divisional pilot project aimed at fulfilling the needs of young surgeons across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region. Our first cycle started this July, with a genuinely diverse, motivated, and enthusiastic first cohort of young surgeons across our three targeted clinical divisions—AO Trauma, AO Spine, and AO CMF. With top participants selected from over 200 applicants, our founding faculty—Sabine Girod (AO CMF), Amir Elbarbary (AO CMF), El-Zaher Hassan (AO Trauma), and Mohammad El-Sharkawai (AO Spine)—were proud to welcome our new stars and the next generation of MENA surgeons into the AO College.