BJJ News
Notes from the road
Sixty-fourth New Zealand Orthopaedic Annual
M. Costa
Scientific Meeting, Tauranga, 19-22 October 2014 Matt Costa recounts a memorable visit to New Zealand The 64th New Zealand Orthopaedic Annual Scientific Meeting was held on the 19-22 October 2014 in Tauranga, a rapidly developing city on the North Island with a large port and thriving industrial heart. However, it is also a tourist’s dream, with long golden beaches and the iconic Mount Maunganui, all set against the backdrop of the beautiful Bay of Plenty. The meeting was run by the NZOA in conjunction with the local organising committee led by meeting convenors and local orthopaedic surgeons, Vaughan Poutawera and Andrew Stokes. The NZOA ASM meeting is open to members of the NZOA and invited guests. Compared with other international meetings it is small in scale, but what it lacks in numbers it more than makes up for in quality. Guests this year included an illustrious group of international orthopaedic association presidents and their wives; Dr Josh Jacobs from the American Academy, Dr Larry Marsh, American Orthopaedic Association, Dr John Tuffley from Australia, Mr Colin Howie from Britain, Dr Bas Masri from Canada and Professor Mac Lukhele from South Africa. Other invited speakers this year included Professor David Sonnabend from Australia, Professor Constance Chu from the USA, Dr Hiro Sugaya from Japan and (the somewhat less illustrious) me.
The meeting also welcomed travelling fellows Dr Alec Hung, Dr Soe Naing, Dr Ng Wuey Min and Dr Hoang Khac Xuan, from the Hong Kong, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Vietnam Orthopaedic Associations, respectively. The meeting was officially opened by NZOA President, Mr Mark Wright. This was followed by an entertaining presentation from Martin Sneddon, former New Zealand cricketer and chief organiser of the Rugby World Cup in 2011. On behalf of the English, I soaked up some well-deserved ribbing but at least I wasn’t an Aussie guest. The remainder of the first day of the meeting was punctuated by keynote presentations and papers from a number of invited guests and New Zealand surgeons. Concurrent sessions on the following days covered the orthopaedic subspecialties: there were several panel discussions of interesting and complex hip, knee and shoulder cases. The educational sessions usually paired prominent NZ surgeons and invited guests. Included for the first time at an NZOA ASM were sessions and symposia on ‘outreach and disaster orthopaedics’, ‘current issues in orthopaedics’ and education. These sessions proved successful and, as well as the panel discussions, provoked much lively discussion and debate amongst delegates.
It will be of no great surprise to those of you who have visited New Zealand, that a key part of the ASM is the associated sporting programme. On the Sunday afternoon before the opening of the formal meeting, a large number of delegates enjoyed golf, mountain biking, clay pigeon shooting, and paddle boarding. I am still getting the mud out of my nose and ears after a particularly wet mountain bike trip to Rotorua. The visiting partners’ programme included visits to art galleries and restaurants, a kayak trip, a walk up Mount Maunganui and a trip to Hobbiton, one of the Lord of the Rings film sets. The highlight of the social programme was the formal gala dinner (Fig. 1) capped with an inspiring presentation from Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup sailor, Rob Waddell. I felt privileged to be invited to speak at the NZOA Scientific Meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed the lively debate and educational sessions, as well as the mountain biking, of course. I would strongly encourage invited speakers to take the opportunity to attend this event and take advantage of a beautiful and welcoming country. I would like to express my thanks to Vaughan and Andy who organised a fantastic meeting, and to my friend and fellow ABC traveller, Dawson Muir and his family for looking after me so well.
Fig. 1 Guests at Gala Dinner. MC is four th from lef t
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Matthew Costa Consultant-Orthopaedic Surgeon, Warwick Clinical Trial Unit Matthew.costa@ warwick.ac.uk
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