AO Technical Commission Innovation Awards

The AO Recognition Award is awarded by the AO Foundation's supervisory body, the AO Foundation Board, to honor individuals within the AO Technical Commission who have had significant involvement with the AO Foundation throughout their career and made a meaningful impact to product innovation and patient care.

Keith Mayo, MD, of Washington, USA, is the worthy recipient of the 2024 Recognition Award. He has been an active member of the AO Technical Commission (AO TC) since 1991, with roles including membership of the Pelvic Expert Group, the Computer Assisted Surgery Working Group, the AO TC Trauma and the Next Generation Plating Task Force. Additionally, he showed exceptional leadership as Chairperson of the Pelvic Expert Group between April 2005 and June 2015.

As a highly experienced and world-renowned orthopedic and trauma surgeon, Keith’s involvement with the AO TC began with the conceptual design and development of the Pelvic System, which comprises innovative implants and instruments to address nearly every aspect of pelvic and acetabular surgery. More recently, his vast experience and inventive mind have guided the AO TC’s collaborative partnership with key industry partners and upheld the AO TC’s quality monitoring role via the approval of new solutions indicated for the area of Trauma.

Keith has consistently demonstrated true innovation in product development via his inclination towards disruptive technologies, often supporting substantial adaptations to surgical techniques and procedures if the result is improved functional outcomes for his patients.

In addition to his practical ability to drive the development of new solutions, Keith is an outstanding teacher, excelling as a keynote lecturer at AO TC Trauma Experts Symposia and imparting decades of knowledge and experience as an AO educator at pelvic courses. In particular, his students appreciate his sharing of tips and tricks for complex surgical situations.

The AO TC honored Keith Mayo for his unflagging dedication to the improvement of patient care by supporting research and development, fostering clinical evidence, and conveying his knowledge and experience to the next generation of surgeons via educational courses.

The AO Technical Commission is delighted to announce the former Shoulder and Elbow Task Force (SETF) as the honored winner of the 2024 Innovation Prize. The SETF has been recognized for its innovation in developing the VA Clavicle System, the next generation system for internal fixation of medial, lateral, and shaft fractures of the clavicle.

The new system addresses the foremost clinical challenge in the current surgical treatment of clavicle fractures: a high reoperation rate for hardware removal due to tissue irritation and pain caused by poor plate fit and plate prominence.

The VA Clavicle system evolved from meticulous analysis of various anatomical parameters of the clavicle, allowing the new plate design to closely match the bow and contour of the clavicle for low construct prominence and enhanced plate-to-bone fit. By improving overall plate fit, intraoperative plate placement is less challenging and the need for hardware removal is reduced.

The AO Technical Commission commends the SETF’s outstanding contribution to advancing trauma care. The VA Clavicle System stands as a testament to the group’s commitment to innovation, ultimately improving outcomes for patients undergoing clavicle surgery.

Members of the former SETF were:

• Simon Lambert (UK)—Chairperson
• Stefaan Nijs (Belgium)
• Martin Jaeger (Germany)
• Chunyan Jiang (China)
• Harry Hoyen (US)
• Joyce Koh (Singapore)
• Frank Beeres (Switzerland)

The Certificate of Merit is awarded by the AO Technical Commission's supervisory body, the AO TCEB, to individuals as a sign of appreciation for outstanding activities over the course of one project or a year.

In December 2019, Markus Windolf received the AO Technical Commission Certificate of Merit. He was in particular awarded for the outstanding and innovative development of a simplified navigation system based on shape recognition and for a concept to automatically determine the required screw length during drilling.

Both concepts are now in translation to clinical applications which is a clearly visible sign that the Concept Development Focus Area under the thoughtful leadership of Windolf plays an essential role in the efforts of the AO Foundation to foster innovation. In this regard the AO Technical Commission wishes Windolf and his team continued success and is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration.