Meet the expert: Stefan Schulz-Drost
Our popular “Meet the Experts” format offers the opportunity to learn about the AO Technical Commission's most recently approved medical devices and to explore hot topics in trauma and orthopedic surgery. Our expert surgeons are directly involved in the development of new implants and instruments. During live sessions held inside The Shard, RIMASYS’ mobile wet lab, they will showcase the clinical benefits of innovative devices and surgical techniques. The sessions will be streamed live and available thereafter on our website.
Stefan Schulz-Drost
Chairperson of the Thoracic Expert Group (THEG), part of the AO Technical Commission, and chief trauma surgeon at Helios Kliniken Schwerin, Germany.
Can you tell us a bit more about your work for the AO TC?
I joined the AO TC Thoracic Working Group (THWG) under Mario Gasparri in 2014. This was a great honor for me, as I had been devoting my clinical and scientific work to innovative stabilization techniques on the chest wall—especially the anterior chest wall with the sternum and adjacent ribs—for several years and was also involved in implant development within the industry. Our goal was to transfer the AO principles of bone healing and osteosynthesis from traumatology to chest wall surgery. Three essential pillars of clinical care were defined: fracture care, correction of deformities, and stabilization of sternotomies and related complications. In 2018, together with James Kellam and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, we complemented Maurice Müller’s AO classification system with basic fractures of the ribs and sternum. Since 2023, I have been the Chairperson of the Thoracic Expert Group.
How does your role in the AO TC link to the “Meet the Experts” session you will present at the AO Davos Courses (AO DC) this December?
In this year’s session at the AO DC, we will be introducing the new MatrixSTERNUM system. This is a complementary and innovative system for the closure of sternotomies and their possible complications. Through the AO TC I have accompanied the development of these implants and associated instruments from the beginning. Together with Mario Gasparri as the medical godfather, we at the THEG incorporated cardiosurgical, thoracic, orthopedic, and traumatological expertise to create a sternum solution that represents the AO principles.
What does it take to become an “expert surgeon”?
You become an expert through passion for your subject area. This passion matures from the combination of thirst for knowledge, curiosity, pioneering spirit and the constant exchange between colleagues. Passion collects many insights and can develop them into reproducible principles. This enables structured exchange of knowledge and training of companions for future generations. That’s exactly what we find at the AO—regionally and internationally!
What other area (apart from surgery) do you consider yourself an expert in?
Carpentry, forestry work, boating, water rescue
You have participated in the AO DC numerous times. What is your fondest memory?
I have a lot of wonderful memories regarding AO DC, from great courses to the unsurpassed collegial exchange on current projects and—last but not least—the beautiful nature in Davos. It was particularly important for me to be able to present innovative minimally invasive techniques for rib osteosynthesis together with Mario Gasparri in 2019—using the very realistic prototype of a chest wall model that we had developed within the THEG with special support from the TC and our current president Tim Pohlemann.
