President's Message | APOA

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    Message from the President

    

    Dear friends and colleagues,

    I would like to begin my very first Presidential message by congratulating Dr Saeed Al Thani and the Dubai team along with the members of the APOA Council in making APOA 2024 - Dubai a huge success. 

    It is a matter of great honour to be elected as president of APOA for 2024-2025. I would like to extend my warm gratitude to the members of the council for their overwhelming love, support and trust in my abilities. As the President of APOA, I am grateful for the dedication of my predecessor Dr. Ellewellyn Pasion. I look forward to continuing his great work with collaboration of the entire APOA membership for my term.

    The APOA was first established in Manila in 1962 as the Western Pacific Orthopaedic Association. For the next 38 years it gradually grew, both in size and stature. At the turn of the century it metamorphosized into the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association. Due to the tremendous efforts of Dr. David McNicol, Dr. Taqi Raza and Dr. Ted Mah, the APOA Federation was born in 2016. From our humble beginning of only 13 countries to present day with 21 federation countries and 24 chapters and total membership of more than 65,000 members, today the APOA is the largest orthopaedic association in the world.

    I am overwhelmed to be the second Indian to be elected as president of APOA since its inception. My association with APOA is beyond professional achievements as it has bestowed me with lifelong friendships in our incoming Presidents Dr Nicolas Budhiparama and Dr Onder Aydingoz and past Presidents like Dr David Choon who have taught me intricacies of leadership.

    Unity, diversity and inclusiveness are the core pillars of APOA which has led to its growth and prosperity. In the next year we still need enthusiastic participation and volunteerism from all of our members by unifying the strength, sharing the values and keeping a forward looking mindset in heart, to do the right things, to shape a brighter future for APOA.

    When I was named as a part of the presidential line in 2022, I began to reflect on the future of APOA. What will APOA be? Who can shape the future of APOA? How can we fulfill our commitments to our members? The future of APOA is in the hands of the  younger generation who are the real fortune of APOA. We need the young guns to lead as they are full of ideas, zeal and devotion.

    See you soon at the seashore of Cairns, Australia in summer of 2025 and make it a huge success.

    
    

    Dr Jamal Ashraf

    India