2025-2026 Officers
President: Robert R. Slater, Jr., M.D. F.A.C.S.
Dr. Bob Slater earned his B.A. in History from Stanford University and his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His internship and residency in Orthopaedic Surgery were at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He completed his formal training with a fellowship in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery at UC-Davis, and was a full-time faculty member there for several years. He has remained on the volunteer clinical faculty at UC-Davis while subsequently working in different practice environments and is now a Clinical Professor. For the past 14 years, he has run his own private practice devoted to surgery of the hand and upper extremity in Folsom.
He has had leadership roles in several organizations, is a Past President of the Western Orthopaedic Association and is current President of the Western Orthopaedic Foundation. Hobbies include skiing, cycling and rowing on a Masters crew team.
First Vice President: Thomas J. Grogan, M.D.
Dr. Grogan is a practicing pediatric orthopedist in Santa Monica, California. He has seen over 50,000 new patients in his practice over the last 25 years. Dr. Grogan graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Biology and received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Grogan’s orthopedic training has included an orthopedic residency at UCLA plus several orthopedic fellowships in pediatric orthopedics, trauma, and NIH sponsored joint replacement surgery. Following his orthopedic training he returned to Los Angeles, spending six years at Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children, including serving as Assistant Chief in 1986 and 1987. In addition to his clinical practice, he spent several years involved in managed care consulting as an orthopedic surgeon and has developed special expertise in this area. He has collaborated with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in the development of a handbook and audiotape entitled, “Health Care Reform and Managed Care: A Guidebook for Orthopedic Surgeons”. In addition, he has served as the lead faculty member for the AAOS for their 1995, 12 city educational seminar, “Taking Charge: Managed Care Contracting for Orthopaedic Surgeons” and as a faculty member for the AAOS’s 1996 seminar series entitled, “Winning at Risk: The Interplay of Cost, Quality, and Access in Orthopaedic Practice”. He most recently served as a faculty member for the AAOS’s seminars, “Practice Management Symposium for Practicing Orthopaedic Surgeons’ since 2009. He recently spent eight years as part of the Practice Management Committee for the AAOS – including the last four years as chair of the committee. He has chaired multiple practice management symposia at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons between 2008 and 2016. He is founder and CEO of an Orthopedic IPA in California – Ortho on Demand, PC. He currently is involved with contracting for Orthopedic Surgeons throughout the state of California. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, Honor Medical Society, the Sigma XI Scientific Research Society, California Orthopaedic Association (COA), the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), and is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the California Orthopedic Association.
Second Vice President: Alexander Sah, M.D.
Having been born at Washington Hospital in Fremont, I have a deep commitment to the Bay Area community. I strive to practice medicine the same way my father did, a head and neck surgeon and Chief-of-Staff at Washington Hospital, with a patient-first emphasis and thorough and compassionate care. First and foremost, I pride myself on being available to my patients and developing long lasting relationships.
Secretary-Treasurer, Francois Lalonde, M.D.
Graduating from medical school at the University of Toronto, Canada, I then completed an internship in Pediatrics at the Montreal Children’s Hospital/McGill University in Montreal, Canada and a residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Ottawa, Canada . Subsequently I completed two years of subspecialty training in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada and at Children’s Hospital San Diego, California. I worked at both of these institutions before accepting a position at CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange County where I have been practicing for the past 20 years. Within Orthopaedics, my areas of special interest include fracture management, childhood, adolescent and young adult hip conditions, foot conditions and cerebral palsy.
I also obtained my Masters in Education (Higher Education, Health Professional Education) at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Canada.
In 2011, I was selected to the Leadership Fellow Program of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. I served as section chair in Orthopaedic Surgery at CHOC Children’s Hospital from 2007-2011. From 2010-20012, I was the chair of the Department of Surgery. In August 2014, I was elected as the Managing Partner of our Orthopaedic group Adult & Pediatric Orthopaedic Specialists. From 2017-2018, I served as the President of the medical staff at CHOC Children’s. I have been a member of the CalOptima Peer Review and Quality Committee since 2010 and an advisor to the Children’s Cerebral Palsy Movement since 2015. I am a member of the Volunteer Clinical Faculty at the University of California, Irvine.
First as a junior member at large, then as the Orange County representative and now through the AAOS Board of Councilors, I have been a member of the Board of Directors of the California Orthopaedic Association since 2010. I am entering my fifth year as a member of the AAOS Board of Councilors.
These various leadership positions have taught me the importance of engagement, respect, collaboration and consensus building
Board of Directors Roster
COA Leaders – Past Presidents/Past Program Chairs and Award Winners
