COA Members
It is my honor and profound privilege to take the baton from Ray Raven, MD, MBA and lead on as your next President of the COA. I look forward to the opportunity to serve and to work with our very strong and diverse Board of Directors to ensure COA remains a vital and valuable resource for all Orthopaedists in the state. No matter what your own mode of practice may be or where you are in the arc of your career, the COA has something to offer you.
The COA Annual Meeting last week was a spectacular success. Big thanks and a “virtual” round of applause go to Ray Raven, MD, MBA who has served as President over the course of the last year, and to Program Co-Chairs Milton Little, MD and James Chen, MD. The program was a magnificent arrangement of presentations that included cutting-edge science in our profession, as well as a thought-provoking panel discussion about Artificial Intelligence and how that is impacting the lives and work of all of us – for both good and potential harm. For all those who may have missed out on this year’s conference, be sure to add to your calendars now the dates for next year’s annual meeting: April 16-19, 2026 in Santa Barbara.
Gratitude goes to Dr. Raven for his valiant leadership of our organization over the past year. These are turbulent times to say the least, and COA is fortunate to have had Ray at the helm, especially given his avant-garde approach to challenges we face in orthopaedics and his long time work as a visionary and as a savvy businessman.
This year, the COA celebrates its golden anniversary. It was founded in 1975 at a time when MICRA was signed into law by then Governor Jerry Brown and there were other threats to the way we practice medicine and are paid for what we do. It’s astonishing to think some things never change. Fortunately, many things do evolve and change for the better and COA will continue to push for those improvements.
The COA is committed to supporting Resident and Fellow education, understanding and empowering different modes of practice, and doing the crucial advocacy work at the state level which impacts all Orthopaedists no matter where they live or practice.
Next year’s annual meeting will be stellar. Plans for it are already underway. Jeff Smith, MD (San Diego) and Kartheek Reddy, MD (Salinas) are the Program Co-Chairs and have many terrific ideas they are working on, including subspecialty updates, physician wellness, and protection against burnout, among others. My keynote speaker will be NASA veteran astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman, PhD. Many medical issues happen to the astronauts that are directly applicable to our terrestrial orthopaedic patients, including osteoporosis, muscle mass loss, balance problems, and more. Beyond that, Cady’s perspectives on lessons learned in life and our place in the Universe are enlightening. I hope to see you all there.
Please feel free to contact me or the central office any time if you have any questions or concerns that we can address or suggestions for ways we can improve our service to you, the members of this grand organization. At the COA, the members are the highest priority.
Thank you for the opportunity to be your President.
With gratitude,
Bob
Robert R. Slater, Jr., MD, FACS
