When I accepted the AMWA Presidency last year, I emphasized that my work would center on collaboration. There is so much that AMWA has done and continues to do; however, no volunteer organization can accomplish everything alone. I wanted to give an update of where things stand with these collaborations, expanding on my remarks at the AMWA Annual Meeting in March.
One of the groups with which AMWA is now working is the North American Spine Society (NASS). This is a multidisciplinary group, composed of health care professionals and researchers from a variety of backgrounds and interests. As you know, one of AMWA’s areas of focus is on sex and gender based medicine. This includes differences in spinal condition incidence, etiology, and treatment. However, there is less known about sex and gender differences in this area than in other areas of health. The goal of AMWA’s collaboration with NASS is to disseminate the information that is known and to stimulate research in areas in which we need to know much more.
Last year, NASS held its first panel discussion on sex and gender differences in spinal conditions, in which I participated. We are now working on an expanded version of this discussion. At the NASS annual meeting in October, there will be a half-day symposium on this topic, followed by an iGIANT (impact of Gender/sex in Innovation And Novel Technologies) roundtable, to discuss the current state of the research and what future research is needed. Both of these activities will be co-branded with AMWA and will include active participation by AMWA members. I will keep you updated as the plans for this progress. If you are interested in reading more about sex and gender differences in spine health, please see the article published last week in Spinal News International.
