IOACON2012 - Indian Orthopaedic Association Conference 2012

Professor Rami Abboud has recently attended the 57th Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA) Annual Conference (IOACON 2012) in Chennai, 13th - 16th December, as a Guest Lecturer of the President of IOA, Professor Rajasekaran Shanmuganathan. Professor Abboud was accompanied by Mr Arun Ramanathan and Mr Sadiq Nasir representing the University Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Department at this prestigious conference which was attended by over 6000 orthopaedic surgeons and allied industry members. Professor Abboud and his colleagues held a stall at the conference, which was the only academic stall raising the profile of the University at such a prestigious event, an event that ultimately attracted over 1000 participants enquiring about various courses offered at the University of Dundee. Professor Abboud summarised the trip as a great success:

“It was definitely a worthwhile event and the stall was a great success to promote the University, meet our graduates and attract potential students to the University. The peak of the event was meeting many of our MCh Orth graduates in their own country realising the role that the MCh Orth Course had played in shaping their respective careers, with many running very successful private hospitals, academic institutions or key personnel of governmental organisations. As 2013 is a special year for the MCh Orth course, an Alumni Dinner was organised in Chennai to meet with our graduates and to present them with specially designed pins and cuff-links to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the course and its continual success. In addition, I felt overwhelmed by the hospitality of the organisers, especially when I found that five of them are graduates from our course - a great accolade indeed.”

Highlights of the conference were:

• Orthopaedic experts from across the globe well known from their expertise and knowledge shared their wealth of experience.
• Six conference lectures and six eponymous lectures.
• 231 Presentations; 202 free papers and 220 e-posters.
• Multimedia learning experience of AAOS.
• Indo-British Autumn session.
• President’s oration on “Overcoming Obstacles - the Aravind story” from the Executive director of Aravind eye care systems.
• A rare exclusive session on “Inner Engineering” by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev - Isha Foundation.
• Staggered trade timings and hassle free lecture halls thanks to bar-coded attendance.
• University of Dundee as the only academic institution holding a stall
• Impressive organisation, especially the ability to feed a massive audience at one sitting!

Information regarding the 2012 Conference can be found at: www.ioaconagra.org/home