- Welcome from CDC Chair
- Featured Program: Early Career Mentorship
- Dr. Michelle Clarke Elected AO Spine NA Representative
- Cases & Cocktails at LSRS
- Webinar: Women in Surgery
- Call for Applications: AO SNA Committee Positions
View the Spring 2026 newsletter email
Welcome from Dr. Elizabeth Yu, AO Spine NA CDC Chair
Dear AO Spine NA Community,
As we welcome spring 2026, I am delighted to share our achievements, upcoming events, and other relevant news.
Since the last newsletter, the 24th annual Fellows Forum took place the last week of March 2026 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The program brought together 2025/26 fellows and directors, highlighting strong academic research and engagement. One of the standout parts of the meeting was the fireside sessions, where fellows met in small groups with faculty to discuss real clinical cases. The interactive, conversational format encouraged meaningful mentorship.
Thank you to the chairs, Dr. Eric Klineberg and Dr. Brett Freedman, and the attendees for the lively research discussions and exchange of innovative ideas.
The Early Career Mentorship Program spring meetings are underway. Mentors are hosting office hours with topics of interest with mentees. Learn more about the program and how to get involved below. Thank you to Dr. Serena Hu and Dr. Ryan Spiker, who both serve on the AO Spine NA Community Development Committee, for sitting down for a thoughtful discussion about the mentorship program, its origins and plans for the future. Thank you also to Dr. Hu for editing this issue of the newsletter.
There are several upcoming courses and events for both trainees and practicing surgeons. Register for the From Challenge to Impact: Women in Surgery on Leadership, Growth, and the AO Experience, a webinar open to all surgeons, clinicians, and trainees who wish to deepen their understanding of the experiences and challenges of women in surgery and contribute to a more supportive professional environment. OneAO 2026® takes place later this month in Tampa, Florida. Scheduled from April 29-30, this year’s program focuses on Performance, Resilience and Purpose with several notable speakers, including Dr. Rex Marco who is featured in the Together in Surgery session. The Part II ABOS Oral Board Review course, will take place on June 20, 2026 in Chicago, IL.
Additional educational exchange and networking opportunities will be incorporated into this year’s Global Spine Congress, May 27-30, Istanbul, Turkey. Hear from some of the biggest names in spinal surgery about why you should attend this year’s meeting. This leading congress will feature quality speakers and highlight the latest innovations and technologies in the field.
Another opportunity for community building, the new myAO 2.0 app, has been available to users for the past few months. This is a platform for interaction, networking, and collaboration with members from around the world and to connect with those members in your local area. Use your AO login today to explore the next generation of this community-oriented platform.
While resources like myAO 2.0 and AO Surgery Reference are free to access, active AO members gain access to mentorship and a national and international network of spine surgeons. Additional membership privileges include access to professional development opportunities, research resources, and educational programs. Membership is affordable at 100 CHF. Please refer interested prospective members to me directly for further information.
Elizabeth Yu, MD
AO Spine NA – Community Development Committee Chair
Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Division of Spine
Chief, Division of Spine Surgery
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Featured Program: Early Career-Mentorship
By Dr. Serena Hu
AO Spine NA Community Development Committee Member
The AO Spine NA Early Career Mentorship Program is in its second year. Dr. Ryan Spiker, Past-Chair of AO Spine NA CDC, has been instrumental at developing this program and shepherding it. The program was born from a desire to connect with surgeons setting off on the initial years of practice and demonstrate the AO commitment to building community. Currently, AO Spine NA Fellows are eligible to participate as mentees at the conclusion of their fellowship year. The mentors are selected by the AO Community Development Committee. In this conversation, Dr. Spiker shares his vision for starting the program, future goals and plans for growth, and encourages more AO NA members to get involved.
Highlights from the Conversation
Dr. Hu: Can you tell a little bit about why you developed the AO Mentorship Program and a little bit more about the target and some of the goals?
Dr. Spiker: Absolutely … I’ve really been honored to be part of the AO for a long time – the last 10 or 15 years – and I’ve really appreciated the mentorship opportunities it’s given me both as a mentee early on and then as a mentor in more recent years, and felt like there was a need in that kind of early career period. [Otherwise], we do such a great job engaging residents and fellows, and we do a great job kind of mid-career and on.
There’s so many great opportunities within the AO, and so just felt like I wanted to try and contribute something for that early career segment to help get people engaged with the AO, help them realize all the resources that are there. I felt like this was a good way to show off one of our strengths, which is the mentorship that the community can provide, and so that’s where the emphasis came from.
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Dr. Hu: Can you talk more about who should consider joining the program, either as a mentee or a mentor?
Dr. Spiker: I think we’re really trying to kind of fit the need, and the reality is we sometimes think of as mentors as the most senior surgeons out there, but the reality is there are people at every stages of their career that have so much to offer in that mentor role. We’ve really sought out other early surgeons, who are maybe three to ten years into their practice, as well as senior mentors that are maybe 20 or 30 years into their practice to serve as mentors. They serve different roles for these groups, and just by polling the mentees, what we found is some people are really interested in what’s it like to start a practice with the availability of social media, of AI, with some of these things that some of us didn’t start our practices. It’s been helpful to have some younger mentors that are a little bit closer to some of those issues, and others want to talk about the difficulties of dealing with difficult patients or challenging cases, which obviously every spine surgeon has dealt with. We’ve tried to create a lot of different opportunities and really allow some customization, so mentees have the opportunity to signify what they’re interested in. Do you want somebody who’s more in private practice, someone who’s more academic, maybe both?
Do you want something that’s maybe a little bit more focused for your particular situation, early career versus late career? So we try and get some information on the mentees, if they’re looking for any sort of mentorship about financial parts of the job, legal parts of the job, academic – there’s a lot of different opportunities.
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Dr. Hu: So, this model actually has more mentees than mentors. It is not a one-to-one relationship. It’s like you meet with all of the mentors, mentees at a time. Is that kind of what I’m hearing?
Dr. Spiker: Historically, it’s been a group of four or five mentees for one or two mentors… It keeps it small enough that we can really have personalized conversations, have time to go over specific cases, specific issues. Moving forward with a new [office hours model], it’ll be a similar structure, but instead of being assigned one group for the whole year … there will be more flexibility. If you want to come to my office hours, great. If what I talk about maybe isn’t as pertinent to your practice, go talk to Dr. Hu about her practice. Go talk to Dr. Klineberg about their experience, you know, to give them a little bit more opportunity on their end to even customize it further to the things that [the mentees] want to hear about.
Dr. Hu: Okay, that’s great… I’m used to sort of a one-on-one model, but I like the idea of having groups because you get… a different viewpoint, so you have more balance. I think the mentees probably appreciate having discussion among themselves as well as with you guys as mentors, so that sounds like it’s much more interactive than a one-on-one where you’re potentially like running out of things to ask about, for example.
Dr. Spiker: Yeah, yeah, it does… In my mind, it was really trying to mimic the great experiences I’ve had in small groups at AO meetings, and I think that ability to learn from peers, to learn from people more senior than you is really a unique and a gift. So, we’re just trying to do that in the modern world when sometimes it’s hard to fly to a meeting or make time for an entire weekend course or something, but to squeeze in an hour or two and get some of those opportunities has been really been fun for me from the mentor side.
Dr. Michelle Clarke Elected as the AO Spine North America Representative on the AO North America Board
AO North America is pleased to announce the election of Michelle Clarke, MD, PhD as the new AO Spine North America (AO Spine NA) Representative on the AO North America Board of Directors, effective immediately. Dr. Clarke will serve a four-year term, bringing extensive clinical expertise, educational leadership, and commitment to the AO mission to this important role.
Dr. Clarke is accomplished in the field of spine surgery, with a background spanning clinical spine surgery, fellowship leadership, education science, ethics, and research. Along with this varied experience, she is also well versed in resource allocation, quality oversight, and operational leadership within complex healthcare systems.
Read more about Dr. Clarke and her new role
Featured Event: Cases & Cocktails at LSRS
Thursday, May 14, 2026 | 4 PM CT
Are you attending the Lumbar Research Society Annual Meeting? Don’t miss Cases & Cocktails: A Panel Discussion in Partnership with AO Spine NA. This session is sponsored by the AO Spine NA Community Development Committee. We look forward to seeing you there!
Moderator: Elizabeth Yu, MD; AO Spine NA Community Development Chair
Panelists: Michael Steinmetz, MD; Cara Sedney, MD; Andrew Chan, MD; Brandon Lawrence, MD; Wellington Hsu, MD
From Challenge to Impact: Women in Surgery on Leadership, Growth and the AO Experience
April 25, 2026 | 10–11 AM ET
Women in surgery are not only navigating challenges across every stage of their careers—they are also driving innovation, influencing culture, and redefining leadership across specialties. In this powerful conversation, distinguished surgeons from across AO North America will share the experiences that have shaped their paths, the insights they have gained as leaders in their fields, and the role the AO has played in supporting their growth and impact.
This webinar features an exceptional panel of respected voices in surgery:
Moderator: Kerry Latham, MD, MHPE, CPE
Panelists: Shannath Merbs, MD, PhD (CMF); Elizabeth Yu, MD (Spine); Lisa Blackrick, MD (Trauma); Kati Glass, DVM (Vet)
Call for Applications: AO Spine NA Committee Positions
AO Spine North America (AO SNA) is looking for motivated individuals with excellent interpersonal skills to serve as committee members on the Education, Fellowship, Community Development, and Research Committees.