Wilford Gibson, MD, has been thinking about his role as president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons over the past two years when he was serving as first- and second vice president. Taking the helm for the 2026 term, he said he has engagement and service on his mind for the organization.
Dr. Gibson, of Atlantic Orthopedic Specialists in Virginia Beach, Va., spoke with Becker’s about the “care of the profession” mindset he’s bringing to the role.
Note: This conversation was lightly edited for clarity.
Question: You’re stepping to this role during this time of major change in healthcare. What are your top priorities for the organization during this term?
Dr. Wilford Gibson: I spent a lot of time thinking about this while doing my two previous years as the second vice president, first vice president, and watching our president achieve good things. For me, I think the most important thing is to engage our membership. That’s the first thing. We just have to get members to show up and commit to things like attending the annual meeting. We’ve had to nominate leaders, and once they’re nominated we want them to vote. We want them to join our AAOS political action committee at any level they can afford. We’re a very diverse group, and we have one culture, and I want to promote that.
The second thing is I want to get them to volunteer. We have a wide range of surgeons, from just starting out candidate members and members and newly becoming fellows and others in mid career. Some are in late-career, but we want them to volunteer because there are many opportunities for them. We have opportunities with our committee appointment program, our states and regional societies, with the Board of Counselors, all of our different specialty societies, and some of our affinity societies. There are many ways that can enrich their lives and their practice. There are also many roles to serve in with nearly 1,000 positions in the committee appointment program that we have to fill each year. So there is a tremendous opportunity. There is competition for those spots and to serve and take care of the profession.
Q: Are you seeing increases in AAOS engagement outside of the annual meeting attendance?
WG: I believe we’re seeing a resurgence. I know a lot of not-for-profit organizations are going through this where they’ve had tremendous growth through the years, and then the curve bends downward and gets a little flat and stagnant. But we’re really reinventing the organization and our annual meeting. People are already asking about the 2027 meeting in Las Vegas. I’ve spoken to people that hadn’t been to the AAOS meeting in 20 years, and they’re excited to get back to the way we were pre-pandemic. I think 2019 was our last year before the pandemic in Las Vegas, and we had over 30,000 attendees. We had a downward trend through the pandemic, but I saw a lot of rays of hope out there in New Orleans [at this year’s meeting].
Q: Can you talk more about the AAOS PAC and your plans to grow and strengthen surgeon voices in Washington, D.C.?
WG: One of the big things that’s become my tagline from my talk at the annual meeting is we’re stronger together, and we need to engage our members. We need to get them to join the PAC, get them to volunteer, participate and serve. There is strength in numbers. We need to have one message. I think that’s probably one of the biggest things.
Having been the past council chair and being on the PAC executive committee for nearly a decade, I’m very knowledgeable about how things work on Capitol Hill. But also our advocacy is very much engaged with our regulatory agencies to the extent we can be, and we have people with some long history there and knowledge. So, I expect we’re going to have a good amount of engagement and participation, not just on Capitol Hill, but also with our regulators.
Q: You have a background serving with the U.S. Navy. How have those experiences shaped you into the leader you are now? Are there any lessons from that time that still resonate with you today?
WG: In the Navy, mission is number one. I was on a ship for a lengthy period of time, and in the Navy the only constant is really change. Some things you have to stick to are your values, and the military is honor, courage and commitment. We have a plan of the day every day that we prepare. We get ready for the day every day, no matter what time of day it is, and you have to be prepared, and you have to be determined. But at the end of the day, you want to stick to the mission. What’s in front of you within your control that day, at that moment?
The lesson I’ve learned in the Navy is to stick to the mission, stick to your values. Sometimes things are thrown at you, and you have to be able to innovate, you have to be able to adapt, and at the end of the day, you have to be able to meet the expectation and overcome.
