Jerry W. Van Meter, M.D., FAANA has been a long-time member of AANA, having joined in 1986 when the organization was just starting to grow into what would become a global community of over 5,500 Orthopaedic Surgeons and advanced practitioners. He has also been a donor to the AANA Education Foundation for many years, and credits the Foundation for supporting AANA, the organization that has served as an outlet for arthroscopy education and innovation.
Dr. Van Meter was born in Kunming, China, adopted by American missionaries and brought to the United States at the age of two. Although raised in a predominantly white community in southern California, Dr. Van Meter cherished the relationships and opportunities he was exposed to while valuing opportunities to embrace his Chinese heritage.
While attending medical school at the University of California, Davis in the 1970s, the orthopaedic surgery department chief, Paul R. Lipscomb, M.D., his staff and Orthopaedic Residents encouraged Dr. Van Meter to explore a career in orthopaedics. During his final year of orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of California, San Francisco in 1981, James M. Glick, M.D., an early member of AANA, exposed him to and encouraged his interest and training in arthroscopy, what was then a fledgling procedure.
At that time, arthroscopy was still relatively new in the United States and being treated with a great deal of skepticism within the orthopaedic surgery community. Early techniques were very limited by equipment and techniques were primarily confined to the knee. Having the opportunity to start a career emphasizing arthroscopy, he found AANA and its educational opportunities to be the foundation of advancing his arthroscopic education and surgical skills. As he states, “I will always be grateful to AANA and the many arthroscopic mentors and colleagues that the organization allowed me to meet and learn from throughout the entirety of my 40 years of practice.”
As arthroscopy has advanced to take its place within the field of orthopaedic surgery, further advances will likely take place at an accelerated pace in the next 10 years.
“With advances in virtual reality, artificial intelligence and digital medicine, future opportunities and challenges will exist to provide more arthroscopic care more quickly and easily around the world,” Dr. Van Meter explains.
While technologic advances happen in part through the knowledge base of the surgeons, Dr. Van Meter recognizes and wishes to support AANA’s mission to aid the continuing advancement in arthroscopy knowledge and training through its many educational formats including lab courses, the AANA Annual Meeting and its collaboration with other organizations. The AANA Education Foundation proudly supports these educational opportunities via scholarships.
“AANA and its various education opportunities have provided me with a rich and fulfilling career in arthroscopy as well as deep friendships,” Dr. Van Meter says. “I acknowledge the privileged position that I have in society as a successful Orthopaedic Surgeon. I am grateful to AANA and the Foundation for helping me to achieve this success. As a result, I consider it a privilege and honor to be able to contribute financially to assist in providing a future Orthopaedic Resident or Fellow, either in the United States or internationally, with an arthroscopic educational opportunity that they might not otherwise receive due to their socio-economic background.”
Everyone has their own donation story – what’s yours? Become an AANA Education Foundation donor like Dr. Van Meter.