Page 56 - ISAKOS 2019 Newsletter Vol II

FELLOWS EXPERIENCE CONGRESS FLASHBACK
MY 2017 ISAKOS CONGRESS EXPERIENCE
Francisco Figueroa, MD
Clinica Alemana – Universidad del Desarrollo Santiago, CHILE
At the time of the 2017 ISAKOS Congress in Shanghai, I was living in Australia as part of the Sydney Orthopaedic Research Institute’s Knee Fellowship program along with David Parker (ISAKOS Assistant Secretary), Myles Coolican (ISAKOS Knee Arthroplasty Deputy Chair), and Brett Fritsch (ISAKOS Knee Sports & Preservation Committee member). Luckily for me, the flight from Sydney wasn’t incredibly long (only 10 hours, compared with days from my native country of Chile) and the time change was only a few hours.
After arriving in Shanghai, I was immediately impressed by this enormous and chaotic city, with its huge urban skyline, its variety of dynamic neighborhoods, and its beautiful “French Quarter” with its beautiful classic European-style buildings. I could write volumes about the many wonders of this city, so I am simply going to summarize Shanghai with a single word: “Amazing.”
The congress was, as usual, one of the best meetings of the year. ISAKOS includes some of most important orthopaedic surgeons from around the world, and having these individuals together at one meeting ensures the quality of the event.
The pre-courses and ICLs exposed attendees to an incredible combination of knowledge and experience from different perspectives, and the individual sessions, with their focus on case-based discussions, ensured that the topics were centered on relevant, real-life problems.
As I was living outside of my own country at the time, the meeting provided a welcome opportunity for me to meet up with friends and colleagues from home. I was also able to see my parents as my father (David Figueroa, ISAKOS Consultant) was at the Congress as well.
This was my second ISAKOS Congress, having attended my first one 2 years previously in Lyon. I’m currently writing these words from my hotel room in Cancun, meaning that I’m about to start my third ISAKOS Congress in a row. Once you start attending these outstanding meetings, you definitely can’t stop.
I want to thank ISAKOS for all of the opportunities that it provides for fellows, residents, and young surgeons to attend these meetings. Finally, the circle has closed: after all of these amazing experiences, I myself have become an ISAKOS member. Based on my own experience, I believe that encouraging and helping trainees and young surgeons to attend these kinds of meetings is an excellent way to ensure loyalty to the society. I congratulate the ISAKOS Education Committee for pursuing this wise strategy.
54 ISAKOS NEWSLETTER 2019: VOLUME II