AMSSM Launches First International Sports Medicine Traveling Fellowship Tour to Australia

LEAWOOD, Kan. – The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) has launched its first International Traveling Fellowship program tour, an academic exchange and clinical immersion initiative for sports medicine physicians to teach and learn sports medicine on a global level.

AMSSM will host Peter Brukner OAM, MBBS, an internationally recognized sports medicine clinician and researcher from Melbourne, Australia, as its first International Traveling Fellow. Dr. Brukner will visit a few select stops including the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md., and Duke University in Durham, N.C., prior to arriving in New Orleans, La. as a keynote speaker for the 2014 AMSSM Annual Meeting, scheduled April 5-9 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.

“I am honored to be the first AMSSM Traveling Fellow,” Dr. Brukner said. “Australia and the U.S. have been at the forefront of many of the developments in sports medicine over the past three decades and I look forward to sharing ideas and experiences with sports medicine colleagues in the U.S during my speaker tour, and then hosting the AMSSM Visiting Fellows in Australia later this summer.”

The purpose of the program is to encourage academic interchange, share research and explore common clinical interests amongst international sports medicine leaders.

AMSSM plans to host one International Traveling Fellow in the United States at selected universities for a two-week period each spring, culminating with a keynote speech at the AMSSM Annual Meeting. In addition, two young promising sports medicine physicians and one senior fellow from AMSSM will be selected to travel to the respective exchange country as Visiting Fellows. The inaugural class of Visiting Fellows will be headed to Australia from July 9-23, 2014 with Senior Traveling Fellow and AMSSM Founder Jim Puffer, MD. Stops are scheduled for Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.

“This program allows AMSSM to foster excellence in the care and safety of sports medicine patients, and it increases collaborative opportunities with international sports medicine societies and colleagues,” said Tom Trojian, MD, chair of AMSSM’s International and Inter-organizational Relations Committee. “We are excited to start this new program and look forward to its continued success.”

AMSSM hopes to expand the program to include future travel to Europe, the Middle East and South America by AMSSM members.

This program was made possible by the generous support the AMSSM Foundation received from DJO Global. AMSSM wishes to thank DJO Global for its educational support of this exchange of ideas and knowledge by world leaders in sports medicine.

About the AMSSM: AMSSM is a multi-disciplinary organization of 2,500 sports medicine physicians dedicated to education, research, advocacy and the care of athletes of all ages. The majority of AMSSM members are primary care physicians with fellowship training and added qualification in sports medicine who then combine their practice of sports medicine with their primary specialty. AMSSM includes members who specialize solely in non-surgical sports medicine and serve as team physicians at the youth level, NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS and NHL, as well as with Olympic teams. By nature of their training and experience, sports medicine physicians are ideally suited to provide comprehensive medical care for athletes, sports teams or active individuals who are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle. www.amssm.org

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