NASS just celebrated its 40th year as an organization. Spine surgeons founded NASS because there was a need for a home for spine specialists. Our primary societies for each specialty represent the primary specialty as a whole and do not adequately meet the needs of spine specialists. Over the years NASS has grown to be a multispecialty organization.

As a multispecialty organization, we have members who feel that their field within the spine world may be underrepresented or may see the offerings at NASS not focused enough on their specialty. The mission of NASS is to be the home for comprehensive spine care through the care continuum. While NASS maintains its strength in evidence-based surgical spine care, the organization embraces spine specialists from all disciplines. NASS understands that we are stronger together when we learn from each other.

As a spine professional, NASS offers the broadest array of online, print, and in-person educational opportunities. NASS has continued to expand its offerings to meet the needs of our membership. The Spine Journal (TSJ), under the leadership of Christopher Bono, MD, has become the most influential journal regarding spine surgery, procedures, and research. TSJ has the highest impact factor of any spine-related journal and is rated top 10 among all orthopedic journals.

NASSJ represents a newer publication that has been mentored and grown exponentially under the leadership of Jonathan Grauer, MD. NASSJ presents studies and publications that would not otherwise be available for membership education and review. SpineLine is a bimonthly publication under the leadership of Jason Friedrich, MD. SpineLine provides the opportunity to educate our members on multiple issues which affect spine care, including advocacy, coding, and reimbursement, current concepts reviews and NASS News.

NASS Anytime is an exciting new subscription platform offering OnDemand spine education, including surgical demonstrations, webinars, courses, and Annual Meeting presentations, with many activities eligible for CME credit. All educational offerings are developed and reviewed by NASS members representing multiple subspecialties across spine care, ensuring content that is relevant, practical, and evidence-based.

The NASS Annual Meeting remains the premier event yearly regarding spine care. It provides a unique opportunity for our membership to get together, learn, and reunite with colleagues and friends. The NASS board, under the leadership of current president, Bill Mitchell, MD, is making significant changes to the annual meeting to meet members’ requests and needs for present day in-person meetings.

For several years in-person meeting attendance has been declining for multiple reasons. I would encourage our members to make the NASS Annual Meeting a priority.

Certainly, our members can obtain online CME from the comfort of their own home without interfering with the practice of medicine. While some online education platforms, such as webinars, allow online interaction, it cannot replace what is gained from in-person discussions with colleagues at the annual meeting. The decline in in-person meeting attendance for multiple medical societies is a personal and professional loss.

In-person meetings allow dedicated time for education and camaraderie, which can’t be replaced by online offerings. This year's annual meeting will feature both CME and non-CME events. There will be clear focus on surgical presentations and nonsurgical presentations so that the offerings can meet all our members’ needs. Over the years, I have found that attending nonsurgical presentations is extremely beneficial to my practice and care of patients. As a surgeon, I am focused on surgical procedures and the nonsurgical offerings help me round out my knowledge.

The practice of medicine is constantly changing. There has been a significant shift toward employment for physicians from multiple specialties. Employment for physicians has both benefits and detriments. Physicians are professionals. We need to think of ourselves this way and collaborate rather than consider ourselves employees of some entity. Our profession is noble and we influence so many peoples’ lives in positive ways. We should not let the practice of medicine be reduced to a daily job.

When we are employed, we are often placed in the position to consider PTO. When time away from practice is reduced to PTO, the priorities become skewed. All of us consider time with family to be the most valuable thing in our lives. Putting aside several days to a week for in-person education enriches physicians’ lives and enables us to enrich our patients’ lives. It reenergizes us as professionals.

There is a cost to being a member of multiple societies but there is also a great benefit to being a member that focuses on your practice needs. We all identify with our primary society and/or board certifying entity. But our primary society meetings do not offer spine-focused education and/or the opportunity to collaborate both educationally and socially with spine-focused specialists. This is incredibly valuable.

When choosing in-person education, it’s important to choose a meeting where the focus benefits you and your patients the most. When one attends a meeting that has limited content on spine-related issues, we can get our CMEs but often we are not interested in attending most of the presentations. This is not a valuable use of time away from practice to meet educational needs.

I would ask our membership to look back to why you went into medicine, why you chose a certain specialty, and why you are focused on spine care. I think when you reflect, you will recall that you enjoyed the camaraderie of medical school, residency, and fellowship training. Being a NASS member and attending the annual meeting gives you a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues who have mentored you and whom you have mentored throughout your career.

NASS truly is the home for spine care professionals. I would like to hear from any of our members who have any suggestions as to how we can improve the society as your home organization. I look forward to seeing where NASS goes in the future.

NASS has actively engaged members in their early careers, and this has been a tremendous benefit to our organization. As a member, no matter what stage in your career, there is a role for you. If you are an emeritus member or a member in practice for many years, there are opportunities to mentor physicians early in their career and tell them your experiences.

There is great value both personally and professionally to passing on your knowledge and experiences in taking care of patients, practice management, and managing relationships with employers/hospital systems to the next generation of spine professionals.

Please consider coming to our annual meeting in San Antonio this year and participating in our new meeting format. We look forward to welcoming you home.