These statements reflect an important evolution for NASS. We remain deeply committed to spine surgery and to the surgeons and nonsurgeons who have built and led this organization, while recognizing that excellent spine care increasingly occurs across a broader continuum of professionals, disciplines and settings.

I want to be direct about what this evolution does, and does not, mean. Surgery is not being diluted or deprioritized. It remains the technical core around which so much of our field is organized, and NASS’ surgical education, guidelines, and advocacy will continue to reflect that. What is changing is our recognition that surgeons increasingly practice alongside, and depend on, nonsurgical colleagues who share responsibility for patient outcomes. Strengthening that broader team does not come at surgery’s expense; it is how we protect surgeons’ ability to do their best work. Surgeons have interpreted our multidisciplinary approach as deemphasizing the surgeon in NASS. This is incorrect. Surgeons used to be the primary contact for patients with spinal conditions.  Surgeons would refer to our colleagues in other specialties while guiding the patient’s care through each spine care episode. We encourage our surgeons to reestablish themselves as captains of the ship. It is how we best help our patients who entrust their care to us.

Our first strategic goal is to strengthen NASS’ role as the trusted professional home for spine surgeons and care teams by delivering meaningful value, connection, leadership, and pathways for sustained engagement and growth throughout a member’s career, from surgical residency and fellowship, through early practice and board certification, to established clinical practice, leadership, and mentorship of the next generation of spine surgeons and their nonsurgical colleagues.

We intend to better understand what our members need and use that information to create more personalized experiences, for the practicing surgeon managing a demanding OR schedule as much as for our nonsurgical members. This includes improving new-member onboarding, providing practical resources to support members in their professional and practice environments, creating stronger communities within NASS, expanding opportunities to volunteer and lead, and developing more meaningful mentorship and career-development programs, including surgeon-to-surgeon mentorship on technique, complication management, and practice building.

It also means growing our community.

We will focus more deliberately on trainees, early-career professionals, advanced practice providers and others involved in comprehensive spine care, while also reaching out to former members and creating stronger connections with institutions, fellowship programs and practice groups.

Our goal is more than just increasing membership. It is also about creating an organization in which people want to participate and where they see NASS as an important part of their professional identity.

NASS has long been recognized for evidence-based education, clinical guidelines, and research, much of it grounded in surgical technique and outcomes. Our second strategic priority builds on that foundation while placing greater emphasis on translating knowledge and innovation into actionable guidance, education, and resources that improve clinical decision-making, patient care, and outcomes.

We will continue developing trusted clinical guidelines and evidence frameworks addressing important gaps in spine care, while making those resources easier to find, use and integrate into clinical practice and payer decision-making. We also intend to better align our research investments with the most important unanswered questions facing our field and expand collaborative research and advocacy with other organizations.

Education will continue to be central to our mission, but our educational model must evolve. We will assess and redesign our educational portfolio, including expanding hands-on, case-based, and cadaver-lab surgical training alongside our broader curriculum for comprehensive spine care, explore responsible integration of AI, strengthen faculty development, refine our international educational strategy, and place greater emphasis on whether what participants learn actually changes practice and improves patient care.

Innovation will continue to become a more visible, year-round component of NASS. Building on initiatives such as our Innovation Summit, we envision ongoing programming that connects physicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and emerging companies. NASS can play an important role in identifying promising surgical devices, biologics, and enabling technologies, from robotics and navigation to AI-assisted planning, and helping responsible innovation move from concept to meaningful clinical application.

Our third priority is to influence the policies and stakeholders that shape spine care by advancing credible, evidence-based positions, advocating for spine professionals and their patients, and reducing barriers to high-quality treatment. Decisions affecting spine care are increasingly made at the Congressional level, with federal agencies, private payers, employers, and other organizations outside the examination room. NASS must ensure that those decisions are informed by clinical expertise and the best available evidence.

We will establish clear annual health policy and advocacy priorities and continue developing evidence-based policy positions grounded in NASS guidelines, coverage recommendations, and clinical expertise. We will advocate for appropriate coverage and payment, including addressing declining surgical reimbursement, site-of-service restrictions, and bundled-payment pressures that fall most directly on surgeons, work to reduce unnecessary prior authorization and administrative burdens, and strengthen our relationships with payers and policymakers.

Partnership will be essential. NASS already works with numerous medical societies and national coalitions, but our strategic plan calls for us to become more deliberate about building alliances around issues important to spine professionals and their patients. Just as importantly, we need to do a better job communicating that work to our members, so they understand where NASS is advocating on their behalf and the results of those efforts.

None of these ambitions can be achieved without a strong organization behind them. Our fourth strategic priority therefore focuses on organizational excellence and sustainability.

We will clarify our positioning and strengthen the NASS brand while reaffirming ouridentity as the pre-eminent spine organization. We will continue improving governance so that our Board, councils, committees, sections, and staff are working toward common strategic objectives rather than operating in separate organizational lanes.

Technology and data are also becoming increasingly important. Better information about our members will allow us to personalize services, measure engagement and make better decisions. Improved Customer Relationship Management (CRM), learning-management and analytics capabilities will help us understand what is working and where we need to improve.

Finally, long-term financial sustainability must remain a priority. NASS will continue strengthening financial planning and oversight while working to diversify revenue beyond traditional sources. Innovation programs, digital education, new courses, grants, licensing, and other opportunities can generate resources that allow us to reinvest in our mission while reducing dependence on any single revenue source.

Perhaps the most important feature of this plan is that it is intended to be measurable.

Each major strategic priority is being translated into specific SMART goals with defined outcomes, responsibilities, and timelines. Membership growth and retention, educational effectiveness, research and guideline adoption, innovation participation, advocacy impact, operational performance, and financial sustainability will all be measured through defined performance indicators. Metrics will be utilized to assess outcomes and return on investment.

The Board and Executive Committee will regularly review our progress. Staff leadership will assess implementation, and our priorities, budgets, and committee workplans will be aligned with the strategic plan. We will provide regular progress reports so that our members can see not only what NASS intends to accomplish, but what we are accomplishing.

A strategic planis not be a document that sits on a shelf. It is a guide for the leadership and organization as to decisions about where we invest our time, talent and resources. Equally important, it will guide us as to where we choose not to invest resources.

NASS’ 2027–2029 Strategic Plan provides that roadmap. It builds on the strengths that have defined our organization for decades while challenging us to evolve with the changing needs of our members, our profession, and our patients.

Our success will ultimately be measured not by how many goals we write or initiatives we launch, but by whether NASS provides greater value to its members, surgeons and non-surgical colleagues alike, advances the science and practice of spine care, strengthens the voice of our profession, and contributes to better outcomes for the patients we serve.

That is the work ahead of us, and I look forward to pursuing it together.