NAMEC Chairman Brian Alpert (left) instructs during the Hartford AO Maxillofacial Operating Room Personnel Course last October.
North American Maxillofacial Education Committee (NAMEC)
By Brian Alpert, D.D.S., Chairman
During the past few years, there has been a two-pronged approach to North America Maxillofacial education to meet the needs of surgeons requiring both basic and advanced education. Regional maxillofacial workshops in conjunction with ORP courses aimed at residents and OR personnel have been offered at sites that have residency programs in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
These are basic lectures and laboratory experiences designed to introduce the concepts and techniques of rigid internal fixation for the broad area of cranio-maxillofacial surgery: trauma, tumor, reconstruction, aesthetic, etc. The programs have been offered around the U.S. and Canada in weekend time blocks. North American as well as local faculty have been utilized for these programs.
NAMEC Chairman Brian Alpert (left) instructs during the Hartford AO Maxillofacial Operating Room Personnel Course last October. |
The other area of endeavor has been an annual Maxillofacial AO Advanced Course usually in a ski resort. The advanced format, designed for the surgeon already exposed to the basics of rigid internal fixation, utilizes an international faculty and offers lectures, seminars and demonstrations in more specific and sophisticated areas. A "Davos" format is used, with early morning and late afternoon/evening activities, and midday free for recreation. A Saturday-through-Tuesday calendar is followed and, beginning this year, this advanced course will alternate yearly between ski and beach venues.
Recognizing that distraction osteogenesis is one of the "hottest" topics in maxillofacial reconstruction, and wanting AO to be a leader in this area, we conducted a distraction course in Chicago in August 1998. Course chairman Craig Vander Kolk and the distinguished international faculty of surgeons and orthodontists offered a spectacular course, complete with brand new laboratory exercises and models. This course was so successful that another distraction course, under the direction of Joe Van Sickels and an international faculty, is scheduled for Louisville in May 1999, and a third is being planned for Chicago in December 1999.
It is a fact of life that different areas of the country have different interests. Likewise, most senior and mid-career surgeons are conversant with rigid fixation of the maxillofacial skeletal and may have specific interests not met by the basic workshop or the advanced course. In response to this, a Mid-Tier course is being developed which allows the course chairman to pick and choose among a variety of topics and areas to fit a particular audience, area and need. Subjects such as bone grafting, pediatrics, resorbables, endoscopic approaches, implants, alloplasts, etc. will be tailored to the specific audience. The first of these Mid-Tier AO Maxillofacial courses will be held in Texas, under the direction of Becky McGraw-Wall. North American maxillofacial education is a unique area, primarily consisting of otolaryngologists head and neck surgeons, plastic and reconstructive, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons. It is the only forum where these three diverse and often competing specialties meet and interact on level ground. This "trinity" has been maintained in all educational offerings and functions. Indeed, the first oculoplastic surgeon has recently been appointed to the North American Maxillofacial faculty, further expanding our ecumenical group.
Current members of the North American Maxillofacial Education Committee are Brian Alpert, D.D.S., Chairman, Peter J. Koltai, M.D., Warren Schubert, M.D., Kevin A. Shumrick, M.D., Joseph E. Van Sickels, D.D.S., Craig A. Vander Kolk, M.D., and John L. Frodel, Jr., M.D.