The Germán Ochoa Traveling Fellowship is a monetary award for the winner to use for travel to a spine center of their choice to further enhance AOSpine's efforts to be a global leader in spine surgery education. The award started in 2015 and has so far sent the winners to Guatemala, China, and the UK. This year's winner is headed for Germany.

 

The International Educator of the Year Award distinguishes a long standing and highly respected member of the AOSpine community, one who has demonstrated sustained and significant contribution to educational excellence.

 

Regional representatives are nominated by their peers to be marked on various categories. Each winner of the Regional Educator of the Year Awards has been honored by AOSpine for their leadership in educating surgeons. They are all experienced educators in their respective regions and act as AOSpine faculty at national, regional, and international level. They all share a passion for high-quality teaching with great motivation, inspiration, and enthusiasm, and have demonstrated tremendous commitment in passing on their knowledge and experience to other spine surgeons.

 

While these awards are designed for well-established members of the AO community, all past winners started out simply as participants at AOSpine educational events. Getting involved with AOSpine can really be the start of a journey to the very top of the organization, which strives to be:

 

• Transparent
• Egalitarian
• Accountable
• Meritocratic

 

Congratulations to all our winners.