Page 24 -

John A. Bergfeld, MD USA
President, 2005–2007
PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
Having served as President of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) in 1992, and serving as a member of the International Knee Society (IKS),
I came to value the international exchange of sports medical and cultural information.
1993, in Hong Kong, I was very excited when the decision was made to merge the IKS and the International Arthroscopy Society (IAS) into ISAKOS. I must say that not all were in agreement regarding this venture. Fortunately, strong leaders like Peter Fowler and Ken DeHaven persisted, and in 1995, the first meeting of ISAKOS came to fruition. This meeting was successful and solidified the organization of ISAKOS.
I was honored to be asked by ISAKOS President, Gary Poehling,
to be his Program Chair for the 1997 Congress. His charge to me was to put on the best international knee
and sports medicine course that
the world had seen, and to include faculty from around the globe. It was a great challenge and I welcomed it. In Washington DC, under the leadership of Peter Fowler and Gary Poehling, ISAKOS was firmly established. I
then continued to work on the Sports
2005
Medicine Committee and was quite surprised when in Montreux (2001), I was nominated for the Presidential line of ISAKOS.
At that time, the structure of ISAKOS was quite loose. My goal was to
firm up the ISAKOS organizational structure, particularly the committee structure.
After a critical review, we established terms of office and a defined a succession structure. We also created a Communications Committee
to interact with our international organizations. With a thorough evaluation of our structure and mission by consultant Tom Nelson, our Executive Committee, under Michele Johnson, became a truly efficient functioning unit. We published a Leadership Manual for the Board
of Directors and committees, successfully completed the Global Connection Campaign for educational fund raising and hosted the second Global Leadership Summit with ISAKOS leaders and industry related to our Society’s educational initiatives in Beijing.
To increase the profile of our partner societies, we dedicated specific times at our biennial Congress for presentations by AANA, AOSSM,
APOSSM, ESSKA, and SLARD.
We also hosted a luncheon for the Presidents, allowing discussion and collaboration with these great partner organizations.
The significant challenge of my term as Vice President and President was to ensure the consistent organizational structure of ISAKOS. I felt that by the time I turned over the reins of ISAKOS to Paolo Aglietti in 2007, we had taken ISAKOS from its adolescence to maturity.
A rewarding part of my Presidency was for ISAKOS to be recognized by almost every organization of Sports Medicine throughout the world. I was proud to show the ISAKOS flag in every corner of the world. I traveled to 10 European, 12 North American,
7 Asian, 5 South and Central American, 2 Arabian, 1 Egyptian, and 1 Indian city during my presidential tenure.
The most rewarding part of my ISAKOS experience was, and continues to be, the opportunity to work with outstanding true leaders of the world in Sports Medicine.
– John A. Bergfeld, MD
2005 – 2007
2007
24 ISAKOS 20TH ANNIVERSARY