Paul Tornetta III, MD, Named to AAOS Board

Paul Tornetta III, MD, was named second vice president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) Board of Directors. His role is the first in a four-year volunteer commitment that will include serving as president of the Academy in 2024-2025. He will assume the position following the AAOS 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Tornetta is chair of orthopaedic surgery, chief of orthopaedic surgery and director of orthopaedic trauma at Boston Medical Center. He describes himself as a “blue-collar surgeon” who takes pride in promoting a shared decision-making model with patients and fostering lifelong professional learning for surgeons.

His reputation for fairness and transparency has earned him longtime recognition as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor every year since 1999 and a Boston Magazine Top Doc since 2006. He is past president of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) and served on the executive committee of the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) for more than a decade.

Tornetta is a highly respected professor known for his teaching prowess and efforts to advance orthopaedic education and training. Among his many AAOS volunteer positions, he chaired the Education Council for the last four years and was past chair of the former Evaluations Committee and Annual Meeting Committee, and a member-at-large on the Board of Directors. His leadership in the collaboration between the AAOS, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, AOA, Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors, and AAOS Resident Assembly was instrumental in creating the new AAOS Resident Orthopaedic Core Knowledge (ROCK) Curriculum. Tornetta co-edits the ROCK curriculum with Carol Morris, MD, FAAOS, representing a major AAOS commitment to supporting and refining resident education. Orthopaedic residents selected him four times to receive the annual Robert E. Leach, MD Resident Teacher of the Year Award.

Tornetta has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and heads the Orthopaedic Trauma Research Consortium. The consortium focuses on large-scale studies that will improve surgical best practices for some of the most common bone, joint, and muscle diseases. He has been a steering committee member for trials that won the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) Clinical Research Award and Kappa Delta Award. He has also been awarded the Bovill Award, given to the top paper at the annual OTA meeting, five times.

With more than 39,000 members, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is the world’s largest medical association of musculoskeletal specialists. It provides the high quality, comprehensive education to help orthopaedic surgeons and allied health professionals at every career level to best treat patients in their daily practices.