Annunziato (Ned) Amendola, MD, Named First Vice President

North Carolina orthopaedic surgeon Annunziato (Ned) Amendola, MD, FAAOS, FRCSC, DABOS, division chief for sports medicine at Duke University, was named first vice president of AAOS’ Board of Directors. His new role is the second in a 4-year term of volunteer service during which he will serve as president of AAOS in 2025. He assumed the first vice president position following the AAOS 2024 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Dr. Amendola has led Duke’s sports medicine program since 2015 and was named executive director of the James R. Urbaniak, MD, Sports Sciences Institute in Durham, North Carolina, in 2018. The Virginia Baker Flowers Distinguished Professor, Dr. Amendola also served as the head team physician and chief medical officer for Duke Athletics.

Leading by example, serving with humility
With more than 28 years of service to AAOS, Dr. Amendola has long been involved in collaborative orthopaedic organizations that focus on patient and physician advocacy and care quality improvement:

• He previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation.
• He is the past president of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and the Herodicus Society.
• He formerly served on the Board of Directors for AAOS; International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine; and Arthroscopy Association of North America.
• He also served as deputy editor of the Journal of the AAOS^®.

Making an impact on sports medicine
Dr. Amendola has made a significant and lasting impact on the field of orthopaedics as a physician, mentor, and researcher. Internationally recognized for his research and clinical leadership, he has helped improve orthopaedic care quality throughout the world and influenced the career paths of hundreds of orthopaedic surgeons.

A prolific physician-scientist, he helped to develop arthroscopic and biologic repair techniques for cartilage replacement and repair for ankle and knee injuries, which have led to further refinements in the technologies, techniques, and devices involved.

Dr. Amendola has received numerous peer-reviewed grants and published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles throughout his career. He has received several orthopaedic research awards, including the Excellence in Research Award, the Cabaud Memorial Award, and the O’Donoghue Award. In addition, he was bestowed the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Achilles Award, the Roger Mann Award and the Leonard Goldner Award from the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, and the AAOS Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award.

Dr. Amendola began his career in Canada and is a past president of the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine and a Diplomate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. He earned his medical degree and completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. He completed postgraduate fellowships in orthopaedic sports medicine, foot and ankle surgery, and hand surgery.

He was on faculty at Western Ontario until 2001, when he was recruited to be the director of sports medicine at the University of Iowa until 2015. While there, he held the Kim and John Callaghan Endowed Chair in Sports Medicine before leaving for Duke University.