Wilford K. Gibson, MD, Named Second Vice President

Virginia surgeon Wilford K. Gibson, MD, FAAOS, will serve as second vice president of the AAOS Board of Directors. His role is the first in a 4-year term of volunteer service during which he will serve as president of AAOS in 2026. He assumed the second vice president position following the AAOS 2024 Annual Meeting.

Dr. Gibson has been in AAOS leadership for more than a decade, joining the Board of Councilors in 2011 and serving in roles of increasing responsibility, including Board of Councilors chair from 2014–2015. In addition, he chaired the AAOS Advocacy Council from 2017–2021. Advocating for patients and the field of orthopaedic surgery, Dr. Gibson also served on the Political Action Committee of the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (known as OrthoPAC) for 9 years and received the AAOS 2022 Congressional Ambassador of the Year Award.

Leading through service
Dr. Gibson’s well-rounded military service was the foundation of his career. He began his surgical internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP). He was assigned to the USS Nassau for deployments in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Meritorious Unit Commendation, in addition to Navy “E” and sea service ribbons.

He returned to NMCP for orthopaedic surgery residency and was a Navy fellow in orthopaedic trauma at Tampa General Hospital in Florida before leading the orthopaedic trauma service at NMCP.

Creating a bright future for patients
Following his military service, Dr. Gibson served as chief of the Division of Orthopaedics at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, from 1994–2001. Since then, he has been a partner in Atlantic Orthopaedic Specialists, a private practice covering southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Dr. Gibson focuses on adult reconstruction of the hip and knee, specializing in minimally invasive approaches and robotics.

A former president of the Virginia Orthopaedic Society, he received the society’s 2014 President’s Award and 2015 Career Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Gibson has also been a longtime volunteer team physician for Old Dominion University football and basketball.

Dr. Gibson is associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School and clinical assistant professor of surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He holds a medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia and completed an AO/ASIF (Association of the Study of Internal Fixation) pelvis and acetabulum fellowship at Los Angeles County–University of Southern California Medical Center.