The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annually recognizes three of its living members with the following awards that are presented at the Annual Meeting:
- Diversity Award: This Diversity Award recognizes AAOS Active Fellows and Emeritus Fellows who have distinguished themselves through their outstanding commitment to making orthopaedics more representative of and accessible to the diverse population it serves.
- Humanitarian Award: The Humanitarian Award recognizes AAOS Active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, and International members who have distinguished themselves through outstanding musculoskeletal-related humanitarian activities in the United States or abroad.
- William W. Tipton, Jr, MD Leadership Award: The Tipton Award recognizes AAOS Fellows or Candidate Members who have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities that have led to benefits for the orthopaedic community, patients, and/or the American public.
The AAOS Awards Committee has oversight of the review process for all award nominees and recommends the AAOS Award winners to the AAOS Board of Directors for approval.
Purpose
The recognition of AAOS members through these three awards is an important and valued AAOS activity. It is therefore important that the AAOS Awards process exemplify consistency, fairness and transparency.
Protocol
The following protocol is established for the AAOS Awards:
- An individual may win more than one of these three awards. The only restrictions are that no one person can win an award in two consecutive years or for the same body of work.
- There is no limit to the number of times an individual may be nominated for an award. Nominators are encouraged to submit updated information as appropriate. The Awards Committee will monitor the reapplication process, recommending information be updated as appropriate.
- Current members of the Awards Committee are not eligible to be nominated for the awards being considered by the committee.
- Current members of the Awards Committee shall not nominate or write letters of recommendation for any award nominee being considered by that committee.
- No member of the Awards Committee may be nominated for an AAOS award until he or she has been off the Awards Committee for a period of three years.
- Current members of the AAOS Board of Directors are not eligible for any of the three awards and shall not nominate or write letters of recommendation for any award nominee.
- No member of the AAOS Board of Directors may be nominated for any of the awards until he or she has been off the Board for at least a period of three years.
- Awards are not granted posthumously.
Changes to Policy: Oversight of the Awards Protocol will be handled through the AAOS Awards Committee and Governance staff.