MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sanford Emery, M.D., M.B.A., chairman of the West Virginia University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics, was elected to be the next president of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS). He will begin his one-year term in September 2014.

The ABOS is the governing body for certifying orthopaedic surgeons in the United States. The board creates and administers both a written and an oral test for new surgeons, oversees maintenance of certification for established surgeons, and responds to peer reviews of practicing surgeons. The purpose of the board is to protect the public by ensuring the quality of both beginning and established practicing orthopaedic surgeons.

Dr. Emery has been a director of the board since 2009 and treasurer since 2011. As president, he will set the agenda of what issues in the field the board will address, such as standards for maintenance of certification and the digitization of records.

Emery’s leadership is already well known within WVU in his role as department chair and as a member of the University Health Associates Board of Directors.

Arthur Ross, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the WVU School of Medicine, called Emery a role model for students and a faculty member whose many accomplishments have honored the school.

“Our orthopaedic department has always been a very strong clinical department with a terrific, patient-centered focus. During his time as chair Dr. Emery has transformed it into one of the premier academic orthopaedic departments in the country,” Dr. Ross said. “Dr. Emery has accomplished this via the outstanding faculty he has chosen to hire into the department, the research program that he’s developed in the department, and the focus, rigor, and intensity that he’s put upon the educational excellence of the department.”

His election as president of the ABOS, according to Ross, is an acknowledgment of Emery’s consistent excellence in all aspects of his work. The ABOS is the body which establishes the education and performance standards for orthopaedic surgeons.

“This honor and recognition represents the pinnacle of a career for someone who has dedicated his or her life to academic orthopaedic surgery. Each year there’s only one person in the entire country who is chosen to serve as the ABOS president; how wonderful that the person who was chosen is at our school,” Ross said. “If this was football, Dr. Emery would be this year’s Heisman trophy winner.”

Emery’s appointment is expected to increase the School of Medicine’s national exposure, especially for the orthopaedics program, attracting medical students and residents who notice the school’s positive leadership presence on a national level.

“It’s humbling, and I’m honored to do it,” Emery said. “Leadership organizations are what drive a lot of us in academic medicine. It’s work, but most of us are pretty passionate about the profession. Orthopaedics is fun. You get to fix people and often have significant impact on their lives.”

Originally from Albany, N.Y., Emery completed his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College. He received his medical degree from the Duke University School of Medicine before returning to New York to complete his medical internship, surgical residency, and orthopaedic residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

Emery completed a spine fellowship at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and became a faculty member there. While at Case Western, he also received his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree. In 2003, he joined the faculty of WVU as professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedics.