The board of the Louisiana Orthopaedic Association is very excited about the upcoming annual meeting. We have a great meeting planned for all. The meeting is March 9-10, 2012 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel. Registration for the meeting, social events and hotel, is conveniently available online at www.louisianaortho.org.
The scientific program will start on Friday, March 9th with an all day program followed by a half day program on Saturday, March 10th. This year’s program looks very exciting with nearly thirty podium presentations by our members, four resident papers in the Resident Competition and five symposiums. This year we are proud to have Dr. Walter Lowe, Chairman of UT Houston Department of Orthopaedics, Dr. Thomas Minas of Boston, MA, and Dr. Gerard Engh of Alexandria, VA, as our Presidential Guest Speakers.
We are happy to have LAMMICO participate in our meeting. All LOA members who are policyholders will be eligible to receive a 5% discount from LAMMICO for attending the LAMMICO presentation on Friday after lunch.
New to the program this year is an exciting session for our business managers on Saturday morning. This meeting of the American Association of Orthopaedic Executives will last until lunch and should be a great informative session for your managers and an opportunity for them to meet their counterparts.
The Presidential Reception will be held at the Sheraton with the exhibitors following the Friday program from 6pm to 7pm. Light hors d’oeuvres with a selection of beer and wine will be served. This will allow you to dine out with your friends at your favorite local restaurant.
The LOA has a group room block at a discounted rate of $209.00 with some suites available. I urge you to book your reservation now as it promises to be an outstanding and popular meeting. Rooms and rates are subject to change.
The Sheraton is on Canal Street and conveniently located to many attractions. The French Quarter is right across Canal Street and within walking distance to many attractions including live music, and fabulous cuisine. Other nearby attractions include the world famous National D-Day Museum, World War II Museum, and countless magnificent restaurants and nightlife. For the kids, there is the Aquarium of the Americas, Louisiana Children’s Museum, Audubon Zoo, Audubon Insectarium and Mardi Gras World. For those that enjoy shopping, Canal Place, Riverwalk, Jackson Brewery, and the French Market are nearby as are fantastic bouytics and antique shops.
Another fantastic afternoon and evening attraction will be the South Eastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament being held at the New Orleans Arena. This will provide for some extremely high level collegiate basketball, that most of us do not have the regular opportunity to experience.
The LOA golf outing promises to be the best in recent years. With the kind efforts of Dr. Fernando Sanchez, the outing will take place at English Turn. As you know English Turn served host to the New Orleans Open for many years and is a challenging and beautiful venue for our tournament. I hope you can take advantage of this great opportunity. The golf event will be on Thursday, March 8. You can sign up for the golf event online as part of the meeting registration. It is a shotgun format with the start at 1pm. A lunch will be provided at noon.