Field Report · Podiatric Education
The DPM
AO Comeback.
A decade outside the AO Foundation. A two-year sprint back inside. How podiatric surgeons quietly returned to the table.
▾ The Gap
~10yrs
Without DPM-instructed AO North America courses.
▾ Relaunch
2023
Return of DPM-instructed AO North America courses. Southern California.
▾ Three Eras, One Trajectory
Presence. Absence. Return.
▾ The Architect
Michael
Dujela, DPM
Chair of Development
- AO DPM NA Basic + Advanced
- AONA Trauma Faculty
- ABFAS President, 2026
- ACFAS Conf. Chair, '25 + '26
- International AO-affiliated training (Liestal, CH)
Seattle, WA
Harborview
Sigvard T. Hansen, MD
Foot & Ankle fellowship launched 1991. Quietly admitted DPM trainees alongside MD orthopaedic fellows.
Dresden, DE
Carl Gustav Carus
Hans Zwipp, MD
Chaired the AO Trauma Foot & Ankle Expert Group. Hosted DPM trainees through the European pipeline.
▾ Educational Alternative
AAFAO, 2014
The American Academy of Foot and Ankle Osteosynthesis emerged as an industry-supported educational alternative, with overlapping faculty and similar content.
▾ The Mechanism
ACFAS-ACCREDITED
AONA DPM COURSE SERIES
Collaborative CME model
▾ Cities
9+
U.S. cities hosting AO DPM NA courses, 2023 — 2026.
▾ Faculty
20+
Named DPM faculty across 2023–2025 course brochures.
▾ Max CME
~19
CME contact hours per Advanced Principles course (varies slightly by event).
▾ How We Got Here
Eight inflection points across 65 years.
1991
Harborview F&A fellowship
'90s — '00s
Pioneer fellowships
'13 — '14
DPM-instructed AONA courses disappear
2023
AO DPM NA relaunches
2025+
DPM Community formalized
▾ The Pioneers
Who kept the door open.
Lawrence DiDomenico
Karlsruhe · Dresden · HMC
Thomas Roukis
Mainz · Kirschner
Ronald Ray
Harborview · 1995
Michael Dujela
Liestal, CH · multi-EU
Lawrence Ford
Harborview · Hansen
Amber Shane
Dresden · Zwipp
Mark Zelent
Hansen F&A Institute
Alan MacGill
AO Fellow → AONA
▾ AONA Communities
Inside the community structure.
CMF
DPM
REC
SPN
SPT
TRA
VET
DPM-focused programming is now organized within AO North America's community structure alongside six other specialties.
▾ The Real Shift
01
DPMs aren't being invited to AO. They're building the curriculum.
"
A harmonious, but delicate balance of earning trust and maintaining the highest standards to propel our profession forward.
— Dean's Chat ep. 158 · episode description
▾ Course Evaluator
Brad Yoo, MD
2023 · 2024 · 2025
Orthopaedic trauma representation in the course evaluation process for AO DPM NA.
▾ Confidence Audit
What we actually know.
2023 ACFAS-accredited AO DPM NA course series launch
Dujela's role as Chair of Development for AO DPM NA courses
Pioneer-era fellowships (Hansen, Zwipp, Kirschner)
Exact year AO discontinued DPM programmingVERIFY
Whether DPM AO Fellowship eligibility has been reinstatedVERIFY
▾ What's Next
Watch two things.
- → Formal AO Fellowship eligibility
- → DPM seat on AO TC F&A Expert Group
- → 2027 course count
▾ Share This
"For nearly a decade, AO North America had no DPM-instructed courses. Since 2023, that's changed."
- '14 → '22: DPM-instructed AONA courses go dark. AAFAO emerges with similar content.
- '23: ACFAS-accredited AO DPM NA course series launches.
- '26: DPM-focused programming organized within AONA's community structure; blended format arrives.
→ Full breakdown · soleintell.substack.com
▾ The Fine Print
Educational only. Not for clinical, billing, or surgical decisions. AI-assisted research; editorial judgment is the author's. VERIFY items need primary-source confirmation.
Due to limited publicly archived documentation, some historical elements are reconstructed from faculty records and course materials.
Sources: aona.org · acfas.org · Dean's Chat · AOFAS in memoriam.
The Guidewire
Field Reports on Podiatric Profession, Politics & Practice
© 2026 Peter Sorensen, DPM · Sole Intelligence · soleintell.com