Education Advisory Board (EAB)

Doctor Roger G. Wilber graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1986, beginning his career in Family Practice. Following an internship at Highland General Hospital in Oakland California, he served as Lieutenant in the Alaskan Public Health Service for three years. An increased interest in musculoskeletal disorders inspired Dr. Wilber's return to training at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he completed an internship in General Surgery under the mentorship of Dr. John Border. His inclination to Traumatology was further developed through the close training and friendship of Dr. Lawrence Bone in the Department of Orthopedics at SUNY Buffalo. Dr. Wilber's primary focus became reconstruction of the pelvis and acetabulum, along with complex traumatic disorders and diseases of the hip. He completed a fellowship in Adult Reconstruction at Wayne State University under Drs. Jeffrey Mast and Keith Mayo, and has spent over 23 years as a Trauma and Adult Reconstruction surgeon at University Hospitals and MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the current Chief of both Adult Reconstruction, and Pelvic and Acetabular Surgery at MetroHealth. Beyond his post, Dr. Wilber continues to pursue interest projects in his field. He is dedicated to improving healthcare in developing regions, serving as a volunteer surgeon in Bhutan, and a visiting professor across the globe. He collaborates with various organizations in developing healthcare technology to improve standards throughout the medical practice and educational system. Dr. Wilber has contributed extensively to the AO Foundation, completing the Faculty, Chairman, and Leadership Education Programs. He has served as Chairman of the Faculty Education Program, and the AONA Education Committee. He currently serves as the Chairman of Trauma for AO North America, Trustee of the AO Trauma International Board, and Chairman of the Competence Training and Assessment Project for the AO Foundation, driving efforts to improve surgical training.

Dr. Cunningham is Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Cunningham is a past president of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and is an AOCMF Educational Board member. His clinical interests include orthognathic surgery, facial trauma and reconstruction, and temporomandibular joint surgery. Dr. Cunningham is a Fellow of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Rick Bransford is a board certified orthopedist and spine surgeon at the University of Washington working at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He has been there since 2003 on faculty having done his residency there as well (1996-2001), a spine fellowship also at UW (2001-2002) and then going to Sydney, Australia for a Pediatric Orthopedic fellowship (2002-2003). He is currently a full professor, the spine fellowship director, and head of spine research. He has published about 90 peer-reviewed articles and been involved in over 30 book chapters. Rick grew up in East Africa and started observing surgery with his dad at the age of 6. He still returns to East Africa on a regular basis on a mission and humanitarian basis. Currently Rick is chair of AO Spine North America Education Committee, Chair of the AO TK Cervical Expert Group, and chair of the AO Spine Global Diploma Program. He is also a member of the AO Spine Trauma Knowledge Forum. He is chair-elect of the AO Spine International Education Commission with his term starting in July 2023.

Dr. Laurent Guiot is a world-class orthopedic surgeon with a passion for excellence. He obtained his degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Liege (Belgium) in 2004 and completed a general internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the same institution. Laurent then worked for one year in Paris where he was in charge of the general surgery program. He rejoined academia in 2006 as an international surgical fellow at Michigan State University where he also completed a three-year residency program with a strong emphasis in orthopedic surgery and focus in minimally invasive osteosynthesis under Dr. Loic Dejardin’ s mentorship. He became boarded by the American and European Colleges of Veterinary Surgeons in 2011. Following his residency, Laurent became an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and an attending orthopedic surgeon at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Michigan State University. He was then recruited to lead the creation of a new orthopedic surgery facility for the Ohio State University in Dublin, Ohio. In 2016, he created the Bone & Joint Center at ACCESS in Los Angeles with Dr. Reunan Guillou. This center is establishing itself as one of the prime location for advanced orthopedics and includes a comprehensive total joint replacement center, a strong minimally invasive orthopedic surgery program, and a tertiary referral service for revision cases. Dr. Guiot’s major interest is orthopedic trauma and minimally invasive orthopedic surgery. He routinely presents his work internationally and is an active member of major national and international orthopedic programs including the Veterinary Orthopedic Society, the AO, and the Orthopedic Research Society. Laurent is committed to the improvement of patient care through the development of surgical techniques, instrumentation, and implants used for the treatment of orthopedic patients.

Dr. Rizzo obtained his medical degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and his hand/microvascular surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. After being on staff at Duke University from 2002-5, he joined the faculty at Mayo, where he has since remained. He is a professor of orthopedic surgery and serves as chair of the hand surgery division. Dr. Rizzo is on the AONA hand education committee and has previously served on the AONA ethics, validation and content subcommittee (ECVSC). He has also completed the Faculty Education Program.

Dr. Amy Kapatkin is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and she specializes in small animal orthopedic surgery. Dr. Kapatkin graduated from the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation in the Philippines in 1981. After graduation from veterinary school, she entered private practice in general small animal medicine for four years. Dr. Kapatkin then completed a rotating internship and small animal surgical residency at the Animal Medical Center in New York City from 1986 - 1990. After her specialty training, she stayed on as a staff member at the Animal Medical Center. In 1996, Dr. Kapatkin accepted a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, she came to the University of California - Davis as an Associate Professor with tenure, and during that time, completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Research. She is now a Full Professor. Her clinical orthopedic research is done in the Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory. Dr. Kapatkin is an AO Faculty member, a Past-Chair of the AO VET North America Education Committee, served on the AO VET NA Board, AO VET Education International Board, AO NA Educational Advisory Committee, Faculty Alignment Committee, present Chair of the working group on Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative and the President of AO NA. Dr. Kapatkin teaches AO VET courses both nationally and internationally.

Charisse brings over 30 years of diversified experience in academia, not-for-profit, and the for-profit industry of continuing medical education to AO North America (AONA). Her professional experience includes 20 years of overseeing, managing, developing, and delivering quality continuing professional development programs for healthcare professionals and patient education and advocacy programs. Charisse’s understanding of regulatory compliance guidelines, adult learning principles, and educational design formats has led her to obtain two reaccreditations for AONA and two for one Communication Company. Her leadership experience includes appointment to Accreditation Council for Continuing Education (ACCME) Site Surveyor committee, a national continuing medical education organization, as well as service on a regional community health center board and a community board for student enrichment programs. She is also an accomplished, grant solicitor of major pharmaceutical funding for education activities. Prior to joining AONA, she spent the past 10 years in managerial positions such as; Accreditation Manager, Account Director, Education Compliance Officer, and Director of Education at several for-profit companies. Her primary role involved overseeing and managing multiple projects, re-selling and up-selling continuing education programs. Charisse brings strong project management, innovation and leadership skills to AO North as evidenced by her participation on the Greater Philadelphia Health Action Board of Directors and The House of Bread, Inc. Board of Directors. Charisse received a B.S. in Marketing with a minor in Management from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences, and a Certificate of Completion in Healthcare Management from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences.

A passionate learning strategist, educator who brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise in all areas of education including traditional and online learning, curriculum design and development, measurement and evaluation methods, instructional design, course design and delivery, needs assessments development, process improvement planning, the use of technology in design and delivery of education. She is an Educational Technology expert who has been involved in implementing online learning systems, learning object repositories, integrating technology solutions in learning, leading the design and implementation of tools related to social learning and mobile learning. A nationally and internationally recognized leader and consultant in continuing medical education, she has a deep interest in knowledge management and its effective translation to healthcare practice, with several committee and advisory board appointments, and awards. Dr. Subramaniam has worked in several capacities in education and training in academic, corporate, government, publishing, and not-for-profit organizations.
Before joining AO North America, she served as Principal, Learning and Change within the Premier Research Services group at Premier Inc., where she led the development and implementation of an education, quality improvement, training and Implementation research strategy aligned with the needs of over 3000 hospitals within the Premier network, including business development and marketing. She also served as the Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the Duke School of Medicine and was the Assistant Director for the Center for Educational Excellence at the DCRI managing over 450 CPD programs including several systems level quality improvement initiatives. In her leadership role within the Duke Center for Educational Excellence, Chitra lead several educational implementation projects and all of the PI/QI efforts working in collaboration with the Health system, the different Duke Departments, research networks and community organizations. She has worked also with the American Society for Clinical Pathology as the Director of Educational Design and Technology, a master designer for IBM, AT & T, CMS and several academic, corporate, government and non-for profit organizations. Her interests include creation and management of knowledge systems for the delivery of outcomes-based education, E-learning, educational research and quality improvement CE.