New AO Trauma Education Commission Chairperson Rodrigo Pesántez outlines vision and priorities for his four-year term
Following a one-year term as AO Trauma Education Commission (AO TEC) chairperson-elect, Dr Rodrigo Pesántez takes the reins as chairperson on July 1, 2025. An orthopedic trauma surgeon practicing in Bogotá, Colombia, Pesántez outlined his vision and priorities for his four-year term at the helm of the AO TEC.
“My vision is to leave AO education in a better place and to add to the legacy of our founders,” he said.
Topping Pesántez’s list of priorities are AO Trauma’s gold-standard Principles courses.
“I want to keep the AO Trauma Basic and Advanced Principles courses available in every country in the world. They are especially needed in places we have not yet been able to reach,” he said.
Pesántez also hopes to increase the number of regional and subregional events.
“I want to increase the number of AO Trauma specialty courses at the regional level and the number of Advanced Principles courses at the subregional level,” he explained. “This way, we can increase the number of participants attending the courses as well as the number of young faculty teaching them.”
Additionally, he is keen to leverage digital technology to help take surgeons’ skills to the next level.
“Our practical exercises have been—and still are—very successful, but digital technology is quickly improving, and we need to embrace it in our courses,” Pesántez emphasized. “The more we know about digital technology, the more we can improve.”
The AO’s Chairperson Education Program (CEP) and Leader Education Program (LEP) are also high on Pesántez’s agenda.
Long record of achievements
Since 1997, Pesántez has been an institutional member of the Fundación Santa Fé de Bogotá Department of Orthopedics where he is chief of orthopedic trauma, director of orthopedic surgery residencies, chief of the ambulatory surgery service, and a member of the hip and joint reconstruction service. Additionally, he teaches at several Bogotá teaching hospitals.
Pesántez earned his MD in 1988 at Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario. In 1994, he completed his orthopedic surgery training at Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario as well as an orthopedic trauma fellowship at UC Davis in the United States.
His further training path includes an AO Trauma Fellowship at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, training in hip surgery under Dr William H Harris at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and a stint with Dr Eduardo Salvati at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Pesántez’s research has been published in more than 50 orthopedic trauma journals. He has contributed chapters to ten books, and he was coeditor of the AO Trauma manual Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis.
Pesántez has been involved with the AO since 1996 when he became national faculty in Colombia. His extensive service to AO Trauma includes a term as chairperson of AO Trauma Latin America (2020–2023), membership on the AO Trauma Technical Commission (AO TC) Lower Extremity Expert Group and the AO TC Pelvic and Joint Preservation Global Expert Committee.