Michael Suk named AO Technology Transfer Board Chair.

The AO has appointed Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, as Chair of the AO Technology Transfer Board.

Suk’s connection to the AO spans more than three decades. He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Montefiore Medical Center and his orthopedic trauma fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery, both in New York. He has taught across AO educational programs as faculty and chair. On the Board of AO Clinical Investigation and Documentation he conceived and co-authored the AO handbook Musculoskeletal Outcomes Measures and Instruments. He currently serves on the AO North America Board of Directors.

As an orthopedic trauma surgeon and health system leader, Suk brings clinical insight into the needs the AO Innovation Fund aims to address. For more than a decade he was professor and chair of the Musculoskeletal Institute and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Geisinger Health System, where he supervised hundreds of faculty, fellows, residents, and students. Earlier in his career he was Division Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville.

Suk has also built and commercialized technology. He is a co-inventor on multiple patents now held by companies he co-founded and leads, and he has carried technologies through patent strategy, valuation, and commercialization. His legal training gives him a working command of intellectual property, licensing, and the contracts that govern technology transfer. He has been through milestone-based review as an inventor and knows the governance discipline that sound funding decisions require.

Suk's leadership record spans clinical, operational, and governance roles. As Chief Physician Officer of Geisinger System Services, he held clinical responsibility for the health system’s enterprise supply chain and pharmacy division, a $1.5 billion operation with hundreds of industry relationships. He is a trustee and past chair of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees and chairs the Joint Commission Board of Commissioners. He has served on for-profit, nonprofit, and association boards. Earlier in his career he was a White House Fellow under President George W Bush and a Baldrige Executive Fellow.

He takes the chair as the AO Innovation Fund and its portfolio enter their next phase. The board’s work turns on rigorous project selection, milestone-based decisions, and clear pathways from early clinical need to investable, partner-ready opportunity. Suk's focus will be consistent evaluation standards, disciplined de-risking of funded projects, and technologies with a realistic route to patients and lasting strategic value for the AO.

“I am honored to chair the AO Technology Transfer Board. The board brings together clinical, scientific, and commercialization expertise, and it carries a real responsibility: deciding which musculoskeletal innovations to fund and holding them to milestones that matter. I look forward to working with the AO community to strengthen the AO Innovation Fund portfolio and move sound technology toward patients.”

Suk succeeds Prof Michael Schuetz, who chaired the board from its inception and built its portfolio and processes. Prof Schuetz will continue to work with the AO Technology Transfer Board through the transition and across ongoing innovation projects.

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