Recording – 08-01-2024 06:50:25

00:02 So this is Mark Swiontkowski coming to you from Wisconsin at the Grand Geneva resort, where the 20th Century Orthopedic association is having its annual meeting here at Lake Geneva. And we're chatting with members of the 20th century Orthopedic association to record the history of this group. And we've got this morning Dr. Wayne Johnson, who's one of the newer members of the organization, who has a real passion for advocacy. And he is a graduate of Meharriot Medical School and did his orthopedic training at the University of Colorado by way of Fitzsimmons Army Medical center, both fantastic institutions. And Dr. Johnson is from Oklahoma and he is in private practice. And we know that the orthopedic world needs more and more, many more leaders from private practice in order to have our specialty advance and continue to be at the forefront of leadership in medicine. So, Dr. Johnson, welcome to the 20th Century Orthopedic Association. And just tell me about your career, a little bit about your training and how you ended up in Oklahoma and then the specialty that you are in.

01:27 Thank you very much, Dr. Swiontkowski It's an honor to be here today to discuss a little bit about my background and my journey to this, to this point and coming to the 20th Century Orthopedic Association. I graduated undergrad from Howard University after growing up all my life in Buffalo, New York. And I had joined the army while I was in high school. We call it a split option program. So after my junior year of high school, I went to basic training at the request of my father. I come from a military family of my grandfather served in two wars in World War II and then in the Korean War. And then my father had served and I wanted to keep the tradition going and I served as well. So when I got to Howard, I did our ROTC and pre med, which led me to my journey to Meharry Medical College in Nashville because I had a cousin in dental school there and likes the institution as well. After that education, I had taken an army scholarship because I really enjoyed my time in army and couldn't get enough of it. I had been to airborne school and was really getting comfortable with the army lingo and lifestyle. So I moved to Colorado and started my training at Fitzsimmons Army Medical center about 34 years ago and really enjoyed it. I love the base. I love Colorado. I'd never been there before. And then part of the base realignment closure process, it closed and I was fortunate enough to just move right down the street to the University of Colorado and complete the last three years of my orthopedic training under two Ledge Jerry Wiedo and his orthopedic team. And it was really very impactful. Shaped my life as well from there. After completing my training, I was fortunate enough to get assigned at what was considered at the time, one of the most challenging locations to be assigned, and that was Colorado Springs, because just such a beautiful place and a beautiful base. And usually it's not assigned to people fresh out of residency. But I was fortunate enough to have some mentors that helped me through that process. Shout out to Kathleen McEl and Alan Bucknell, two former army consultants who helped me stay in that area, which was extremely impactful because we had had one kid while I was in residency, and my wife and I needed to utilize low fertility treatments. And it was one of the best in the world right there in Colorado. So after a great Colorado career, my wife is from. Cassandra is from Oklahoma. And I noticed that even though we lived in Colorado, she'd always fly home for all of her doctor's appointments. Cassandra was a corporate executive for General Motors, so she flew the first seven years of our marriage anyway, but she would fly home for her doctor's appointment. I said, okay, she wants me to move back to Oklahoma. So eventually I moved there and basically worked there the last 20 years, or 23 years, actually, and enjoyed it. And I was fortunate enough through working with several colleagues on aos, whether it be the board of directors, I work with them, and I worked them on the communications cabinet and just colleagues, board of counselors and three particularly came to me and said, you know, there's an organization called the 20th Century Orthopedic association, and we think you'd be a pretty good fit. And I said, me? So why me? So while your leadership background, your military background, and you just all around type of person, we think that would be a good fit for this organization. They said a few other things, but I don't feel comfortable saying superlatives about myself. But I was nice enough for Jennifer Weiss and Alexa and Claudette Lajam. Alexa Page and Claudette Lajam. They came to me and they supported me for membership. And I was just honored to join. And that was the fun part until I learned there that I had to do a little work. I had to do a skit, right? The skit is. I heard all the tradition of the skit. And once we actually did it with my incoming class of seven of us, it was extremely exciting and it really bonded us. It kind of almost reminded me of joining my fraternity, just coming together, working together on a. A project and bringing it to fruition. And then I really felt part of the 20th century family.

06:07 It's really a form of hazing, wouldn't you say?

06:10 I mean, yeah, it is a little bit of that because there are a couple of sleepless nights until we rode up our sleeves and got busy, and then it was a lot of fun.

06:18 Yeah. That's good. So this is your second meeting?

06:22 This is my second meeting. Second summer meeting, yes.

06:26 Right.

06:26 Because we have the dinners at our annual meeting. Yes, sir.

06:28 Right. So what's your impression of the scientific program at this point?

06:32 The scientific program is extremely high level. I look at the academy as the super bowl of education. And I think that the education here is right up there on par with the academy, with the incredible leaders that we have here. And the education is outstanding.

06:50 Yeah, I've always enjoyed, as somebody who's a subspecialist myself, coming here and really getting the most up to date information across all subspecialties, which is, it's. It's a. It's like drinking from a fire hose across all the subspecialties. But there are literally subspecialty leaders in all areas that are members of this organization that share their knowledge and are what they know is coming down the road as far as changes in new therapies. So talk a little bit more about how you got involved in leadership in our field.

07:26 Yes, sir. So I, after I finished the military and started working in practice in Lawton, I would just read what was now AOS, now used to be called the AOS Bulletin. And I saw that then president, Dr. Weinstein, back around 2005, was excited about avoiding what we call a sustainable growth rate, or str, as it's affectionately known, or infamously known, cut to reimbursement. And I looked around in my private practice and I said, my expenses are going up every year. I gladly pay my staff more every year, but we're being threatened with a cut. And I couldn't understand why. We were excited that we averted that cut. And so I just made a call to him and just asked Dr. Weinstein, I said, why are we. I said, it seems like we're on defense, we should be on offense. And he said, you know, are you a member of your state society? Are you a donor to the orthopedic pac? I said, I wasn't familiar with the pac, but. But I had been a member of Colorado. I still was a member of Colorado Orthopedic Society, but I needed to join Oklahoma. So once I did, I asked him, how could I help? And he said, you can take over as the PAC chairman of your state and get involved and help them raise money to fight these issues, because unless you're in the arena, you know, it's easy to complain from the sideline. So I got involved with that, and in doing that, led me to be involved locally in my state leadership. So I make. In summary, I kind of became a president of my state society, which I did for six years, and I was a president of my regional society as well, in midcentral State Tortug Society. And after the experience there, after inviting a few academy speakers to come to those organizations, they asked me if I would consider, you know, serving in some, you know, at the, you know, academy level. And so that led me to serving. I jumped right in. And so I was on three committees at once. I was a editor for AOS now, and I was on the Communications Cabinet, as well as serving on the Diversity Advisory Board, all three committees at once, which kept me pretty busy because I was also a board of counselor representing my state by this time. So I did that for four years. And then usually leaders will come to you. And in this case, it was Dr. Guy. So I've been kind of used, Dr. Weinstein, as a role model, a mentor to make me want to serve in advocacy. And then Dr. Guy, who was the BOC chair, looked at my CV and said, you know, anybody that was, you know, crazy enough to serve six years as president of the state society, you must be pretty passionate about making a difference. So he said, you should throw your hat in the ring for the Board of Counselors. Chair comes with it, a position on AOS Board of Directors. And you're very passionate about advocacy and about our profession. So I was lucky enough to win that election, and selection by the BoC members entrusted me to be their leader for a few years. And so from there, getting the chance to serve on the board, then I thought, okay, well, right off into the sunset, I've enjoyed this experience of being on the AOS board of directors and BoC because both of those are grassroots, really, advocacy organizations, particularly the voc, which is akin to our House of Representatives. And then the leadership asked me if I strongly consider being the chair of the Orthopedic Pack. And I think part of it I was very passionate about. I learned from other leaders, and they always strove to get everyone to participate at the 100% level. But I just assumed, because they strove that everybody else was doing it, so I didn't want to embarrass myself. So I really worked hard and actually they told me I was the first one to actually really get everyone to donate at the 100% level. So I had a little bit of a knack for doing it and I believed in it and I'm a good soldier. I just do what I'm told and try to do it at my very best.

11:45 Well, your service to our specialty is greatly appreciated, Wayne, and we look forward to watching what you're going to do with the PAC leadership spot and probably have something else to do after that because you have the volunteerism virus. It's pretty clear. And we're going to watch what you do in this association here and trust you'll have a great meeting and look forward to interviewing you again in maybe three to five years and find out what's gone the water that's gone under the bridge in your leadership experience. So thanks very much. I appreciate the chance to chat with you.

12:26 It's been my honor, Mark, and thank you for having me as part of this organization and I look forward to that interview in three to five years.

12:34 Perfect. Thanks very much.

12:35 Appreciate you, sir.

12:36 Yeah, Painless.

12:39 You're too kind. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

12:41 It's just a chat.

12:43 Yes, chat.

12:45 So now I gotta remember.