Milestones

2000

  • SAS is formed- Steve Lapp Executive Director. Offices in New York with venture capital company- Viscogliosi Brothers
  • The spine industry begins to look at motion preservation as an alternative to fusion

2001

  • 1st ISASS board meeting- 1st Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 3-6 2001 Munich
  • Pascale Davis hired as Education Director and Meeting Planner. She is based in France
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member, USA; Gary Lowery, MD, PhD, Founding Member, USA; Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Michael Mayer, MD, Founding Member, Germany

2002

  • 2nd Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 6-8, 2002, Montpellier, France- Called Spine Arthroplasty 2 Global
  • First ISASS President, Charles Ray
  • First Chair, Michael Mayer
  • Vice President and SAS2 Chair, Thierry Marnay
  • Message from the President refers to ISASS as an ‘open society’ that believes all voices should be heard and all essential disciplines be represented—not just surgeons
  • Membership fee was $250
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member, USA; Gary Lowery, MD, PhD, Founding Member, USA; Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Michael Mayer, MD, Founding Member, Germany

2003

  • Tina Hatcher hired as Administrative Director and is based out of Florida
  • 3rd Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, April 30 – May 2, 2003, Phoenix, Arizona
  • President is Charles Ray and there are 31 members on the Faculty
  • Key element of Spine Arthroplasty is not only the introduction of a new class of devices and techniques, but a resulting paradigm shift that will change the mindset as to what is seen or expected as successful when treating degenerative disc disease
  • Lew Bennett is hired as Executive Director
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member, USA; Gary Lowery, MD, PhD, Founding Member, USA; Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Michael Mayer, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Hansen Yuan, MD, USA; Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany

2004

  • 4th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 4 – 7, 2004, Vienna, Austria
  • NASS (North American Spine Society) had a meeting on Saturday, May 8, in conjunction with ISASS meeting.
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member, USA; Gary Lowery, MD, PhD, Founding Member, USA; Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Michael Mayer, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Hansen Yuan, MD, USA; Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany

2005

  • 5th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 3-6, 2005, New York, New York
  • Korean Chapter started—KOSAS
  • President, Rudolf Bertagnoli
  • Incoming President, Thierry Marnay
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member, USA; Gary Lowery, MD, PhD, Founding Member, USA; Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Michael Mayer, MD, Founding Member, Germany; Hansen Yuan, MD, USA; Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany; Hallet Mathews, MD, USA

2006

  • January 2006, Kristy Radcliffe hired as Executive Director
  • 6th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 9 – 13, 2006, Montreal, Canada
  • Summer of 2006 Tina resigned and Heather Howard was hired.
  • December 2006 Pascale resigned
  • Staff increased as Michele Boylstein and Twila Hughes were hired
  • Melanie and Anderson Events Management started working the meetings and The Expo Group hired to handle the exhibits
  • SAS Journal was started and published by RRY Publishing
  • Board Members: Charles Ray, MD, Founding Member, USA; Thierry Marnay, MD, Founding Member, USA; Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Founding Member,USA; Hansen Yuan, MD, USA; Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany; Hallet Mathews, MD, USA; Prof. Chun Kun Park, MD, South Korea

2007

  • 7th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 5 – 7, 2007, Berlin, Germany
  • China Chapter is formed
  • Board Members: Hansen Yuan, MD, USA; Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany; Prof. Chun Kun Park, MD, South Korea; Thomas Errico, MD, USA

2008

  • 1st Annual Asia Pacific Conference- APSAS, Seoul, Korea, January 16 – 18, 2008
  • 8th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, May 6 – 9, 2008, Miami, Florida
  • This is the year ISASS started working on Public Policy projects
  • Middle East and India Chapters are formed
  • Board Members: Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD, Germany; Prof. Chun Kun Park, MD, South Korea; Thomas Errico, MD, USA; Steven Garfin, MD, USA; Jean Charles LeHuec, MD, PhD, France; Luiz Pimenta, MD, PhD (Brazil).

2009

  • 9th Annual Symposium for the International Society for the Advance of Spine Surgery, April 28 – May 1, 2009, London, England
  • David Porter brought on board to lead Public Policy efforts
  • Melanie Mitchell hired full time. Hired Jonny Dover as SAS Journal Managing Editor.
  • Publishing of Journal moved to Elsevier Publishing
  • SAS really stepped into the Public Policy- Statement Arena
  • Changed the name from Spine Arthroplasty Society to Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery
  • Board decides to change convention rotation from Europe/ North America rotation to 2 years in North America, 1 year in Europe
  • Board Members: Prof. Chun Kun Park, MD, South Korea; Thomas Errico, MD, USA; Steven Garfin, MD, USA; Jean Charles LeHuec, MD, PhD, France; Luiz Pimenta, MD, PhD (Brazil); Gunnar Andersson, MD, PhD, (USA).

2010

  • 2nd Asia Pacific Conference, Sanya, China January 14 – 17, 2010
  • 10th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology April 27 – 30, 2010, New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Latin American Chapter will form with first LASAS meeting in June
  • Middle East meeting is proposed for June
  • Board Members: Thomas Errico, MD, USA; Steven Garfin, MD, USA; Jean Charles LeHuec, MD, PhD, France; Luiz Pimenta, MD, PhD (Brazil); Gunnar Andersson, MD, PhD, (USA); Michael Ogon, MD, (Austria)

2011

  • Society Name Change from SAS to ISASS in April 2011
  • 11th Annual Conference, April 26 – 29, 2011, Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • Latin American Chapter 2nd Annual LASAS meeting, August 4 – 6, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Turkey Chapter’s 1st Annual ISASS-TURK Meeting, November 10 – 12, 2011, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Board Members: Jean Charles LeHuec, MD, PhD, France; Steven Garfin, MD, USA; Luiz Pimenta, MD, PhD (Brazil); Gunnar Andersson, MD, PhD, (USA); Michael Ogon, MD, (Austria); Hee Kit Wong, MD, PhD (Singapore)
  • Expanded The Spine Movement newsletter to monthly schedule with expanded original content.

2012

  • The SAS Journal changes name to The International Journal of Spine Surgery, changed publication schedule to reflect broader scope of content and to improve the way content is delivered.
  • Established Coding & Reimbursement Task Force, charged with: 1.) identifying spinal surgery-related coding and reimbursement issues that may adversely impact patient access to medically indicated spine surgeries; 2.) developing for the Board’s approval advocacy action plans on the society’s behalf to address those issues; and, 3.) assisting in the execution of those advocacy actions plans as appropriate and necessary.
  • Established The Spine Newsfeed, a review of ISASS and spine industry news gathered weekdays from popular and spine industry media outlets and a weekly Spine Newsfeed email recap.
  • 12th Annual Conference, March 20 – 23, 2012, Barcelona, Spain

Contact Us