Elizabeth G. Matzkin, MD, brings significant experience with membership and strategic planning to the AAOS Second VP role

At a Glance

• New AAOS Second Vice President Elizabeth G. Matzkin, MD, FAAOS, brings extensive experience in membership engagement, strategic planning, and organizational leadership.
• Her work with the Membership Council helped AAOS better understand the evolving needs of residents, practicing surgeons, international members, and diverse member communities.
• Dr. Matzkin plans to focus on patient-centered care, stronger collaboration across the musculoskeletal community, and delivering greater value to AAOS members.

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

Elizabeth G. Matzkin, MD, FAAOS, joins the presidential line as the second vice president, bringing more than 15 years of AAOS leadership experience to her new position. During an interview at the 2026 AAOS Annual Meeting, she described her leadership path and offered insights into her vision for the future.

In 2020, AAOS created a Membership Council to identify, anticipate, and articulate the needs of AAOS members. Dr. Matzkin ushered the council from idea to reality, serving as chair for the first four years of its existence. Reflecting on the mission of the new council, Dr. Matzkin observed, “When the council was formed, we really didn’t know enough about our members, so it was really important for us to understand ‘who are our members?’ How many males and females, how many in private practice or academic practice, how many in each state?”

Multiple committees reported to the nascent Membership Council, giving Dr. Matzkin a broad view of the AAOS membership. Through the Communications Committee, Dr. Matzkin worked to understand what members want and need to hear and how to better communicate with them. Through oversight of the International Committee, Dr. Matzkin exposed issues about orthopaedic outreach and education beyond the United States and Canada. The Resident Assembly helped her understand the needs of the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons and how they differ from the needs of previous generations. Additionally, the Diversity Advisory Board offered a window into the experience of various subsets of AAOS members. “All of these committees,” Dr. Matzkin reflected, “[have] given me a good background of where our members come from.”

Gaining a better understanding of AAOS members was just step one for Dr. Matzkin. Armed with a robust recognition of the range of orthopaedic surgeons and their needs, Dr. Matzkin was able to inform the Board of Directors about “where our members want to be, some of the things they want, and the values we can help provide to them.” Addressing those issues helps inform the AAOS strategic plan.

Strategic plan team, times two
Prior to chairing the Membership Council, Dr. Matzkin served on the AAOS Board of Directors as a Member-at-Large. This role exposed her to the breadth and depth of AAOS activities in support of orthopaedic surgeons. During her term, Dr. Matzkin was invited to join the Strategic Plan Project Team (SPPT), a Board task force that was developing AAOS’ 2019-2023 Strategic Plan. Since the strategic plan is revised every five years, only a small subset of individuals serving on the AAOS Board of Directors will participate in the planning process. But, upon returning to the Board as a council chair, Dr. Matzkin was asked a second time to contribute her experience — and, specifically, her understanding of the AAOS membership — to the process of developing AAOS’ current 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. Now, as a member of the presidential line, she will be responsible for overseeing the final years of a plan she helped develop.

On the patient pillar
The most recent strategic plan introduced a new strategic goal, or pillar, focused on patients. Reflecting on this new pillar, Dr. Matzkin said, “I think our mission is to provide the best and be the leaders in musculoskeletal care, and that’s for our patients.” She sees two distinct aspects of this goal: “One [is] our public-facing identity, and how do we make our roles as clear as we can for our patients in order to provide them the best musculoskeletal care? The second part [is] how can we advocate as surgeons for our patients, for providing them the best care?” From Dr. Matzkin’s perspective, providing the best musculoskeletal care includes partnering with patients, maintaining an awareness of health equity, and advocating for patients to move that needle forward.

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Related Content

• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons appoints Elizabeth G. Matzkin, MD, FAAOS, as second vice president (AAOS Now)

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On the musculoskeletal community
Dr. Matzkin serves as director of the sports medicine fellowship program at Mass General Brigham and associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. In these roles, she has developed a world-class program for female athletes, with a robust surgery and research program focusing on women’s sports medicine. These roles require working with a range of musculoskeletal health professionals. She has also been active and a leader in multiple orthopaedic specialty groups, including the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy Association of North America, and the Forum. These experiences have taught Dr. Matzkin much about working across stakeholder groups.

“This is something that’s really important to me,” she said. “I’m a member of AAOS, I’m a member of my specialty societies, and you get pulled in many directions …. One very important goal for me is going to be figuring out how we can better provide value for our AAOS members, who are also members of their specialty societies, and how we can collaborate with specialty societies more at the annual meeting and throughout education, advocacy, and all the strategic pillars.”

For Dr. Matzkin, the evolution of AAOS leadership over her decades as an orthopaedic surgeon makes now an exciting time to enter the position of second vice-president. “Stepping into the boardroom now looks very different than it did five, 10, 15, 20 years ago,” she said. “[The Board] is much more diverse [with regards to] age, sex, or how we look at [issues]. We have a boardroom right now that is nimbler, with new bylaws, policies, and procedures, and more willing to change and transform. AAOS is at a really great inflection point to make some really positive changes for the future and for our members.”

Alexandra E. Page, MD, FAAOS, is a foot and ankle specialist in private practice in San Diego, California, and the editor-in-chief of AAOS Now.