Congratulations to the 2024 MAST research grant funding recipients!

For the Second Year the Orthopaedic Consortium Awards $200,000 in Research Grants with Special Focus on the Military

AANA, in collaboration with the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and the Society for Military Orthopaedic Surgeons (SOMOS), announced the second year of $200,000 in grant funding aimed at advancing research in orthopaedics, with special focus on the military. This grant, funded by the AANA Military Advanced Surgical Training Program (MAST), seeks to make significant advancements in orthopaedic treatment and techniques serving the military.

This year, the organizations are pleased to announce three deserving recipients of the MAST research grant funding:

• $100,000 to Travis J. Dekker, M.D., FAANA, at the 10^th Medical Group, United States Air Force Academy, for his study, Ideal Suture Configuration in a Novel Shoulder Instability Model. This study seeks to determine the comparative biomechanical properties among traditional knotted versus knotless re-tensionable all suture anchors. Additionally, which horizontal mattress knot configuration better restores the native path of articulation of the glenohumeral joint using a novel glenohumeral biomechanical model, among both traditional knotted and knotless re-tensionable all-suture anchors, which configuration better withstands cyclic repetitive loading and restores labral height.
• $50,000 to Drew Recker, M.D., at Wake Forest University, for his study, Bracing and Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament of Efficacy Trial (BRACE-trial). He will assess the two-year outcomes of psychological readiness, PROMs, clinical stability, return to sport and failure rates following quadriceps autograft ACL reconstruction with and without functional bracing in the postoperative phase in younger athletic patients and military patients with a higher risk of failure or not returning to sport or duty, respectively, in a randomized study.
• $50,000 to Samuel B. Adams, M.D., at Duke University Medical Center, for his study Clinical Evaluation of the Effect of Novel Chondroprotective Irrigation Solution (CPX) on Chondrocyte Viability and Morphology: A Potential Alternative to Traditional Arthroscopic Fluids. Dr. Adams will evaluate and compare chondrocyte viability and morphology after arthroscopic irrigation with CPX or standard care solution, as well as investigate differences in postoperative synovial fluid cytokine profiles in knee joints irrigated with CPX or SOC solution.

 AANA, AOSSM and SOMOS congratulate Drs. Dekker, Recker and Adams and are pleased to support such important initiatives with critical research grant funding.