June 10, 2020

Clinical Orthopaedic Society

Dear Valued COS Members and Registrants,

As the world comes together to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic we in medicine know better than any the importance of the many sacrifices we are facing in 2020. With this in mind we are sure that you will understand the extremely difficult decision we have made to postpone our 2020 annual meeting, September 16–19 in Nashville, Tennessee. Currently Nashville is only allowing groups of 25 or under to gather, and while there is a formal plan to reopen Nashville there is no guarantee that this September there will not be a relapse which changes or could cancel our meeting. In addition, travel restrictions and quarantine restrictions on many members and speakers make it difficult for those individuals to attend and participate in the meeting. Lastly, the Clinical Orthopaedic Society values its comradery and social interaction at events such as our presidents cocktail reception, Friday night concert with reserved balcony, and planned social events make it difficult to practice social distancing with today’s standards.

Although the board and I have elected to postpone the in-person meeting this year, we will use our website as forum to publish video presentations for the accepted abstracts and posters. We have had a record number of abstracts submitted (144) and are sure this virtual presentation will be valuable for our members. Acceptances for these abstracts will be going out shortly and CME will be available for our membership.

We want to extend our greatest thanks to all who contributed to planning the meeting and insure that all the momentum will go into making our 2021 meeting even better. For attendees who are already registered for 2020, your registration fees will be refunded. If you booked a hotel room, you are responsible for canceling your reservation. The Hutton Hotel will honor COS members the group hotel rate if you wish to stay there during the scheduled meeting dates. We hope you will join us in 2021 at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville. We will forward you the official dates as soon as possible in an upcoming e-mail.

We appreciate your support and understanding and thank you for all you are doing to help our country during these unprecedented days. We cannot wait to reconnect with all of you, once we are on the other side. Stay safe.

J. Randall Riehl, MD, President
Clinical Orthopaedic Society