According to the “Golden Jubilee Book” (50th anniversary commemorative issue), the Western Pacific Orthopedic Association (WPOA) was founded in 1962 by a group of seven visionaries who met in Japan. The aim was to foster a spirit togetherness among the orthopedic surgeons working in the region, to enhance the exchange of ideas and experiments, and to develop the specialty. The region was thought to be unique with disease pattern quite different from the other part of world and at the same time it posed great challenges by virtue of diverse cultural characteristics of countries in the region. The countries and regions that became members of WPOA are as follows:
In the early era of WPOA, there were only two sections: the Spine Section and the Knee and Sports Medicine Section. The Spine Section was headed by Professor Arthur Yau (Hong Kong University), and the Knee and Sports Medicine Section was headed by Professor Tomihisa Koshiro (Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan).
The establishment of the Spine Section of WPOA was proposed by two eminent spine surgeons in the region: Professor Arthur Yau (Hong Kong University) and Dr. Tony Acosta (Makati Medical Center, Manila, Philippines).
The Spine Section of WPOA was founded in 1979, followed by the Hand Section in 1982, the Hip Section in 1985, the Pediatric Orthopedic Section in 1987, and the Knee and Orthopedic Sports Medicine Section in 1987. During my tenure as chairman of the Spine Section from 1990 to 1993, I sought to play a pivotal role in shaping the Spine Section into the thriving organization (The Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association) that it is today. The initial name of the WPOA journal was “Journal of the Western Pacific Orthopedic Association”, which was later changed to “Journal of Orthopedic Surgery”.
The first WPOA Spine Section meeting was held in Manila, Philippines, in 1977. The Korean participants included Professor Moon-Shik Hahn, Professor Kwang-Yoon Suh, myself, Dr. Byung-Zik Kim, and Dr. Young-Gu Lee (Paik Hospital, Seoul).
During my tenure as chairman of the WPOA Spine Section from 1990 to 1993, the Spine Sectional Congress was held in Seoul, Korea, in 1991. The first issue of the Asian Spine Journal was published in June 2007.
It is thought that the establishment of the Spine Section and the publication of the Asian Spine Journal were timely for orthopedic spine surgeons and neurospine surgeons. I humbly expect that the Asia-Pacific Spine Society and the Asian Spine Journal have fulfilled their roles as scientific bodies for spine surgeons and that the Asian Spine Journal serves as a medium of communication between members of the Spine Society. The Asian Spine Journal imposes no restrictions on submissions. I am confident that the Asia-Pacific Spine Society and the Asian Spine Journal make a good pair. It is expected that the Asia-Pacific Spine Society and the Asian Spine Journal will continue to flourish and further contribute to enhancing spine surgeons’ activities in the Asia-Pacific region.
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