Dr Claude Martin Jr - "Mending Bones, Bridging Gaps"

The Jamieson Trauma Institute is pleased to host Dr Claude Martin Jr on Thursday 17 September 2026. Dr Claude Martin Jr is the founding Managing Director of the AO Alliance, a Swiss nonprofit development organization dedicated to strengthening the care of the injured in low- and middle-income countries. A hand surgeon by training, he practiced in the US before relocating to Switzerland in 2010 to serve as Executive Director of AO Trauma, the AO Foundation’s largest clinical division. His association with the AO dates back to 1996, when he completed an AO Trauma fellowship in hand surgery in Boston under mentor Jesse Jupiter and in Bern under mentor Diego Fernandez. When the AO Alliance was established in 2015, with support from the AO Foundation and the Wyss Medical Foundation, Dr Martin was appointed its first Managing Director. Under his decade-long leadership, the AO Alliance has grown into a leading provider of fracture care education, working in more than 30 countries across Africa and Asia. Its programs build local capacity—training surgeons, nurses, and operating room personnel—with a focus on sustainability, partnerships, and strengthening health systems from within, so that skilled professionals can build careers serving their own communities. In recognition of his contributions to advancing orthopaedics in low- and middle-income countries, World Orthopaedic Concern (International) awarded Dr Martin the TKS Gold Medal.