Education Development Council

Chair:

Stephen Charry, MSPO, CPO, FAAOP

The Education Development Council (EDC) was established to guide and implement Academy continuing education offerings aimed to provide comprehensive education opportunities to O&P professionals.

The EDC oversees all of the Academy's education initiatives. This work is done through four committees: the Publications Committee, the Online Education Committee, the Scientific Societies Committee, and the Annual Meeting Clinical Content Committee.

2026 Annual Meeting Clinical Content Committee
O&P Knowledge Central Committee 
Chair: 

Kristin J. Carnahan, CPO, FAAOP(D)

The Clinical Content Committee determines the educational content for the Annual Meeting to ensure a well-rounded program that incorporates organized sessions, Free Papers, Thranhardt lectures, professional development sessions, and technician, mastectomy, and pedorthic programming.

Chair:

Stephen Charry, MSPO, CPO,  FAAOP

The O&P Knowledge Central Committee works to ensure that O&P Knowledge Central always offers a selection of high-quality online education programming. The committee focuses on building the educational content library to ensure that cost-effective, convenient education opportunities are available to O&P professionals.

Publications Committee
Scientific Societies Committee

Chair:

Abbey Senczyszyn, CPO, MBA, MPO, FAAOP

The Publications Committee works to ensure that the publications offered by the Academy are many and varied, addressing all levels of O&P practice. The committee assesses the publication needs for the Academy, recommends the priority of topics/projects, oversees the selection of authors, and ensures easy access to obtain the publications.

Chair: 

Chris Baschuk, MPO, CPO, FAAOP(D)

Societies are established to allow for interaction on research and clinical issues among O&P professionals who share similar areas of interest and practice. Key objectives include the following.

  • The societies provide a forum for practitioners to share knowledge with others in their chosen specialty area(s).
  • Societies provide education programming at the Annual Meeting as well as for the Online Learning Center.
  • Societies provide content for the Academy TODAY publication.