Our History

The First annual Cherry Blossom Seminar was held on April 23-24, 1982 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. under the Chairmanship of Charles H. Epps, Jr., M.D. and M.Mike Malek, M.D. The first seminar was designed for the beginner Arthroscopist and included didactic lectures and hands on interactive workshops. The seminar was sponsored by Depuy with Howard University providing the CME accreditation. An international faculty was invited and provided an outstanding educational experience for over two hundred and fifty participants.

The Cherry Blossom Seminar over the past thirty years has evolved in format and now incorporates multiple sponsors. It now caters to a wider range of health fields including not just physicians, fellows and residents but nurses, PAs, PTs and ATC's. Our principle idea is to provide the best educational experience for those seeking higher levels of knowledge and expertise in Arthroscopy, Arthroplasty and Sports Medicine.

Since the inception we have conducted thirty seminars in the past thirty-two years and have assisted in arthroscopy, arthroscopic surgery and related surgery education of over 3,000 orthopaedic surgeons, fellows and residents. At the present time the Cherry Blossom Seminar is the longest running independent Arthroscopy/ Arthroplasty seminar in the world.

Dr. M.Mike Malek, F.A.C.S. and Dr. Benjamin Shaffer continue to act as co-chairpersons with the recent addition of Washington Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Institute and Sibley Memorial Hospital as co-sponsors along with the National Knee Research & Education Foundation.

The Thirty-First Annual Cherry Blossom Seminar will be held on March 30th -April 2nd 2012 at the Waterview Conference Center in Rosslyn, VA (Washington, DC). Hotel accommodations are at the Hotel Palomar Arlington which is connected to the Waterview Conference Center.

The Sibley Memorial Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 16.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

We are looking forward to another outstanding educational experience and celebrating our thirty-first year of providing Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty education.