The Zurich, Switzerland-based International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) has officially changed its name to the “International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society.”
“We needed to update our group’s branding to more accurately address our new mission, vision statement and core values that we approved at the last ICRS Sorrento world congress,” said Kenneth R. Zaslav, M.D., past president of the ICRS.
“We are involved in more than just ‘filling potholes in cartilage’”.
“We are now the pre-eminent scientific and clinical worldwide medicine organization considering regenerative possibilities in human joints and clinically interested in Joint Preservation in all of its manifestations in both the active athlete and in the aging populations in our respective countries.
While the ICRS Vision remains: “Advancing the Science & Education of the Prevention & Treatment of Cartilage Disease Worldwide,” the mission statement was amended to read:
“The ICRS is the main forum for international collaboration in cartilaginous tissue research and joint preservation. Recognizing that there is a continuum from cartilage injury to degenerative joint disease we bring together basic scientists, clinical researchers, physicians, other healthcare providers and members of industry, engaged or interested in the field of articular biology, its genetic basis and regenerative medicine. We seek to improve our patients´ quality of life, decrease their disability and reduce the impact of degenerative joint disease on healthcare systems worldwide by preserving joints and maintaining function.”
Tom Minas, M.D., ICRS 1st vice president, told OTW, “We had several strategic board meetings during the last years to update our mission statement. It was a long process, but it was necessary since science and technology changed much since the foundation of our society in 1997. Actually, our society will now broaden its field of interest to include joint preservation and early osteoarthritis in its main research activities.”
