Chest Wall Injury Society

What Chest Wall Injury Society does

The Chest Wall Injury Society (CWIS) is a nonprofit professional medical society founded in 2016 and formally launched in March 2017, focused on optimizing the operative and non-operative care of patients with chest wall injuries, with particular emphasis on surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF). It serves trauma surgeons, thoracic surgeons, surgical critical care specialists, medical trainees, and patients, operating a member network that spans approximately 12 countries across 5 continents and is anchored by around 12 designated collaborative centers including Denver Health, Intermountain Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, George Washington University Hospital, and international sites in Australia and Brazil. The society's flagship evidence asset is the NON-FLAIL randomized controlled trial, completed in June 2019 and published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.

CWIS's product portfolio centers on educational programming (the annual CWISummit, CWIS International, CWIS Gottingen conferences, Ribinars webinars, Ribcasts podcasts, and a Case Review Series), research infrastructure (the CIID Chest Injury International Database, a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based repository powered by Arcweb technology), and a member-contributed procedure video library. Member management and distribution run through NeonCRM's member portal, with digital content distributed via direct event registration and online access channels.

The business model is a hybrid nonprofit structure generating revenue from five streams: annual membership dues, event registration fees, industry sponsorships (notably KLS Martin's approximately $25,000 annual research fellowship and DePuy Synthes' NON-FLAIL trial funding), philanthropic donations through the "Funding the Future in Fractures" initiative, and modest merchandise sales. No pricing is publicly disclosed. There is no identified venture capital, private equity, or parent-company involvement; leadership consists of an Executive Director (SarahAnn S. Whitbeck, MBA, CHCP) supported by volunteer committees.

Name

Chest Wall Injury Society

Legal name

Chest Wall Injury Society

Website

https://cwisociety.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Chest Wall Injury Society is a nonprofit professional medical society serving trauma and thoracic surgeons across approximately 12 countries through membership-based education, the CIID research database, and annual conferences focused on chest wall injury care and SSRF.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Medical Society / Medical Education and Research

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Chest wall injury care
• Rib fracture surgery
• Trauma surgery research
• Medical professional society
• Continuing medical education

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees for medical professionals seeking access to CWIS resources, educational content, research collaboration opportunities, and member-only materials.
2. Event Registration: Registration fees for annual CWISummit, CWIS International, CWIS Gottingen, and other educational events and conferences.
3. Industry Sponsorships and Partnerships: Support from industry partners including KLS Martin (research fellowship), DePuy Synthes (clinical trial sponsorship), and Arcweb (database technology partnership).
4. Donations and philanthropy: Funding the Future in Fractures initiative supporting trainee participation in annual summits through individual and institutional donations.
5. CWIS Store and Merchandise: Sale of CWIS merchandise including gift certificates through Square.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Chest Wall Injury Society (CWIS) is a nonprofit professional medical society that delivers annual membership, the international CIID research database, educational conferences (CWISummit, CWIS International, CWIS Gottingen), Ribinars webinars, Ribcasts podcasts, Case Review Series, procedure videos, SSRF clinical guidelines, and the KLS Martin Resident Research Fellowship. All offerings focus on optimizing the operative and non-operative care of patients with chest wall injuries and advancing evidence-based practice through multi-center research.

Product overview

The Chest Wall Injury Society operates as a professional medical society offering a comprehensive portfolio of educational and research products and services focused on optimizing operative and non-operative care for patients with chest wall injuries. The core offerings include: the CIID (Chest Injury International Database), a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based research data repository powered by Arcweb technology; the CWISummit (annual conference celebrating 10 years in 2026); CWIS International and CWIS Gottingen international conferences; Ribinars (webinar series); Ribcasts (podcast series); Case Review Series (monthly online case presentations); Procedure Videos (member-generated surgical technique videos); Education Resources including SSRF guidelines; the $25,000 KLS Martin Resident Research Fellowship; and the NON-FLAIL Randomized Control Trial research initiative. The society also runs the Funding the Future in Fractures initiative supporting trainee attendance at summits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CIID (Chest Injury International Database): A HIPAA compliant cloud-based data repository for CWIS members to support an international research effort, designed by thought-leaders within the society and powered by Arcweb technology.
• CWISummit
• CWIS International
• Ribinars
• Ribcasts
• Case Review Series

Products and services

• Professional Membership Annual subscription membership for practicing trauma, acute care, and thoracic surgeons providing access to CWIS resources, educational content (Ribinars, Ribcasts, Case Review Series), member-only materials, guidelines, and research collaboration opportunities via the NeonCRM member portal.
• Trainee/Student Membership Reduced-rate annual subscription membership for medical students, surgical residents, and fellows, including access to CWISummit registration support via the Funding the Future in Fractures initiative.
• CWISummit (Annual Chest Wall Injury Summit) Annual in-person society summit featuring scholarly engagement, research presentations, awards (including the KLS Martin Resident Research Fellowship), committee meetings, networking, hands-on labs, business meetings, and gala events. Celebrating 10 years in 2026.
• CWIS International Conference International chest wall injury conference held in Barcelona, Spain featuring hands-on labs with skills stations, educational sessions, and networking opportunities.
• CWIS Gottingen Conference International chest wall injury conference held in Gottingen, Germany.
• CIID (Chest Injury International Database) HIPAA compliant cloud-based data repository for CWIS members and participating institutions to support international multi-center chest wall injury research, allowing members worldwide to contribute to and access shared datasets for analyses, with electronic startup packets for regulatory onboarding.

Quantifiable outcome

• Completed enrollment June 2019 in NON-FLAIL RCT with results published in Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (PMID 31804414)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ArcwebcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2020Arcweb provides the technology platform powering the Chest Injury International Database (CIID), a HIPAA compliant cloud-based research repository. The partnership enables international research collaboration and data sharing among CWIS members. CWIS CIID is powered by technology from Arcweb.
• Journal of Trauma and Acute Care SurgerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCWIS maintains a formal relationship with the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery for publishing research from CWIS summits. Research fellowship awardees must submit manuscripts for publication in this journal in the CWIS special edition.
• CNTR (Chest Wall Injury Society Research Partnership)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCWIS partners with CNTR for research collaboration, clinical trials, and data sharing initiatives supporting chest wall injury research outcomes.
• CWIS Collaborative Centers NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesignated collaborative centers participating in CWIS research, education, and best practice sharing. Centers must apply and meet criteria for designation with annual dinner meeting at CWISummit.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS): Adjacent surgical specialty society operating a similar model of annual meetings, clinical practice guidelines, and member research infrastructure that informs how subspecialty surgical societies are structured and monetized.

Broad incumbents

• Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS): A much larger, broader specialty society covering thoracic surgery, which overlaps with CWIS's thoracic surgeon member segment and includes rib/chest wall content within a wider portfolio of cardiac and general thoracic programming.
• Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA): US-based orthopaedic trauma society whose members also treat chest wall injuries, providing an adjacent professional society model with annual meetings, multi-center research, and fellowship programs similar to CWIS.
• American College of Surgeons (ACS) — Committee on Trauma: The dominant US surgical professional organization with a trauma committee that sets widely adopted practice guidelines (e.g., ATLS), serving as a higher-level incumbent whose guidelines shape the context in which CWIS operates.

Regional players

• International Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care (IATSIC): International society under ISS/SIC focused on trauma and surgical critical care worldwide, with overlapping international membership base and a comparable international meeting and research collaboration model.
• Trauma Association of Canada (TAC): Canadian trauma surgery society providing comparable annual meetings, research collaboration, and education for the same trauma surgeon audience that CWIS serves in North America.

Direct peers

• Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST): A US-based professional society for trauma surgeons that overlaps heavily with CWIS's primary member base (trauma and acute care surgeons), running its own annual meeting, multi-center trials, and practice management guidelines — making it the closest peer in mission and operating model.
• Western Trauma Association (WTA): Regional US trauma surgery society running an annual meeting and multi-center research with strong overlap in trauma and acute care surgeon membership and clinical trial infrastructure similar to CWIS.
• American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST): The premier US trauma surgery society, also organizing an annual meeting, multi-center clinical research, and guideline development for trauma care topics that intersect directly with chest wall injury management.

Emerging players

• Chest Wall & Sternum Reconstruction Interest Group (within medical societies): Emerging or informal sub-groups within larger surgical societies focused on chest wall and sternum reconstruction; overlap with CWIS's narrow focus and could either compete for members or serve as a partner channel for collaboration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cwisociety
• Facebookfacebook.com/CWISociety
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chest-wall-injury-society

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chest Wall Injury Society