Our January program will be “Five Cattleyas for a Heritage Collection”, which was presented at the 30th WOC. It covers the history of Cattleya Hybridization in the 20th Century and how it was linked to the fashion world. It also includes an overview of how AOS judges Cattleyas.
Our speaker is Paul Wetter. Paul started in orchids in the late 1960’s when he was studying The Natural History of South Florida. Miami has been his home since childhood. He has been growing orchids, as a hobby ever since, with a special interest in epiphytic orchids in the subtropical garden. In his professional career, Paul, Professor Emeritus of the University of Miami School of Medicine, has been a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery and has numerous honors for his contributions to the field.
He is Chairman and Executive Director of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons(SLS), an organization he founded in 1989. SLS has 6,000 members worldwide and teaches physicians about new developments and safety in surgery. In 2009 he founded ORReady a world initiative to improve outcomes for six million patients worldwide. In 2003 Paul joined the West Palm Beach Judging Center where he is an Accredited AOS Judge. In 2011 he was a guest lecturer and Judge at the World Orchid Conference in Singapore