SPORTS MEDICINE Fellowship Reviews - New

Now that the sports match is over for this year, I’m hoping to start a new thread with some updated information for the “next generation” of applicants. I found the old Sports review thread to be very helpful in finding out info about places – but much of that stuff is outdated at this point. As I traveled, I took notes and kept them in this format in anticipation of sharing it later. I’ll start with my thoughts, and hopefully others will jump in with their viewpoints. I’ve organized it alphabetically in tiers like the previous thread so that it’s similar in content and utility.

I wrote this out before I matched, so hopefully it’s a reasonably non-biased opinion. Remember, this is simply my experience based on where I interviewed and everyone had different ideas – so take that for what it’s worth.

Top Tier:
I think that Rush and Vail were clearly the top two programs in the country. They had the best resources, the most connections, and the most well rounded experiences that can provide you everything you would want or need in a fellowship. I’ll spend extra time on these two because I think they point out some things to look for in fellowships.

Rush:
Over-All: 5 fellows. Probably the most highly thought-of fellowship by the applicants I talked to this year. They have big names, and are a huge presence at every big meeting. The mentorship experience seems great, and Chicago is a great place to live for a year. Probably sets you up the best for Academia compared to any place in the country. Some people were turned-off by the requirement to publish 12 papers in the fellowship year, and I wondered if the fellows were really happy about that part of the fellowship – but they didn't complain much about it, and it seemed like they had the resources to get it done.

Attendings: The people here are great, and seem like a really solid group. Probably the most well-rounded group of attendings as far as balance between mentorship and academics – you can definitely get some of each. Every person here is a "name" guy. Romeo, Cole, Bach and Forsythe seem like the ones that really have a strong interest in being fellowship mentors. The other guys seem great as well, but spent a little more time talking about research. Nho is now doing a lot of hip, Romeo and Nicholson are nationally known shoulder/elbow surgeons, and Cole is probably the most published surgeon in the country. Bach really seems to care, and takes mentorship seriously… I got the feeling that once you’re one of his fellows, he will back you up forever.

Operative Experience: They do a wide spectrum of cases, and have experts in every area – so you definitely won’t miss out seeing the latest ideas and newest advances. It was hard to get a true sense of the experience because we spent a lot of time talking about research, but seems like Bach, Cole, and Forsythe are really the guys that let you get dirty. Romeo and Nho where pretty honest about the fact that they start out being a little more hands on, but seems like it’s a graduated experience. Bush-Joesph is really doing a nice “bread and butter” sports practice and lets the fellows have at it, so in large part, it seems like the fellows get a nice operative experience.

Lab/Research: This is definitely the most contentious part of the fellowship. They require 12 published papers per year. They do have a pretty nice lab, and they have an army of research assistants, which apparently makes this do-able. Bach did spend time talking about some of the more prolific fellows publishing upwards of 30-50 papers. This requirement is the reason that Rush is becoming so well known in the academic world, and why it’s easier for these guys to transition into those types of jobs – but it does seem like it might be a stressful/daunting task.

Team Coverage: They cover the Bulls, the White Sox, and DePaul University in addition to some high school coverage. Over-all, the experience seems really cool, and not too over-done. They don’t seem to crush you with a ton of extra coverage. Seems like the fellows do get pretty involved with the Bulls, and are basically the primary doc for DePaul, which could be a pretty cool gig. Seems appropriately balanced, and like a great experience.

Location/Lifestyle: Chicago is an incredible place to live for a year. If you’ve never been there in the summer, you should go. The fellows seem to hang out outside of work, and get along. They all have really nice things to say about both the city and their life outside of work. Pay is at PGY-6 level as far as I know. Call wasn’t totally clear, but seems like it’s just practice call.

Other Perks: You will have ZERO trouble finding a job when you’re done. These guys are connected, and they will help you in any way they can. Everyone in the sports world knows about Rush and what the fellows there are capable of – so you don’t have to sell yourself at all. You become a fixture at meetings for the year, and you join the Rush “fraternity” when you leave. If only because of the name, this is a place where you will be set up for the rest of your career.


Steadman-Philippon (Vail):
Over-All: 6 fellows. I felt like this might be the most well rounded over-all experience in the entire country. They have a true mentorship experience here, and the fellows seemed the happiest of anywhere I went. Steadman has recently retired, and this hasn’t seemed to hurt the fellowship at all – and there may be opportunities to do some more open shoulder stuff or work with new guys potentially coming in.

Attendings: The attendings there are big names who do varsity level cases and high-level outcomes based research. You can’t get much bigger names than the guys there (similar to Rush). LaPrade is THE knee guru in the country and has a JBJS or AJSM article basically every month. Millett is one of the top shoulder surgeons in the country. Philippon is THE hip guy, and probably one of the most well connected people in the country. Hackett is doing complex elbow and really has the most “normal” bread and butter sports practice out of anyone in the group. Clanton is a top of the line foot/ankle arthroscopy and instability surgeon. There are also rumors that they’re heavily pursuing 1-2 more “name” guys, which would enhance this aspect of the fellowship even more.

Operative Experience: The fellows said that they feel very comfortable in the OR and that if you come prepared, they really give you freedom. The attendings spend time outside of their regular office hours in the lab with the fellows demonstrating anatomy and surgical skills, which allows the attendings to trust them before doing it live. The fellows said this experience is invaluable because you get to “pick the brain” of these top guys and then put it directly into practice in the OR. Seemed like this experience was found no-where else in the country, and was a key factor in many of the fellows choosing Vail.

Lab/Research: They have the top lab in the country, hands down. They recently built a $5 million dollar research playground in Vail – and there is no question that going forward, the biomechanics data, etc that comes out of there will be outstanding. The fellows got “scolded” this year because they hadn’t spent as much money on cadaveric dissections as the previous year – so money and specimen availability isn’t an issue. The research support team is unreal, and publishing doesn’t seem to be too onerous. That being said, they require a project (just like everyone except Rush), but understand if you’re not huge into research. They have the manpower to get it done without you. They encourage the fellows to get involved beyond their chosen project, but don’t demand it if it’s not your area of interest.

Team Coverage: Vail is light on pro team coverage. They do not cover any of the big 4 professional sports teams. They do cover US Ski and Snowboard – which is still a professional sport, although not as “mainstream”. The cool thing about this coverage is that they send you all over the world to help with the team. The current fellows have been to: Argentina, Switzerland, New Zealand, France, and other places around the world and US. They also cover a few local high school football games, but not an every-weekend type of thing. Seems like a pretty cool experience with some fun opportunities.

Location/Lifestyle: You get to live in Vail – which is pretty awesome. If you like skiing, there’s no better place. The people seem great, and it seems a lot more do-able than you would think money-wise. Everyone you know will want to come visit you there. They have an annual concert for the research institute put on by Darius Rucker, and an associated golf tournament, which I guess is a really fun time. You make around $65k, which is pretty decent. Call is q14 weekend backup ED call, and q7 practice call. Opportunity to do basic trauma off the slopes during the ED call if you want to keep it in house instead of transferring it out.

Other Perks: They give you more US Ski Team Gear than you’ll know what to do with. The fellows got the same coats as the team every time they covered and event (I’m sure those are like $600-700 each). They pay for you and your spouse/significant other to have a pass to all of the local ski mountains and pay for 10 ski lessons each. They cover expenses to courses and get you connected with international experiences. Dr. Feagin (used to be at Duke) is also there, and he and Steadman are teaming up to provide a leadership course and some historical perspective on sports medicine – kind of a unique experience.

Tier Two:
HSS:
Over-all: 7 fellows. Good fellowship with outstanding connections. Seems to provide a good operative experience, and living in Manhattan for a year would be pretty cool. There does seem to be a prevailing thought that some of the fellows get a great experience, and some of them don’t quite get all of the rotations /sports coverage they were hoping for.

Attendings: They have some of the biggest names in the country, and there are 27 sports attendings, so obviously plenty of cases to go around. The only concern with this many attendings is that you may not get to know everyone, and mentorship might be an issue. That being said, Russ Warren is the Godfather of sports medicine and Rodeo, Altchek, Wickiewicz, etc are all well known and very well connected guys. Williams is becoming more and more well known in the sports world, and Kelly is one of the top hip guys in the country. It’s really tough to tell how invested the group is in the fellows because the whole experience has the potential to be pretty spread out. I kind of felt the same way about this interaction as I did at Mayo (12 residents) when I was applying for residency.

Operative Experience: Seemed kind of hit or miss as I mentioned above. The fellows said there are plenty of cases to go around, and the experience is pretty good. Still, only talked to 2-3 of the fellows so hard to get a over-all feel.

Lab/Research: You do have dedicated research time, and they seem to still be pumping out some good stuff – although they didn’t talk much about the lab or research time. They do have dedicated fellow cadaver dissections, which are very useful from an anatomy / surgical standpoint.

Team Coverage: They cover the NY Football Giants, The Mets, and some interspersed hockey and other local DIII college teams. There does seem to be some concern about who gets to cover what – it’s sort of on a lottery system, and not everyone can cover the Giants or Mets. Got the sense that there were a few people who got first pick of what they wanted to cover and the rest kind of fell to whomever the others.

Location/Lifestyle: Living in Manhattan would be awesome. HSS subsidizes the housing so that you stay right across from the hospital in a nice, affordable place. They pay you >$70k, and try to get you involved in the NYC “scene” as much as possible. Almost no call.

Other Perks: The connections here are really great. They can help place you in a job pretty much anywhere around the country because the HSS network is pretty huge.

MGH:
Over-all: 3 fellows. This place, to me, was the hardest to rank. Tons of potential, but right now I think there are some concerns about what the future is going to look like. They just hired Provencher, which is a big score for the program. If everything goes according to his vision, this could be a great fellowship (one of the top in the country), but seems like it may be a few years away from being fully “ready”. Really outstanding pro-coverage and Boston is a very cool city. The Harvard name, and the over-all experience seem great, but still in some transition right now.

Attendings: The addition of Provencher is potentially a stabilizing force here, but he’s still very early on in his tenure there. There is a lot of concern about in-fighting and turn-over right now. They just hired a few young guys who are new to teaching fellows, and Gill seems to be close to being out the door – which would be a pretty big loss to the fellowship. Warner continues to be involved from an open shoulder standpoint, so that is still a huge perk. Oh seems pretty awesome, and would be a great mentor as well.

Operative Experience: With all of the changes, it was really hard to get a sense of what this was like. The fellows said the experience has been good, but it seems like the new rotations are still being set up for the future. Could end up being great, but truly hard to know at this point.

Lab/Research: You do have dedicated research time, and they do have arthroscopy simulators in their conference room, although this is shared space. Provencher has a lot of great ideas about joining forces with the business school and doing some public health stuff, which could be an interesting addition in the future.

Team Coverage: They cover the Patriots, Red Sox, and Bruins. Provencher has just replaced Gill as the head medical director for the Patriots. As far as access to high-level coverage, this may be the top place in the country. All 3 fellows cover the Pats, and there are opportunities to get involved with the other teams as well. They do some local team coverage, and are now picking up Harvard athletics. Provencher made a point to say that he didn’t want to over-burden the fellows with this extra coverage, so I think they will balance it well.

Location/Lifestyle: Boston is a great city, and living in the area would be pretty cool. The fellows do drive a little bit to several different clinics and surgery centers. Parking, especially at the main sports clinic, seems to be an issue, and could potentially cost a few hundred dollars. The fellows take non-trauma call with the service they’re on, which is basically infections or other less acute consults.

Other Perks: Provencher is well connected and has ideas to get some good research going. Warner is connected to guys in Europe, so there could be some potential for shadowing experiences over there (Shoulder fellows already do this).

UCONN:
Over-all: 3 fellows. Probably the most “up-and-coming” fellowship out there. There is a lot of opportunity for high-level cases and the attendings are really into being mentors and teachers. The experience here would be on par with pretty much any place in the country, but there is some travel for sports coverage, and not a "major" city if you're looking for that.

Attendings: These people here are all great. Mazzocca is truly outstanding and Arciero truly cares about the fellows. Really an outstanding group of people, and the type that will be mentors for life.

Operative experience: The current fellow (they only have 1 right now, but just increased to 3) has nothing but good things to say about the attendings and feels that the operative experience is really great.

Lab/Research: They have a nice biomechanics and basic science research facility. The research assistant in the lab seems like a really great guy who will go out of his way to help. Not a fancy set up, but definitely gets the job done. Require 1 project.

Team Coverage: They cover UCONN athletics and some other small local colleges. There does seem to be some driving for this, but the current fellow didn’t seem to mind. They do something called “Driving Miss Daisy” where you drive Arciero’s car around and shoot the breeze with him for an hour while you make the commute to cover games/training room. Seems like a really cool idea, and a great way to get some insight from one of the top guys in the field.

Location/Lifestyle: Very reasonable cost of living, but it’s a small city and definitely not a “destination.” That being said, it’s great for families and it’s a safe/small community. UCONN runs the show around there.

Other Perks: They really seem to care about their fellows, and spend a lot of time investing in them. This place is becoming widely regarded as one of the top fellowships. They have good connections, and I think in years to come, this will be battling for top spots with the other places.


Tier Three:
Colorado:
Over-all: 2 fellows. Interviewed here based mostly on location, and ended up really liking it. Solid fellowship with solid mentors. Colorado is a very cool place to be for a year, and everyone seems very positive/ friendly. One of the current residents came and talked with us during our visit, and he seemed to really get along with the people there. Seems like the fellows are happy, but do some driving similar to a few other places.

Attendings: Everyone here seems really nice and interested in teaching fellows. McCarty is probably the most positive guy you’ll ever meet, and Vidal seems like a really cool guy too. They just hired a guy to start doing a lot of complex open shoulder and they hired two hip surgeons to fill that void.

Operative experience: Time is split between Denver and Boulder – which does create some travel. Seems like a traditional graduated experience as the year goes on. Well rounded bread and butter experience, but with the addition of the shoulder/hip stuff, could be really solid.

Lab/Research: They have a nice biomechanics and basic science research facility on the Main campus. There is a lab that the residents make use of, and seems like it would be open to fellows as well. Require 1 project.

Team Coverage: They cover CU Football and basketball as well Denver University Hockey. No real high school coverage (the residents do that). There are several training room sessions each week, but seems pretty standard for college coverage.

Location/Lifestyle: Great place to live for a year, and lots of cool stuff nearby. Skiing / the mountains are only 1-1.5 hours away. Pay is at PGY-6 level and call is practice call with McCarty in Boulder.

Other Perks: Travel with the football team, and allowance for courses is pretty nice. McCarty is very well connected, and can put you in touch with pretty much anyone around the country. The team really seems to care about fellow education, and want to get you involved with the team.

Duke:
Over-all: 3 fellows. Thought this was a really solid program, but there were some questions about the exposure to open shoulder and hip as they are not currently dedicated rotations. Taylor seems like a great guy, who really invests in the fellows and will always have your back.

Attendings: Really a great group of people that are interested in fellow education. Taylor is a great teacher and Moorman is a great guy and well connected. Toth seems to do some nice open shoulder stuff. They just hired a dedicated shoulder/elbow guy and a dedicated hip guy – but there aren’t dedicated rotations with them yet.

Operative experience: Seems like it would be a solid “bread and butter” experience with some small interspersed exposure open shoulder or hip arthroscopy until they get incorporated a bit more. The 4 main rotations are with Moorman, Taylor, Garett, and Toth. They keep their ACLs overnight for observation.

Lab/Research: They have nice facilities here and it’s a pretty standard set-up with 1 required project.

Team Coverage: Cover Duke athletics. Seems like it might be a bit heavy during the fall between covering Duke, another local small college, and high school athletics. The attendings made a point to let people know that it can be pretty busy during football season.

Location/Lifestyle: Great place to live for a year, and very family friendly. Cost of living isn’t ridiculous, and the surrounding area is beautiful. Pay is at PGY 6 level, and call is basic trauma backup.

Other Perks: Duke basketball is awesome, and getting basically unlimited access to Cameron Indoor would be pretty cool. They have the Feagin (same guy as at Vail) Leadership Institute and have opportunities to get involved with teaching and education.

Stanford:
Over-all: 3 fellows. Solid program with a good name that people know. They hired Abrams and Chu to fill a few voids and provide some increased open shoulder work. I originally ranked this place in my top 5 — but just before rank list time, they sent an e-mail saying that they lost one of their fellowship spots and that we were no longer going to rotate with Abrams (open shoulder). The major knock on Stanford was lack of hands on open shoulder, and I was disappointed to hear that we wouldn't have that experience – so it fell down the list.

Attendings: Despite above, the guys here are great. You rotate with Safran, Dragoo, Fanton, and McAdams. The guys that you get to rotate with are all very well known and truly want to teach fellows. I kept hearing that they attendings were pretty hands on - but hard to know.

Operative experience: See above. There is some concern about the hands on nature of the program and the limited open shoulder. I think this still remains in question a little bit, but could improve in the future if they get that 4th fellowship spot approved.

Lab/Research: With Chu there, the bench research should definitely pick up. There are also opportunities to do some research at the VA. Require 1 project.

Team Coverage: They cover Stanford athletics (football, basketball) and the 49ers. The issue here is similar to that with HSS – only one person gets to cover the 9’ers so there might be some contention there. The fellows seemed pretty happy with their opportunities in this department, and didn't seem over-burdened with coverage.

Location/Lifestyle: San Fran and the surrounding area is a cool place to live, but it’s pretty expensive. Lots of cool stuff to do around the area, and people will want to come visit. Pay is at PGY-6 level and call seems almost non-existent.

Other Perks: Travel with the football team, and basketball team is a plus. Safran is very well connected across the country, and is one of the more known hip guys out there. Stanford still has a good name, and if they can straighten out a few issues above, they are still going to be one of the top places.


Bottom Floor: Places that just didn't seem like fits for me
Cleveland Clinic: The fellows have to do quite a bit of local high school and college coverage and their weekends seemed almost completely booked. Used to do the Browns, but recently lost them. Still help with the Cavs. Spindler recently came from Vanderbilt, so he can bring a lot of research and collaboration with other places. Between location and lifestyle, wasn’t a fit.

Kerlan Jobe: Still has a big name, and provides great coverage with pro-teams (Lakers, Dodgers, Sharks). Known to be limited on allowing the fellows to operate, and definitely more of an observational fellowship. Question of practice stability and turnover. Just didn’t seem like a good over-all fit.

SCOI: Still has big names with Snyder, Ferkel, Guanche. For me, this was just a little too much of a private practice model – and it just wasn’t what I was looking for. They only cover some local high school sports, no other coverage. They have a nice arthroscopy lab and the guys all seem great, just wasn’t for me.


Other places that people were really talking / excited about that I didn’t interview at:
-Mayo
-WashU
-Utah
-Iowa
-OrthoCarolina
-Missouri
-Northwestern

Places that didn’t fill all of their spots that were somewhat surprising to me (just for info, take it for what it’s worth):
-HSS
-Duke
-Pitt
-ASMI / Andrews
-UC Davis
-Hughston Clinic
-Kentucky
-Brigham and Women’s
-New England Baptist

Just wanted to say thanks for "giving back" and providing all of this great information. It would be awesome if more people took the time to post some recent opinions/reviews of the sports programs out there.

any other opinions from last year?

Bumping Topic. Anyone have any updated information on other places like:

Iowa
Taos
Mississippi
Cincinnati - Noyes

Just like residency, fellowship impressions can be very different for different people. I tried to get numbers or emails of prior fellows that were a few years out to get an idea of what their thoughts were when possible. Also tried to talk to residents at the programs about their thoughts on their sports service. What I wanted was a place that could help get me into academics but at the same time had a solid hands-on operative experience (this is the last training you get before you’re on your own remember!) and would give me mentors for the rest of my career. I also wanted well-balanced shoulder (open and scope), all knee except TKA and hip arthroscopy. Also not looking for overwhelming team-coverage responsibilities.

What I thought were the top 3 (in no specific order):

Rush University
Strengths: Academic powerhouse/Lots of research. Clinically it is well balanced except for the lack of multi-ligament knee experience. Best cartilage out there with Cole who seemed like a real great mentor and lets the fellows operate/teaches quite a bit. Team coverage for Bulls, white sox, Drexel, among others. Liked the way team coverage was split evenly among fellows. You can go to pretty much an unlimited amount of courses at OLC in Chicago (one fellow went to 25, meaning about one every other weekend)

Limitations: With the big Ritzy names I felt as though some had the egos to match. Hip experience is hit or miss with Nho per fellows and residents there (“he thinks you should learn on cadavers” one fellow told me). Felt that the research as all about quantity (they kept emphasizing the # of papers) over quality. The fellows seemed tired and said they were always busy. Overall, it seemed like we mostly talked about research all day and it left me questioning at the end of the day how much of the surgery that the fellow was actually doing.

University of Connecticut
Strengths: Best operative experience out there with true mentors (fellow had done 600+ cases or something in early Jan this year). Star-studded faculty (Arciero, Mazzocca, Fulkerson, Nissen(peds sports), etc.). Young up and coming attendings as well: Edgar and DeBerardino. Attendings prioritize the fellow experience. Probably the best hands on open shoulder and complex knee. They do plenty of TSA, RTSA, Osteotomies, meniscal transplants, cartilage, etc. New Children’s experience will provide very solid hip arthroscopy training and 8 months adult and 4 months peds sports makes it unique and well balanced. Good basic science and biomechanics research that fellows get involved in. Require 3 papers in the year. Cover UConn sports and Quinnipiac D1 Hockey. Has been called “up and coming” for years but I think this place has moved into the Rush and Vail conversation for top fellowship.

Limitations: Limited clinical research databases. Location is a minus for some. Doesn’t have the ritzy name (UConn) of the other top places. Not sure what it will be like with 3 fellows and the 4 months of peds going forward as there is still only one this year (3 fellows starting this coming year but they supposedly have plenty of volume to go around).

Steadman Philippon Vail
Strengths: Best location and lifestyle of anywhere (free ski pass, living in Vail, etc). Dr Laprade seemed like a great mentor and good guy. Philippon is the original hip scoper and obviously has a lot of knowledge to glean. He’s also a super nice guy. Millet is supposedly a really skilled surgeon and seemed like a good guy. Hackett has a good bread and butter practice and also does some sports elbow. Trauma call was a plus to me as I enjoy doing basic trauma cases. They have the best lab to practice in with an unlimited supply of cadavers. Laprade has built a research playground there, really impressive basic/anatomic/clinical outcomes programs but no pressure to do a lot of research if you don’t want to. Minimal team coverage but do cover US ski team and get to travel the world with them

Limitations: There are 6 fellows and 4 attendings, so half of the fellows are doubled up with an attending. It seems that even if they add new attendings they don’t work with fellows until they are more senior. Generally, they run two rooms (except for Phillipon) so having 2 fellows you still each get your own room. Supposedly there is lots of watching at the beginning of the year but good progression to doing most of the cases with Laprade /Hackett. I wondered about the hands-on of the hip (Philippon) and shoulder (Millett) experience. Philippon said he practice is now 40% professional and Olympic athletes and he no longer uses fluoroscopy in his OR, which all makes me question the hip experience (although you have an unlimited quantity of cadavers to scope as you desire).

Others in no specific order:

Stanford
Strengths: The attendings were very approachable and friendly. Some big names (Safran, Dragoo). There is a lot of research going on to get involved in but has a project requirement. Reseach ranges from clinical studies to lab work with Chu/Dragoo Beautiful place to live/work. Reasonably high volume of bread and butter sports cases. Has a hip experience and has recently added more open shoulder with the Stanford shoulder/elbow group. Very well connected to help get jobs.

Limitations: Very expensive place to live. Seems as though the experience is a little hands-off for the fellows depending upon the attending. Transitioning from VA rotation to working with the Stanford shoulder/elbow group. Each fellow gets a certain team ie 49ers, Stanford BBall, or Stanford FBall. So, not a uniform team coverage experience. Lots of basic sports cases but somewhat lacking in the multi-ligs, cartilage, osteotomies, etc it seemed.

Southern California Orthopaedic Institute
Strengths: Very good clinical training with broad breath of everything. They have good open shoulder, hip, foot and ankle, and even some knee arthroplasty. They seem to really care about their fellows becoming good technical surgeons. This is probably one of the best places to go for someone going into general practice. They are trying to hire another hip arthroscopist to partner with Guanche. They have a very nice lab where you can practice on arthroscopy models.

Limitations: A private practice model, which cold be a plus or a minus. They do not have the research infrastructure of the other big-name places. They do things the SCOI way (ie lateral shoulders) as many of the attendings have been trained there. The LA area could be a plus or a minus depending upon your preferences. For me LA area and private model were limitations.

Boston Children’s Hospital
Strengths: Min Kocher is the man. You spend 4 months with him, 4 with Micheli, and 4 with the other attendings. The perfect fellowship for someone going into a ped-sports practice. Lots of shoulder instability, hip arthroscopy, and knee. Supposedly very good hands-on training in the hip. Lots of research opportunities with support to get projects done. Manageable team coverage responsibilities.

Limitations: Minimal shoulder other than instability, they spend 1 month at Baptist for cuffs/open. Micheli rotation is supposedly pretty hands-off in the OR for the fellows (watch the master type). Boston is a big city that is expensive to live in for a year. Might be hard to find a peds sports practice without another fellowship like peds ortho. This seemed to be the interview with the most people interviewing for a 2nd fellowship

Mayo Clinic
Strengths: Attendings very approachable and friendly. Huge names (O’Driscoll, Stuart, Levy, Steinman, etc). Very customizable experience based on your wants/needs, can spend time or not spend time with whomever you wish (other than required Dahm/Levy/Stuart). There is a very high case complexity including osteotomies, cartilage procedures, hip scopes. This is a research machine with the opportunity to do dozens of papers if you want to with someone else to take care of all the dirty work. Supposedly also adding a big name to their biomechanics team. They have great facilities and just built a new sports medicine center. Team coverage seemed reasonable.

Limitations: The fellowship is new and has only been around for a few years. Same limitations as the residency here with a question of how much the trainee is actually operating. I was told by a couple of Mayo residents to avoid training there. Some of the attendings do their complex cases together which probably leaves the fellow there to watch. Rochester is really in the middle of nowhere and is freezing.

Other places applicants were talking about:
Ortho-Carolina - many thought this was on par with some of the top 3 above, awesome complex knee and shoulder
HSS - seems to be great experience for some fellows and terrible for others
Utah - great place to live for a year and a somewhat up and coming sports program
MGH - can Provencher turn this place around?
Andrews - when will Jimmy call it quits? Awesome operative experience but not much of a succession plan it seems
Cleveland Clinic - big names all over, very into "being a team doc"

Result: Matched in Top 3

Rush:

The ultimate Ivory tower.
Well known attending’s everywhere Cole, Romeo, Bach.
Supposedly hands off on most rotations. (Romeo, Nho, etc)
Publish or perish…some people turned off by the fact that if you only publish 12 papers you will be looked at as the bad fellow.
Bach is a great mentor
Well connected, good resume builder, decent coverage, a top place

Stanford:

Great location
Chill year
Limited OR autonomy
Coverage is the luck of the draw, you could get stuck with Stanford bball while your co-fellow goes to 49ers or Warriors games.
Expensive to live

Cleveland Clinic:

Not as big of a name as it used to be.
Ton of HS coverage in the Fall
Everything is done at the surgery center buliding
Every Friday off for Research?
No real TSA experience
Cleveland?


Jefferson/Rothman:

Amazing private practice experience
Great attending’s
Maybe the best coverage →NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
Good research opportunities
Limited TSA experience
Ton of cases
Up and coming

KJOC:
ElAttrache appears to be the next in line after Andrews as the guy
Great coverage: USC, Dodgers, Lakers, Kings, maybe NFL?
Best Job network and connections with most team docs of any place out there
Good Op experience and cadaver lab on site
3 week rotations seem short (do 3 weeks x 2 with each attending)
Still has big names but they are getting older
Good location but expensive

SCOI:
Private practice oriented applicants
Ton of attending’s with supposed graduated experience in OR
Still a lot of east coast fellows come here and then head back
Not best area of LA
Limited research
team coverage is very minimal

Vail:
Great attendings in all areas
Vail is a great place to live for a year
Good research
Great network for jobs
Limited coverage of the big 3 sports

Duke:
Very solid group of attendings
Team coverage is ok depending how much you like duke bball
Good, warm location
Do all rotations at beginging of year and then get to tailor schedule to your interest in second half
Good combo of training and leadership

Andrews/Gulf Breeze:
Andrews is still Andrews
Spend close to half the year operating with him
Coverage is dependent on what rotation you are on at the time and can be bad with long drives to high schools
Very boutique practice
If Andrews leaves would you be happy there is the question?

Wash U:
Could be best training in nation
You are the only fellow, which means you get all the resources
Great caseload and coverage
Great attendings that are all in their prime
Pretty cheap to live but then again St. Louis is no NYC or LA
Do hips and TSA with the hip and shoulder guys that have their own fellows