SPORTS MEDICINE Fellowship Reviews - New

Here are my notes from sports fellowship interviews this year (spring 2019). I liked the way Ortho1011 had formatted their notes and used a similar format. Without further ado:

ASMI
Attendings: Jeff Dugas, Lyle Cain, Benton Emblom
Operative Experience: I would say this program had the highest case volume and autonomy of all programs I interviewed at. 600-750 cases during fellowship year. Majority of the cases are bread and butter (high volume, low complexity). Minimal open shoulder, no F&A, no peds. On clinic days, see 60-80 patients/day split between 2 ortho fellows and 1 non-op sports fellow. All notes are dictated.
Didactics: Minimal. "Weekly" sports medicine conferences, monthly JC, one cadaver lab with non-op fellows early in year
Conferences: AOSSM, AAOS funding ($3k stipend)
Research: 1 paper/year at most, motion lab, baseball/elbow studies, minimal time for research, especially in the fall
Size/relationship: 6 fellows, 3 attendings, mentorship-like. Definitely Private practice model
Rotations: 7 rotations (emblom x2, dugas x2, cain x2, float [operates 5 days/wk])
Coverage: Heavy. Alabama, Auburn, Troy, Tuskagee. 1 High school football, 1 college football mandatory. 1 fellow gets Alabama. Only fellow covering Alabama/Auburn goes to bowl game. Cover home and away
Call: 1 week in 6 phone call, minimal, very very minimal general call; can moonlight in second half of year, but nobody does
Travel/lifestyle/city: Everything is at one campus, No vacation, busy coverage
Misc: Numerous alumni, well connected, injuries in baseball course, optional 2 year tract with Ben Domb at AHI for hip fellowship, no EPIC, round on your own patients, but Internal Medicine attendings/residents DC
Benefits: $45k salary, health/dental 100% covered no deductible, breakfast/lunch paid for
Pros: learn how to run an efficient private practice, billing/coding education, all dictation, CEO Lisa will review any contract, operative volume, team coverage connections, networking dinners with big names for grand rounds
Cons: no open shoulder, less complexity, low pay, no vacation unless attending gone
Impression: This is a good fellowship for the applicant that wants to go directly into private practice and do bread and butter cases. If you have a desire to see complex cases with wide variety, this would probably not be the place.

Duke
Attendings: Dean Taylor, Ned Amendola, Alison Toth, Chad Mather, Jon Riboh, Jocelyn Wittstein, Tally Lassiter. Sadly Bill Garrett recently passed away
Operative exp: 2-3 days/wk in OR, 2-3 days/wk in clinic; wide variety – well covered hip, knee, cartilage OC allo, OATS, ACI, meniscal transplant (5) (Toth, Riboh), shoulder, SCR, open shoulder, 4 laterjet (Lassiter), F&A, TTO, HTO (Amendola), Peds (Riboh), Hip (Mather). Excellent autonomy in the OR. Very very well rounded
Didactics: weekly sports conf Fri (7-8:30), weekly wet lab Fri (9:30-2p), monthly research meeting
Conferences: 1-2 natl meetings, $5k/year stipend + industry funding
Research: Protected 1 day/wk Friday; requires 1 manuscript (says 5 on the webpage); Seems very easy to publish here
Size/relationship: Mentorship. 7 faculty with 4 fellows
Rotations: 6 week rotations + 3 elective rotations of choice. Rotations are Taylor, Lassiter/Wittstein (Duke Raleigh), Toth, Amendola, Mather, Riboh (most hands on, but awesome teacher).
Coverage: Duke mandatory football/basketball, NCCU football, additional mandatory sport of your choice; Sunday injury clinics during football season – All split up amongst 4 fellows (1 in 3/4 weekends off in fall)
Call: No call, social rounds, Can moonlight, but need to be under 80 hours
Travel/lifestyle/city: Durham is good place to live, affordable, almost everything is at ASC, one rotation is at Duke Ralegh (20 minute drive), typical busy in fall, then slows down in spring
Misc: Feagin Leadership Forum, Piedmont Orthopedic Society (alumni), no checking in pts or timeouts
Pros: Strong job opportunities amongst fellows (can find niche – F&A, hip, peds, etc)
Cons: Hip preservation fellowship (2 other hip guys we don’t work with, so no overlap with hip fellow), minimal elbow
Impression: One of the most well-rounded fellowships in the country, fellows were genuinely happy

Emory
Attendings: Spero Karas, John "X" Xerogeanes, Kyle Hammond (hip), Edward Jackson (multilig), Sam Labib (F&A)
Operative exp: 450-550 cases, clinic 2-3 days/wk, OR 2-3 days/wk, Friday is light, Strong Shoulder, TSA, knee, F&A (Labib), minimal elbow, some hip if you want it. 10-15 multiligs, ~60 open shoulder, 1-2 laterjet, meniscal tx, OATS, OC allo, no ACI
Didactics: 2 sports conf/month (at most), monthly JC, monthly research meeting (not really)
Conferences: Georgia orthopaedic society, Georgia shoulder & elbow, Emory sport symposium, 1 national conference, any industry meetings/courses, 1 all expenses paid meeting, any place you present
Research: 1 project (at most), present at Natl meeting, pre-arranged projects available
Size: 6 faculty with 2 fellows. Karas/X great on business side, help with job hunt, review contracts
Rotations: 1 month on “X” service, then 1 month Karas service, alternating, rotate with PGY3/5, can pick your cases, can walk residents through cases
Coverage: Falcons (Karas) home/away, travel with team in chartered jet, hotel, meals paid for, get stipend. 3 hours before game and 1 hour after game, then Monday AM injury clinic with Karas, no Superbowl, Georgia Tech (X) home/away, Bowl game, 6 GTech bball games, as much or little Hawks as you want, high school split between fellows
Call: No call, can moonlight, residents round on all patients
Travel/lifestyle/city: All within 10-15 minutes, except when covering sporting events, operate at ASC and ortho only hospitals
Benefits: Falcons gear, travel with team
Pros: Great operative experience, great coverage, contract help, F&A niche
Cons: Minimal research, no cadaver lab
Impression: Extremely strong in sports coverage and operative experience, not big in academics

Hawkins of the Carolinas
Attendings: Michael Kissenberth, Jason Folk, Doug Wyland, Stephan Pill, Stefan Tolan, Keith Lonergan, Stephen Geary, Paul Siffri
Operative exp: ~550 cases, ~80 TSAs, >50 hip scopes, 20-30 TKAs, complex knee, F&A, minimal multilig knees, ACLs are primarily hamstring graft. Good graduated autonomy. Good hip scope education. F&A if you want it with Weatherby when attendings are gone
Didactics: Weekly conference, monthly cadaver labs (but can do as much as you want). Give one grand rounds presentation.
Conferences: Any conference/course you want, $5k stipend plus industry. Encourage multiple meetings
Research: “Require” Systematic review, video, original paper, but realistically 1-2 papers/fellow. No dedicated research day, but can do research when attending is gone. Superstar research people (Chuck Thigpen and Ellen Shanley)
Size: 4 fellows, 7 attendings, Hawk Foundation (huge alumni network)
Rotations: 5 10-week rotations, minimal to no resident crossover. PAs on every service. Usually split rounding duties with them.
Coverage: high school, D2 colleges, Clemson (not really, but maybe… going on 5 years), Rockies spring training in AZ (each fellow goes for 1 week). Single A baseball team, Hockey team. Definitely not overbearing
Call: Cover attendings phone call for practice (10-15/yr), basically send all things operative to the main campus or downtown. Don’t operate, but do round for the entire sports practice on weekends (split hospitals with PA). Optional moonlighting $600/wkday, $1000/wkend. Don’t operate on weekdays for the most part, can operate on weekends (basically hip fractures)
Travel/lifestyle/city: Minimal travel, all within 20 minutes, easy place to live. Very easy lifestyle with majority of time being short days. (70% at main hospital campus (outpatient SS, main hospital, clinics), other 30% is split at satellite location nearby)
Misc: Hawk society, Hawk Notes, mostly private practice grads, huge on family, Ultrasound training
Benefits: $5k travel stipend, $300/month food, $62k salary
Pros: operative breadth & complexity (minus multi ligs), heavy shoulder
Cons: Hawkins not involved, no pro or high level coverage (unless changes happen with Clemson)
Impression: Strong program, well rounded, Steadman-Hawkins is the most connected and actively engaged alumni network in the nation (yearly Hilton Head alumni meeting, Hawk notes)

Mayo Scottsdale
Attendings: JT Tokish (shoulder), Anikar Chhabra (knee), David Hartigan (hip), Hattrup (arthroplasty), Karan Patel (F&A)
Operative exp: >350 cases, wide breadth, everything shoulder, limited elbow (some UCLr, scopes, no arthroplasty), hip scopes, ant THA, everything knee, 1 month elective
Didactics: Friday 7-9a (Didactics and cases; fellows only); Fellow presents every 4-5 weeks; Monthly Wed AM sports conf with Res; Monthly journal club
Conferences: Can go anywhere for presenting, AANA, AOSSM
Research: No protected research days, but anytime attending is away, can do research. Attendings each away ~30 days per year. Requirements: 1 systematic review, 1 Technique paper, 1 primary research
Size: 5 faculty with one fellow
Rotations: Residents are off service. 3 months Chhabra during ASU football, 3 months Tokish, 3 months Hartigan, 2months Hattrup/Patel, 1 month elective anywhere (Fra, Australia, Switzerland, wherever). Clinic an OR all in Tempe Sports facility.
Coverage: Mandatory ASU football w Chhabra, HS football team, optional ASU sports, Rising (Hartigan), Coyotes (Tokish), Fiesta Bowl, Cheez Its Bowl, Diamondbacks (primary care Matt Anastasi), spring training
Call: None. If attending on call, may cover a hip fracture with them and poss a resident on call at end of day. Moonlighting optional.
Travel/lifestyle/city: Unless traveling to Scottsdale, no travel. ASU facilities are right next to Tempe facility. Middle of the road required “work.” PHX pretty easy to live
Misc: Every service has a PA, so clinics/ORs can function without you if you want to go to a meeting or a different attendings case. Ultrasound is involved part of practice, switched to EPIC. Bootcamp at end of Aug w residents (knee, shoulder and hip scopes)
Benefits: Limitless funding; limitless cadaver labs, industry sponsors all over (Arthrex, Stryker), BioSkills labs
Pros: Outstanding faculty with mentorship model, Ultrasound experience, good sports coverage, but no overwhelming, unlimited funding
Cons: Research requirements without much help or protected research time, Unknowns with no fellow yet
Impression: Wild card. Brand new program, so hard to gauge without history. This group has tremendous vision and funding. My guess is that this evolves into one of the top fellowships in the country in 5 or so years. Incredibly high upside with plenty of risk/unknown currently.

Steadman-Hawkins Denver
Attendings: Theodore Schlegel, Martin Boublik, James Genuario, Thomas Noonan, Brandon Mayer (Kummin hand, Metzer F&A)
Operative exp: Strong in hip (Genuario great teacher), weak in shoulder arthroplasty/open shoulder. Well rounded.
Didactics: Weekly? Fellow conference with only SHDC, weekly conference combined with CU fellows prn
Conferences: AOSSM, stryker/arthrex Cadaver labs. Probably will be about 10 in the year
Research: 1 research paper, 1 technique video, 1 patient handout
Size: 5 core faculty, 2 fellows
Rotations: 6 weeks Schlegel and Boublik, 3 months Noonan/Genuario (even out hip scopes and UCLr), Friday/Tuesday with Mayer. Options to work with F&A/hand attendings
Coverage: Broncos split (4 home games, 5 days on, 5 off for training camp, NFL combine) hands on, Rockies (solo spring training, can cover with attendings during the year), Highschool (cover your own team), can cover ski team
Call: No trauma call. Practice call (floor pages/home pages); No moonlighting
Travel/lifestyle/city: Brand new Inverness location with OR/clinic/PT at one location. Occasional will be with Mayer in Ridgewood when he does hip scopes and arthroplasty
Misc: Part of Hawkins foundation, Hawk Notes, EPIC
Pros: Hands on pro sports coverage, one location for the most part, Denver
Cons: No option to moonlight, weak in open shoulder
Impression: Sneakily a very strong program, particularly in hip

University of Colorado (Boulder)
Attendings: Eric McCarty, Michelle Wolcott, Jonathan Bravman, Adam Steidl, Omer Mei-Dan (hip), Stephanie Mayer, Rachel Frank (Vidal left for Vail, approved to hire a new “big name” guy but no hires)
Operative exp: 500+ cases. All shoulder, knee, cartilage, hip, some F&A. Graduated autonomy. Transition to hip, knee, shoulder/elbow “teams” for rotations
Didactics: Weekly Wednesday AM fellows conference, every other Wednesday research meeting, Monthly Friday indications conference, occasional conference with McCarty. Quarterly JC. Fellows give 1 lecture per year
Conferences: Send you to AOSSM. Minimal other help with funding even if presenting
Research: 4 research asst., 1 project required, Frank pushing more research, MOON shoulder/knee
Size: 7 faculty, increased to 3 fellows this year
Rotations: Changing; hip rotation, shoulder/elbow rotation, knee rotation?; 3 and 5 rotate on sports; you get first dibs on cases
Coverage: CU home football, 1 away football, Monday training room, local high school, options for Avalanche, minimal Nuggets, U of Colorado, U of Denver
Call: Only practice call; can moonlight at L2 trauma center through CU. $1200/night
Travel/lifestyle/city: Lots of travel from Denver to Boulder to possibly Inverness. Plus all coverage travel. Higher end of time requirement, but will be improved adding a third fellow. Plenty to do in Denver/surrounding area. Paychecks are monthly and are around $4100. Cost of living is dependent on where you live
Misc: Minimal US usage, will stay separate from SHDC, APPs for each attending, EPIC
Benefits: Frank starting wetlabs with goal for monthly labs. Zero to this point
Cons: No throwing athletes (all go to SHDC), A LOT of travel, fellows haven’t had great job opportunities yet, Hip fellow with Mei-Dan
Impression: Mid tier program with plenty of change. Once Vidal’s replacement has been found and the schedule is figured out with 3 fellows, has potential to move upwards

University of Michigan
Attendings: Bruce Miller, Asheesh Bedi, James Carpenter, Eileen Crawford, Michael Freehill John Grant, Edward Wojtys
Operative exp: 550-700 cases. Wide breadth and depth. Great in shoulder and knee. Decent hip experience with Bedi (1/3 hip, rest general). No F&A, some elbow. Meniscal transplants (2), multilig (6), OATS, open shoulder through 6 months. Great hands on experience
Didactics: Weekly sports and shoulder conference, monthly JC, wet lab prn (fellows not using)
Conferences: Don’t do arthrex/smith & nephew fellows courses. Paid AOSSM, AOSM with stipend
Research: Protected research day per week. 1 paper. Easy to get 5-6 papers
Size: 7 faculty with 2 fellows
Rotations: 6 week blocks, 2nd half of year can be tailored. Pick your schedule each week. Fellows can get preference with good cases
Coverage: U of Mich and Eastern Mich split between fellows (home and away), U Mich home hockey, one other sports team (soccer, gymnastics, baseball), USA hockey NTDP, US ski team, US Rugby
Call: No trauma call. Sports call. No moonlighting
Travel/city/lifestyle: Mostly at orthopaedic center. Occasional cases at main hospital. Round on people you operate on. Busy fall with football coverage, excellent second half of the year. College town with Detroit nearby. Airport easy in and out direct.
Misc: Non-op PAs for each attending
Benefits: House officer union. Paid holidays and birthdays. Bonus 5k in November for no 401k match. $300/month lunch/coffee stipend, Michigan gear, EMU gear, $4300/month, 4 weeks vacation
Pros: Excellent well rounded experience, good job help, resident union, hands on sports
Cons: heavy/busy coverage in fall (football), no F&A, hand, Ann Arbor is more expensive cost of living than I anticipated
Impression: Along with Duke, this was the other most well rounded program I interviewed at. Easily a top program in the country.

UPMC
Attendings: Volker Musahl, Freddie Fu, Michael Bradley, Craig Mauro, Rodosky, Albert Lin, Bryson Lesniak, Dharmesh Vyas
Operative exp: ~500 cases/yr, 30 TSA (Lin), plenty of hip, strong in knee
Didactics: Weekly Monday PM cadaver lab, Wenesday AM sports conference, monthly MRI indications, monthly hip preservation conference, journal club once per block, research meeting every 2 weeks (structured), fellows give 7ish presentations per year at sports conference
Conferences: Unlimited funding; 5+ conferences (avg. 6-8 conf/courses)
Research: 1 paper/year; 18 research faculty to assist
Size: 5 fellows, 9-10 faculty. Well connected. 4 residents on sports service at a time
Rotations: Rigid, 5 rotations. 10 week blocks with 2 attendings (Musahl/Collins knee; Fu/Rodosky knee shoulder; Lin/research shoulder; Lesniak/Vyas hip; Bradley/Mauro general)
Coverage: Steelers (Bradley), Pens, Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris. No high school. Very hands on. All fellows will get either Pens or Steelers. Can make requests at the beginning of the year
Call: Minimal home phone call; nobody moonlights
Travel/lifestyle/city: Moderate travel based on rotation. Busy fall coverage. PAs round and do orders
Misc: State of the art concussion clinic. IMPACT testing
Benefits: Book funds, networking dinners with big names for grand rounds
Pros: well connected faculty, breadth of cases, high level coverage, structured didactics, fellows have good jobs and job support after fellowship
Cons: Limited shoulder (arthroplasty), multiple surgical centers to operate at, rigid rotation schedule
Impression: Historically strong fellowship program, weakness seems to be in shoulder

U of Utah
Attendings: Robert Burks, Patrick Greis, Robert Tashjian, Stephen Aoki, Travis Maak, Peter Chalmers
Operative exp: Per fellows 4-500 cases, good breadth, strong S&E, strong hip, peds, no F&A, good autonomy, last 20 weeks customizable
Didactics: Monday morning sports conference led by fellow case presentations (2 per block), weekly department grand rounds, journal club every other month
Conferences: 1-2 national conference, more if research accepted
Research: Require 1 paper, lots of grant funding, 1 research day/wk
Size: 2 fellows, 6 faculty. No overlap with residents
Rotations: 5 weeks with each attending for 30 weeks, then customization last 20 weeks
Coverage: U of Utah required, Highschool required, optional Jazz, MiLB Bees (AAA), Olympics
Call: No trauma call, occ phone call, can do overnight call (inpatient coverage, no ER) for $3-400 per night if you want
Travel/lifestyle/city: 90% of time at Ortho Center (clinic and OR), some at ASC, some at Peds/Shrine. Minimal travel. Great lifestyle.
Misc: Peds knee unique, skill lab building (Completion Oct 2019)
Benefits: 5 industry sponsored courses, 2 meeting (~$1500 per meeting), Wetlab
Pros: Operative experience (shoulder, elbow, hip, peds), coverage, city, customizable
Cons: No rounding help, tough to gauge fellows feelings on fellowship
Impression: Extremely strong shoulder, elbow, hip experience. Strong fellowship overall, just need to feel if it is a fit for you

U of Virginia
Attendings: Stephen Brockmeier, Mark Miller, David Diduch, Winston Gwathmey, Brian Werner
Operative exp: >500 cases, well covered in hip, open shoulder (~250/yr), complex shoulder, some peds, multiligs, complex knee, all cartilage procedures except MACI, opportunity to do as much or little with FA/hand. Hand service does all UCLr (~20-25/yr) Fellow picks first, then resident (PGY 2,3,5) picks next cases
Didactics: Wednesday, Thursday dedicated conference at 6:30. Fellows give ~2 letures/yr. Cadaver lab available, but nobody really does much because of frank busy schedules
Conferences: All expenses paid for 2 meetings of your choice (AAOS, AOSSM). Not big on industry sponsored courses
Research: 1-2 projects/yr. Good structure in place to complete research if wanted. “protected” research day, but not really
Size: 3 fellows, 5 main faculty
Rotations: 4 3-month rotations. Fairly fluid structure. Customizable to what you want. Can tailor to your interests
Coverage: 2 cover UVA football, 1 covers JMU football, JMU switches to UVA for bball (mens/womens), other sports to include baseball, soccer, LAX. Home and away coverage with weekly training room
Call: No call (except OITE), no rounding (residents)
Travel/lifestyle/city: All surgeries are in ASC or main hospital (which are connected). Everybody lives within 5-10 minutes. Great place to live.
Misc: APPS (operative and nonop) assistance, tough to gauge assistance with jobs as all had ideas in place before fellowship
Benefits: Cover 2 meetings, PGY-

Vanderbilt
Attendings: Jed Kuhn, Charles Cox, Jaron Sullivan, Kevin Bowman (looking to hire new “big name” sports person for the department and potentially chair position)
Operative exp: 550 cases, wide breadth, everything shoulder, hip scope, multiligs, cartilage (maj OATS, some ACI with peds guy), occ THA/TKA, occ ankle, occ elbow, 2nd half of the year is customizable (trauma, joints, foot and ankle)
Didactics: weekly fellows conference (you and fam med sports fellows) given by attending, every other week sports conference (with residents), grand rounds as pertinent, monthly radiology conf. Wet lab available with cadavers
Conferences: AOSM, AOSSM, industry sponsored courses
Research: 1 day per week (Fri), 1 publishable paper required
Size: 1 fellow (ACGME approved for 2, but only choose to fill one), 4/5 faculty
Rotations: PGY2 and 4 on sports. Occasionally work with the 2. Get dibs on cases. Split into “blocks,” but sounds like you work with everybody all year. Fridays are research or customizable. Clinic is all at main campus, operate mostly at Franklin surg center, few cases at main (hip scopes, THA, TKA)
Coverage: Split with 3 other fam med sports fellows; mandatory HS football, Vandy football, optional: Preds (Kuhn), Sounds (AAA OAK)/Vandy baseball (Bowman), Titans? (contract in 1.5 years) (new sports guy); all Vandy facilities are connected and within 2 blocks of the hospital
Call: None. No pager. No rounding (residents). Opportunity to do moonlighting, but nobody has. Needs to be approved by chair and sports PD. Kuhn is cool with it and Cox is too. Kuhn will only be chair until end of year.
Travel/lifestyle/city: Minimal travel throughout the day. Only at 2 facilities currently. Easiest lifestyle. Every single weekend off unless covering sports. Nashville is fantastic.
Misc: No APPs or RNs in clinic or in the OR. All post-op visits are seen by attendings. 35-55 clinic visits per attending per day. Currently fellow seems unmotivated and difficult to gauge what you can get out of the fellowship.
Benefits: 2 courses/meetings, CAQ exam ($3k, Vanderbilt gear, can get industry spons courses)
Pros: Super easy lifestyle, awesome city, good breadth of cases, wide sports coverage, rotation flex
Cons: Only 2 attendings with more than 5 yrs exp, low expectations, ?network, see all post-op patients for suture removal
Impression: Middle of the road fellowship with opportunity to bump up with new sports attending

Wake Forest
Attendings: Brian Waterman, Allston Stubbs, Cristin Ferguson, Kevin Coates, John Hubbard
Operative exp: 400-500. Wide breadth and depth of cases. Good hip scope (Stubbs). Multiligs, MACI, OATS, OC allografts, UCLr, open shoulder, laterjet. Graduated autonomy
Didactics: Weekly sports conference, monthly radiology conference, quarterly cadaver labs
Conferences: $1500 stipend, lots of industry sponsored courses (7-9/fellow)
Research: 1/2 day per week, 1 publishable paper required, throwing lab, motion analysis
Size: 2 fellows, 5 faculty
Rotations: Waterman, Hubbard block; Coates, Stubbs, Ferguson block; 3 month rotation. Fellows pick the cases they want to do each week. Very customizable to fit needs/wants. PGY3/5 on service, but no overlap.
Coverage: Mandatory WF football (home only), WSSU football (home/away), WF basketball, WSSU basketball. One fellow does WF football, the other will do WF basketball. Optional WF sports, WS Dash, UNC school of the arts
Call: None. No rounding (residents). Opportunity to do moonlighting at Wilkes. $850/weekend call plus incentive for cases.
Travel/lifestyle/city: 3 locations (ASC, outpatient surgery center, main campus). All within 15 minute drive. Easy place to live. Good lifestyle.
Misc: David Martin (president of ABOS) and Gary Poehling are very well connected and stay involved
Benefits: Stipend as above, PGY-6 pay, moonlighting opportunities to supplement
Pros: good breadth of cases, customizable schedule, tons of availability to go to courses/conferences
Cons: No F&A
Impression: Program that is on an upward trajectory. Good cases and volume available

I didn't see anyone post reviews of programs this year so I thought I would add some of my reviews to the list. I left out programs that I think are already well represented on this thread and included programs that I thought lacked representation.

My interest was for a program that would provide good all around sports training and some of my essential components for included good hip arthroscopy experience, sports coverage of at least high end D1 or professional sports, productive research staff that could facilitate my interests and enable me to continue on a career path for academics or privademics.


University Hospitals/ Case Western

1 fellow. Newish program. Rotate mainly with VOOS (chair/browns head team doc), Karns (assistant fellow director), Salata, and Gillespie. Non-exhaustive team coverage. 20 weeks with Browns, training room every Monday and sideline every home game. You review the tape of the injury while Voos tends to the athlete on the field, and you also go to combine. You cover 1 D3 college with an attending and one high school football team solo. Attendings are young and welcoming. They have good exposure to all aspects except possibly osteotomies. Hip with salata sounds good, and he is involved with research. Voos is friendly also involved with research, good to work with in the OR. Karns also sounds like he does a little of everything. Gillespie is main shoulder guy for arthroplasty and does scope stuff as well. Mikovsky is dual fellow trained and does most foot and ankle stuff as well as general sports. Goodfellow does quad tendon ACL, he will retire soon though. New guy from Stanford coming who will also likely do hip. All do some cartilage work. Sounds like decent opportunity to get involved in research although not a ton of support staff. Likely have to work a bit to get publications. Residents and med students are eager to help. 2 projects required in the year. Area is affordable to live in. Can moonlight at hospital and make 600-1000/ night if you’d like although no pressure to do so. Mostly cold level 2-3 trauma and can do the cases if you’d like. There are 4 blocks: 1- Voos/victoroff/karns(4 months), 2-Salata/goodfellow(3months), 3-Gillespie/Mikovsky (3-months) 4-elective(2 months). Can go to aaos, or aaosm + like 4-5 industry sponsored courses. Cadaver labs at Lutheran hospital lab as much as you want.


Cleveland Clinic

3 fellows. Decently well-rounded fellowship with regards to operative exposure, research, and team coverage. Research has Spindler but he is rumored to be heading to Boston within the year. Research expectations are that you do one quality prospective study. Team coverage is Pro, college and HS. Pro is with Cavs (cover 6 home games, the rest are split with primary care fellows and co fellows ), College- cover football both home and away games (other sports too such as basketball), and HS football home games. Unfortunately, they lost the Browns to UH. Indians coverage is whatever you want to make it and can get more involved earlier on if you want. Get to go to spring training for a week. High school and college coverage seem unnecessarily exhaustive. Go to industry sponsored courses and AOSSM each year as well as the fellows course at the beginning of the year. It seems easy to leave your coverage assignment to see cool cases if you would like. One day a week is an off day for research, usually Friday. Wet lab is easy to set up with their coordinator and industry will come to support. Weekly 630am conference with 5-6 talks per year. There are six 2 month rotations, basically mentorship model. Dr. Farrow and Dr. Parker Rotation - 2 Months, Dr Schickendance-2 months, Dr Roseneck-2 months, Dr Saluan 2 months, Dr spindler and Jones-2 months, Dr Miniaci and McCoy-2 months. Mostly older attendings. Current fellows seemed pleased with operative autonomy. They felt very comfortable with their overall experience and the opportunities. It seems like their relationship with UH is a bit tenuous and there may be a bit of competition between the two programs. The shoulder arthroplasty experience is weak. Good mixture of techniques BTB, hamstring, quad, Shoulder beachchair, lateral etc.

Kansas University

2 fellows. This is an awesome program, and I think they are totally underrated. Rotate with ~5-6 attendings in a mentorship model. Good mixture of youth and experience. Really fun tight knit group consisting of Schroeppel (Chiefs head team doc), Mullen, Randall(KU head team doc), Vopat (dual fellowship trained sports/F&A), and Keys (Royals head team doc). They truly make you feel like you're part of the team. Good exposure to all operative aspects of sports including hip scope, throwing shoulder and elbow, foot and ankle, multi-lig knees, revisions, osteotomies and plenty of bread and butter. Team coverage is probably second to none including KU football and basketball, KC Chiefs, and KC royals. Some minimal high school football coverage that you get paid for as well. Team coverage did not seem exhaustive and the fellows seemed quite content with their involvement. No call. Fellows go to Summer training camp for KU and Chiefs. They are both flown to spring training for a week. Weekly didactics consisting of lectures every Friday morning and once a month journal club. Fellows give one lecture each during the year. They are sent to industry courses (stryker/Arthrex) as well as AOSSM. Wet labs are easily set up with industry support. No conflicting with residents as they rotate with other faculty. 1 research project required. All attendings are involved with research to some degree but Vopat is really determined and particularly successful. He has set up a nice system with med students that can help out a lot with projects. Research ancillary staff is also available. Research experience appears to be what you make of it. The resources are available for you to be productive if you choose to be. The university has its own journal which could provide you with an easy outlet for publication if you want to put in minimal effort. Kansas City would be a fun place to live and train. The city is large enough to get the benefits of training in a city without being so big that traffic and inflated cost of living take away from that. Everyone that I spoke to said that Kansas city was a fun place to live plus KC BBQ is fire!

UNC

2 fellows. Rotate with Creighton, Spang and 1 other who are academic faculty at UNC and 3-4 guys that do private practice at ROC. Not much flexibility in going to see other attendings interesting cases as it seems that they discourage that. One fellow each covers a football team(UNC/NC state). UNC basketball and football coverage are split up. Research is very weak, not much support but Sanders is the new chairman here and is making changes. Hip scopes are done thru one guy at the ROC but it seems that he doesn’t get a ton because it goes mostly to Duke. Otherwise good operative exposure including some complex and a lot of bread and butter cases. Fellows seemed pretty happy with the experience. Newer program so there will likely be changes over time. Weekly didactics include reviewing papers on the subject of choice with some attendings. They send you to two courses plus some industry stuff. Not a bad place to live and train, very reasonably priced. Probably live in Durham area as Chappel hill is all college students.

University at Buffalo

2 fellows. This is also a totally underrated program in my opinion. Rotate with 5-6 faculty, mentorship model. Fun, close knit group of attendings. Good mix of youth and experience. Les Bisson (Bills head team doc) is the chairman and fellowship director. He seems very intelligent and the residents and fellows say he is an awesome resource. Good exposure to all aspects of sports including coverage with the Bills/Sabres and UB/Buff state. No HS coverage. 1 fellow gets the Bills one fellow gets the Sabres. Training camp and combine are attended by both. Sideline coverage of both pro teams. Operative experience is robust and includes good hip scope, complex knee and shoulder, and all the bread and butter cases you could desire. Shoulder, hip and knee arthroplasty are available if you desire. Weekly skills lab one afternoon a week with beautiful scope lab on the top floor of a brand new med school. Lab is the size of a football field with several scope stations and brand new simulator. Cadavers with industry support on an almost weekly basis throughout the year. Marzo (former Bills and Sabres head team doc is clinically retired but runs the weekly skills lab sessions. He appears to be an excellent resource and is doing a lot of research too. Monthly journal clubs. AOSSM and industry sponsored courses are funded. 1 Research project required. Appears to be ample support from several research coordinators, residents and med students. Fellows seemed to really enjoy their training here and also spoke highly of living in the area. Affordable city experiencing a big resurgence would make for a fun place to train.


New England Baptist Hospital

 
3 fellows. Glen Ross is program director. Rotate with about 10 attendings. Schedule can be flexible toward the end of the year and tailored to your liking. Good flexibility and can go to Boston children’s in the second half of the year. Seems Weurz does most hip stuff and the experience can be whatever you want to make it. Good mix of complex and routine cases. You do some arthroplasty of shoulder and can get involved with knee and hip too if you’d like. Both beach chair and lateral. Research experience is fair. Shah was just hired to bolster this aspect and he seems dedicated to do this. It seems as if you could make it whatever you'd like as there are ample big named attendings to get involved with. 2 weeks for vacation 1 week for conferences. Didactics are a lecture every Monday. Boston is a fun place to live, pretty expensive but worth the experience. 1-2 fellows cover tufts, 1-2 fellows cover Merrimack college. Celtics games are split amongst fellows. You are court side but you don’t do much with the team besides games. Most surgery done at surgery centers ~15-20 min commute. 

Wanted to add a few reviews to contribute to the cause. Would echo the prior posts that there are a lot of good programs out there and your interests should guide you when you schedule interviews and compile your rank list. Would recommend talking to current and prior fellows to get the best info on programs.

UNM (New Mexico)
- Seemed like a great program, faculty very down to earth and both fellows seemed happy. High level of complexity with a ton of multi-lig knee exposure. Hip scope exposure seemed reasonable and both fellows were planning to scope hips in their practice. Have a dedicated peds ortho clinic 1x every week or two which is a unique aspect. Sports coverage of UNM sports seemed reasonable. Hard to comment on the shoulder arthroplasty exposure, have 1 shoulder/elbow trained attending but neither fellow was particularly interested in shoulder recon. ABQ is a cool town if you're into the outdoors. Relatively low case load (350-400 cases) over the past few years was a minor point of concern for me but the quality of the training still seemed very very good.

Wake Forest
- Solid program, good group of friendly faculty and Dr. Waterman is really striving to elevate the status of the program. I think the training here would be excellent. Current fellow seemed very positive about his experience. Stubbs is a master of hip arthroscopy so could certainly develop that niche here although current fellow wanted nothing to do with hip scopes so difficult to tell what operative experience would be like in that aspect. Good research infrastructure and very high tech pitching biomechanics lab. Can moonlight/operate at community hospital and make a lot of extra money.

Mississippi
- Good program, bad location. Exposure to total joints if you want it. Some of the highest case numbers (1000+) advertised on the trail. Questionable as far as how much of the case each fellow is doing as well as complexity level so naturally questioned quantity over quality of reps but definitely think you would be able to operate well coming out of here. A lot of high school football/D2 football coverage with a very busy schedule in the fall. Free membership to local golf course to make 1 year in Jackson MS less painful.

Kentucky
- Fellows seemed to have mixed feelings on this program, 1 fellow covers UK sports and the other fellows get the short end of the stick and cover D3 schools. Tour of UK football facility was very cool. No hip arthroscopy experience and shoulder arthroplasty seemed limited as well. Brand new faculty from Rush trying to ramp up cartilage practice but fellows did not seem to enjoy that particular rotation.

Houston Methodist-
Very sports coverage heavy fellowship with shared coverage of all of the pro teams in Houston shared equally with UT Houston. Houston seems like a decent city for 1 year. Current fellows who were all IMGs that scrambled into program after it was unmatched reported that the sports coverage is too burdensome and takes away from the operative experience, which was very lacking in their opinion.

TRIA:
Private group fellowship model, rotate with 10+ attendings throughout the year. Shoulder heavy fellowship with good arthroplasty training. Fellows reported good cartilage experience as well. 0 hip arthroscopy available which is a weakness if you're looking for that. Team coverage seemed reasonable, and sounds like practice management/business is emphasized so you're ready to go once you're out.

Programs I didn't interview at but heard great things about on the trail:
OrthoCarolina
Steadman Hawkins Greenville and Denver
UH Case Western
UHZ
Lenox Hill