Rotations
The residents rotate on ten different services spending one to two months on each service at a time. In general, each service consists of a chief, a mid-level resident and a junior resident. Most of the services have mid-level providers (either a Physician’s Assistant or Nurse Practitioner) who assist in clinic, with H&P’s, and occasionally in the OR.
When rotating on a University Hospital service and at the VA, the residents are responsible for their staff’s clinic and OR. The chief resident on each service assigns resident coverage according to educational value and equitable exposure to operative and clinical experience.
Joint Reconstruction
The Joint Reconstruction service has three attendings, Drs. David Blaha, Brian Hallstrom, and Andrew Urquhart. The Joint Reconstruction service (SJO) consists of an HO I, III, IV and V along with several physician extenders. This service performs complex adult reconstructive cases including total hip and knee arthroplasty.
Spine
The Spine service (SMO) has two attendings, Drs. Greg Graziano and Rakesh Patel. The Spine service consists of an HO II and HO IV along with a physician assistant. Graduating residents will have completed 4 months on the adult spine service.
Foot and Ankle
The Foot and Ankle service has three attending, Drs. James Holmes, Todd Irwin and Anish Kadakia. The Foot and Ankle service consists of an HO II, HO IV and a physician assistant. Graduating residents will have completed two months on the Foot and Ankle Service.
Hand
The Hand Service (SHO) at the University has two attendings, Drs. Jeff Lawton and Kagen Ozer. The service consists of an HO III, HO V and a physician’s assistant. Hand call is divided between this service and plastic surgery. This service is done for 2 months as an HO III and HO V. The Hand service takes care of everything from simple hand cases, such as trigger fingers and carpel tunnel to complex cases such as digital replants. Additionally residents will perform simple wrist cases such as scaphoid fractures to complex wrist cases, such as wrist instability. Furthermore, a resident’s operative experience will include simple elbow cases, such as non-displaced radial head fractures, to complex elbow reconstructions including total elbow arthroplasty. This service also takes care of congenital hand disorders and obstetric brachial plexus palsies.
Tumor
The Tumor service has one attending, Dr. Sybil Biermann. Residents rotate on the oncology service for two months as a HO IV, working with a Physician’s Assistant, as well as a clinical nurse practitioner. The Tumor service manages benign and malignant primary bone and soft tissue tumors, as well as bone metastasis. This service does large limb salvage procedures using implants and/or allograft.
Trauma
The Trauma service has two attendings, Drs. Paul Dougherty and James Goulet. The service consists of an HO I, II, HO III, HO V, and several physicians’ extenders. For six months an off-service HO II resident also rotates on orthopaedic trauma. The trauma services manages acute trauma such as tibia and femur fractures, as well as complex pelvic and acetabular fractures. In addition, other elective reconstructive procedures are done, such as periacetabular osteotomies and adult limb lengthening. The PGY II is assigned to cover the ER and emergency consults during the daytime hours, with a night float system providing night call coverage that is the PGY III’s responsibility.
Pediatric Orthopaedics
The Pediatric orthopaedic service has five attendings, Drs. Michelle Caird, Clifford Craig, Frances Farley, Robert Hensinger and Kelly Vanderhave. The service consists of a HO II, HO III, HO IV and HO V. There are also two Nurse Practitioners and a part time Physician’s Assistant who help with clinic as well as inpatient responsibilities. On this service, you will take care of the entire spectrum of pediatric orthopaedics, including scoliosis (idiopathic, congenital, neuromuscular), developmental dysplasia of the hip, clubfeet, trauma and adolescent sports medicine.
Sports Medicine
The Sports Medicine service has five attendings, Drs. Asheesh Bedi, James Carpenter, Bruce Miller, Jon Sekiya and Edward Wojtys. The service consists of an HO V, HO IV, HO III and HO II, as well as several Physician Assistants. In addition, Drs. Laurie Donaldson, Jeff Housner, and David Alvarez, fellowship trained in non-operative sports medicine, participate in the care of UM and EMU athletes and the USA Hockey program. Residents spend eight months on the Sports service. The Sports service takes care of patients with knee ligament injuries (ACL or PCL tears), shoulder instability and arthritis, ankle and elbow injuries. The clinic is located off-site in the newly expanded Domino’s Farms and is known as MedSport. It is connected with the physical therapy facilities there. The service provides care for the sports teams for the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University as well as the USA Junior National Hockey team.
VAMC
The orthopaedic service at the Ann Arbor VA is directed by Dr. Josh Miller, with the assistance of emeritus faculty, Dr. Herb Kaufer . Other UM orthopaedic faculty are available for special cases and clinics as needed. Residents rotate at the VA for 2 months as an HO V and HO II.
A&R (Anatomy and Research)
Prior to graduation, you are required to complete a publishable quality research project, which can be either a clinical or basic science project. As an HO III, there are 2 months in which you may work on clinical or bench research, rotate at an outside institution, or work on anatomy project may be completed. This is not enough time to complete a major project, but it is expected that most of the setup work would have been done prior to and the completion of the manuscript after these 2 months.
