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department of OrthopAedic surgery & sports medicine

Joseph Thoder, MDA Message from Joseph Thoder, MD

Chairperson, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine

John W. Lachman Professor

 

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Temple University School of Medicine has a strong history of providing the highest quality resident education. The Department was built under the direction of our first Chairman, John Royal Moore, MD and was carried to the forefront of orthopaedic education by his successors: John W. Lachman, MD and Michael Clancy, MD. As we enter the new millennium, this tradition of excellence continues.

 

The education at Temple is well balanced. The core curriculum is based at Temple University Hospital, with pediatric orthopaedic rotations at Temple University Children’s Medical Center and Shriners Hospital for Children, as well as rotations at Northeastern Hospital, an urban community hospital, and Abington Memorial Hospital, a suburban community hospital. We feel strongly that this provides each resident with exposure to all manners of clinical settings and decision-making challenges.

 

The faculty in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery consists of a blend of general orthopaedic surgeons and sub-specialists. Didactic presentations in each of these areas, as well as basic science topics, are covered during daily morning conferences. Weekly Indications Conference provides a forum for discussion of treatment and management options regarding specific cases. Grand Rounds are held every other Saturday morning in conjunction with a monthly Morbidity and Mortality Conference. Grand Rounds provides a format for residents to give formal presentations on selected orthopaedic topics and for us to host invited lecturers.

 

Each resident spends three-month rotations on services with emphasis on:

 

  • Arthritis and joint reconstruction
  • Foot and ankle
  • Hand and upper extremity
  • Spine surgery
  • Sports medicine
  • Trauma

During the PGY2 year, each resident is teamed with a PGY5 resident while on these services. Residents have the opportunity to spend time with the attending staff in private office hours and clinic as well as and in the operating room. Resident education on the "nuts and bolts" aspects of orthopaedic medicine is thereby ongoing with regard to understanding and decision making for both operative and non-operative disease processes. This broad exposure to all aspects of orthopaedic medicine provides an abundant base for clinical research and outcomes studies.

 

Upon completion of our program, many of our graduates have gone on to fellowships in orthopaedic subspecialties at nationally recognized programs while others have chosen to go directly into practice. In either case, they have attained positions of leadership both in private and academic practices. They routinely give us positive feedback as to the degree to which they were prepared for their fellowships and clinical practices. As the field of orthopaedic medicine continues to expand and become more complex, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine here at Temple University School of Medicine is prepared to meet those challenges. Our "tradition of excellence" continues.

 

Sincerely,

Joseph Thoder, MD