Research - Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship | University of Maryland Medical Center

Fellows at the STC are exposed to a large active clinical research program that is currently running between 10 and 15 prospective trials at any one time. Our resources include a fully equipped biomechanics laboratory with full-time biomechanics faculty dedicated to orthopaedic trauma projects, six full-time research coordinators for orthopaedic trauma, a medical editor, a prospective trauma database, and an ongoing, rich collaborative relationship with cutting-edge public health researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Division is proud to have dedicated faculty with more than $5.7 million of independent funding (awarded by the United States Department of Defense, Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, industry, and others) and substantial experience in research to help mentor fellows interested in a career that involves becoming a funded investigator.

Although our requirement to have each fellow submit the results of his or her research in manuscript form to a peer reviewed journal is common, many other details of our fellow research program are relatively unique. Fellows are presented with 15 IRB-ready projects from which to select their projects. They then present to the faculty in a well-established process, as if they are attempting to obtain grant funding. We customize the project based on what the fellows need to promote their career goals. Our faculty physicians are dedicated to mentoring the next generation of orthopaedic traumatology clinical researchers.

The Division of Orthopaedic Traumatology boasts a strong track record of success for fellows’ research projects and a high level of academic production
overall. Projects are completed by February 1 of each year, so each fellow typically submits his or her project for presentation at OTA and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meetings. The fellow projects are an important part of our research process, which has produced 78 podium and poster presentations during the last five OTA and AAOS meetings.