Program Overview
The University of Louisville Department of Orthopaedic Surgery residency program is a 5 year program that revolves around a vibrant medical community in downtown Louisville, KY. We offer a well-rounded exposure to all subspecialties of orthopaedics, a strong educational curriculum, and a vast surgical experience. Residents have graduated responsibility with a broad and early operative experience and robust surgical volume at an Academic Level I Trauma Center. In addition to our stable and committed full time University faculty, we have numerous gratis clinical faculty who are dedicated to postgraduate medical education and offer our residents significant exposure to operative and non-operative subspecialty orthopaedics in a private practice setting.
First and foremost, orthopaedic residents help care for the more than 3,000 trauma admissions annually; providing complex fracture care as part of the regions only Level 1 Trauma Center at University Hospital. Residents also spend time at the Norton Leatherman Spine Center, a nationally renowned center that attracts patients from around the region and country, giving residents a chance to experience both basic and extraordinarily complex pathology. The final downtown tertiary referral center is Norton Children’s Hospital which now boasts 4 fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeons. All within three blocks of each other, these centers of excellence deliver hands on education and unique pathologies on a daily basis.
Outside of downtown, residents do spend some time at several community hospitals and private practices with a variety of fellowship trained physicians to learn both basic and complex foot and ankle surgery, reconstruction, arm and hand surgery, arthroscopy, and joint preservation techniques. Working one on one with local physicians, education and technical skills are emphasized.
At the University of Louisville, education is a top priority and protected time for grand rounds, block conference, fracture conference, basic science review, OITE review, arthroscopy skills development, and fresh tissue dissection is provided to residents. This ensures that residents graduate with both the technical skills and orthopaedic knowledge to succeed in fellowship and beyond.
Fresh Tissue Dissection Laboratory
A great asset for all at the University of Louisville, the nationally recognized Fresh Tissue Dissection Laboratory provides students, residents, fellows, and faculty fresh tissue specimens for a variety of educational and research purposes. Developed by Dr. Robert Acland and now under the direction of Dr. Nicole Herring, the laboratory continues to remain dedicated to teaching anatomy, training surgeons, and promoting research within all surgical fields. The University of Louisville Department of Orthopaedic faculty and residents alike utilize the lab both day and night to learn and relearn essential anatomical relationships, perfect surgical approaches and pioneer new surgical techniques.
Microsurgery Course
Developed by University of Louisville anatomist and microsurgery pioneer Dr Robert Acland and now taught by Dr Gustavo Perez-Abadia, the Microsurgical Techniques course is provided to all residents. This intensive 5 day course begins with microsurgical principles and includes arterial and venous end to end anastomoses, end to side anastomoses, and interpositional grafts. Although designed to teach students with no prior microsurgical experience, physicians and fellows from around the world use this course to develop or perfect their microsurgical skills.
Resident Rotations
The PGY-1 year consists of six months of Orthopaedic rotations (Chief’s Trauma/Introduction to Night Float, Spine, Hand, Pediatric Orthopaedics) and six months of off service rotations (Neurosurgery, Anesthesia ICU, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery Trauma, Pediatric General Surgery, Vascular Surgery).
As an intern on Orthopaedic rotations, you will have the opportunity to begin learning the fundamentals of Orthopaedics in a relaxed atmosphere. There will be adequate time spent in both clinic and the operating room. The intern on Chief’s Trauma will take some supervised day call, but will not take any call on the remainder of Orthopaedic rotations. The Introduction to Night Float is a 2-week rotation spent with a PGY-2/PGY-3 on Night Float to become more acclimated with managing adult and pediatric Orthopaedic consults. Every month, the interns will spend an afternoon with Dr. Brandi Hartley (Residency Program Director) to discuss principles of Orthopaedics and spend time in the cadaver lab on pertinent dissections.
Chief's Trauma
Attendings:
Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, Jiyao Zou, MD
The PGY-2 on the Chief’s Trauma team will be involved in morning rounds and will assist the PGY-1 and PGY-3 on service in seeing floor and ER consults. They will begin to operate independently on level-appropriate trauma cases (hardware removal, I&D, intramedullary nailing). The focus of this rotation is to further the trauma operative experience as a junior level resident. The PGY-2 on service will spend one half day in clinic per week with Dr. Hartley seeing trauma patients.
Fracture Service
Attending: David Seligson, MD
The resident will be involved in morning rounds and will be expected to see all floor and ER consults and staff them with the Chief on service. The resident will participate in trauma cases daily and have the opportunity to start operating independently on level-appropriate trauma cases (hardware removal, I&D, intramedullary nailing). The PGY-2 will participate in two to three half days of trauma clinic per week.
Musculoskeletal Oncology
Attending: Rodolfo Zamora, MD
This rotation will focus on Adult/Pediatric Orthopaedic Oncology and complex adult reconstruction. Dr. Zamora’s practice includes unique and challenging procedures, such as rotationplasty and total femur replacement. The resident on service will have a one-on-one experience with Dr. Zamora and will spend time with him in clinic and the OR.
Night Float
Attendings: Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, David Seligson, MD, Rodolfo Zamora, MD, Jiyao Zou, MD
The PGY-2 resident on the night float rotation will be responsible for seeing all consults at two Level 1 Trauma Centers – University of Louisville Hospital and Norton Children’s Hospital. The resident will be on call from 5PM to 7AM Sunday through Thursday. The night float resident will be responsible for stabilizing patients and preparing them for surgery the following day. They will also participate in any emergent surgeries during the time they are on call. A chief resident is available to answer any questions, provide assistance, and come in to operate on emergent patients at University of Louisville.
Pediatric Orthopaedics
Attendings: Jennifer Brey, MD, Laura Jacks, MD, Josh Meier, MD, James Moyer, MD, Star Nixon, MD, Kent Walker, DO
The PGY-2 Pediatric Orthopaedics rotation will be done with the Norton Children’s Orthopaedics of Louisville Group. The resident will spend two days per week in clinic and three days per week in the OR to develop an understanding of Pediatric Orthopaedic pathology (such as fracture management, spine deformities, hip dysplasia, spasticity, metabolic bone disorders). They will be responsible for managing all floor and ER consults three days per week.
Hand
Attendings: Ethan Blackburn, MD, Charity Burke, MD, Victor Fehrenbacher, MD, Amit Gupta, MD, Tony Hazel, MD, Luke Robinson, MD, David Tate, MD
The junior hand & upper extremity rotation will be spent with Louisville Arm & Hand, a Norton Healthcare group comprised of eight fellowship trained hand & upper extremity surgeons. The resident will be in the OR 3-4 days a week and in clinic 1-2 days per week. The senior resident will coordinate with the lower level residents on service to ensure that each resident is with a different attending surgeon to maximize the learning experience. The PGY-2 on service will have the opportunity to perform critical portions of routine hand & upper extremity cases (ex: carpal/cubital tunnel release, trigger finger release, LRTI, I&D).
Foot and Ankle
Attending: Todd Hockenbury, MD
The resident will be in clinic evaluating patients three days a week and in the OR two days a week. Dr. Hockenbury does an excellent job of explaining the fundamentals of Foot & Ankle pathology/biomechanics, which is very helpful at this juncture of residency. One OR day is focused on more complex cases, such as total ankle arthroplasty and major foot/ankle reconstruction. The other OR day is spent at an outpatient surgery center with a focus on smaller cases, such as hallux valgus deformity correction and forefoot fusions. This rotation is at UofL Health Mary & Elizabeth Hospital.
Chief’s Trauma
Attendings: Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, Jiyao Zou, MD
The resident will be responsible for managing all Orthopaedic patients on the floor. They will begin to operate independently on level-appropriate trauma cases (such as intramedullary nailing, ankle and wrist fractures). They will be responsible for seeing consults on the floor and in the ER and educating the team’s intern on how to manage these consults. Additionally, they will spend one half day in clinic per week with Dr. Roberts seeing trauma patients.
Sports
The resident on service will have more involvement in the operating room and will have the opportunity to complete critical parts of Orthopaedic sports cases (ex: ACL graft harvest and preparation, rotator cuff repair). They will be in clinic two days per week and in the OR two days per week.
Night Float
Attendings: Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, David Seligson, MD, Rodolfo Zamora, MD, Jiyao Zou, MD
This rotation is identical to the PGY-2 night float rotation. Again, the night float resident will be responsible for seeing all floor and ER consults at University of Louisville Hospital and Norton Children’s Hospital from 5PM to 7AM Sunday through Thursday.
Jewish Adult Reconstruction
Attending: Arthur Malkani, MD
This rotation will focus on the hip and knee reconstruction and will involve robotic assisted surgery. Residents will have the opportunity to perform all critical portions of adult reconstruction surgeries. The resident will spend two days per week in clinic and three days per week in the OR.
Spine
Attendings: Mitch Campbell, MD, Charles Crawford, MD, John Dimar, MD, Mladen Djurasovic, MD, Steven Glassman, MD, Jeff Gum, MD, Kirk Owens, MD, Rolando Puno, MD
This rotation is a comprehensive cervical to lumbar spine experience with Norton Leatherman Spine Specialists, a premier spine center in the country. The resident on service will work one-on-one with experienced attendings in clinic and the OR. There will be an opportunity to participate in Robotic-Assisted Spine Surgery. The resident on service will take three weekdays of spine call and one weekend of spine call per month.
Elective
The elective rotation will be spent with one attending Orthopaedic Surgeon in the Louisville community. This rotation will follow a mentorship model and allow the resident to spend time focusing on a subspecialty of Orthopaedics that is of interest to them.
Chief’s Trauma
Attendings: Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, Jiyao Zou, MD
The resident will focus on refining their operative skills and starting to participate in more challenging trauma cases, such as pelvic/acetabulum trauma and periarticular fractures. The PGY-4 resident will participate in morning rounds and see primarily Orthopaedic patients in the ICU. They will also spend one half day in clinic per week with Dr. Zou to further education on complex wound care management.
Fracture Service
Attending: David Seligson, MD
The PGY-4 on the Fracture Service will serve as the Chief Resident of the service. They will be involved heavily in surgical decision making, play a role in booking surgical cases, and participate in trauma cases daily. The PGY-4 will be involved in morning rounds and will lead table rounds with Dr. Seligson each day. They will also supervise all orthopaedic consults seen by the lower level resident on the service. The PGY-4 will participate in two to three half days of trauma clinic per week.
Musculoskeletal Oncology
Attending: Rodolfo Zamora, MD
This rotation is a continuation of the PGY-2 MSKO rotation with Dr. Zamora. The PGY-4 will have a one-on-one experience with Dr. Zamora and participate in surgical cases focused on oncology and complex adult reconstruction.
Knee
Attending: Samuel Carter, MD
This rotation will be spent with Dr. Sam Carter at Norton Brownsboro Hospital. Dr. Carter is a graduate of the University of Louisville Residency Program, and his practice is focused on shoulder/hip/knee arthroscopy and knee replacement. The resident on service with Dr. Carter will spend two days per week in clinic and two days per week in the OR.
Sports/Recon
Attendings: Jeff Stimac, MD, Kevin Himschoot, Ryan Krupp, MD
This rotation is spent with the Orthopaedic Specialists Group at Norton Brownsboro Hospital. This rotation will focus on Hip and Knee Reconstruction, with an emphasis placed on the increasingly popular Anterior Hip Approach. The resident on service will spend two days per week in clinic and three days per week in the OR.
Pediatric Orthopaedics
Attendings: Jennifer Brey, MD, Laura Jacks, MD, Josh Meier, MD, James Moyer, MD, Star Nixon, MD, Kent Walker, DO
The PGY-4 on Pediatric Orthopaedics will continue to build on their junior level pediatric experience with the Norton Children’s Orthopaedics of Louisville Group. As the upper level on service, the PGY-4 will be expected to have a more thorough understanding of Pediatric Orthopaedic pathology. They will spend two days per week in clinic and three days per week in the OR. They will be responsible for managing all floor and ER consults two days per week.
Elective
The elective rotation will be spent with one attending Orthopaedic Surgeon in the Louisville community. This rotation will follow a mentorship model and allow the resident to spend time focusing on a subspecialty of Orthopaedics that is of interest to them.
Chief’s Trauma
Attendings: Jon Carlson, MD, Brandi Hartley, MD, Craig S. Roberts, MD, MBA, Jiyao Zou, MD
The PGY-5 on the Chief’s Trauma team will serve as the Chief Resident of the service. Responsibilities as the Chief Resident include: participating in pre-operative planning for surgical cases, booking surgical cases, overseeing the management of orthopaedic patients on the floor and in the ICU, and participating in surgery daily. The Chief Resident is generally involved in more complex trauma cases and will also be involved in educating and supervising lower level residents in the operating room.
Adult Reconstruction
Attendings: Michael Salamon, MD, Lawrence Schaper MD
Ellis and Badenhausen is a private practice Orthopaedic group that has served the Louisville community for over 60 years. The senior resident on this service will spend two days in the OR and one day in clinic with Dr. Michael Salamon, who’s areas of specialization include foot & ankle reconstruction and general Orthopaedics. One day a week will be spent in the OR with Dr. Lawrence Schaper, an adult reconstruction specialist. One day a week can be spent in clinic or the OR with any of the nine providers in the group.
Hand & Upper Extremity
Attendings: Ethan Blackburn, MD, Charity Burke, MD, Victor Fehrenbacher, MD, Amit Gupta, MD, Tony Hazel, MD, Luke Robinson, MD, David Tate, MD
This rotation will be spent with Louisville Arm & Hand, a Norton Healthcare group comprised of eight fellowship trained Hand & Upper Extremity surgeons. The resident will be in the OR four days a week and in clinic one day per week. The senior resident will coordinate with the lower level residents on service to ensure that each resident is with a different attending surgeon to maximize the learning experience.
Foot & Ankle
Attending: Todd Hockenbury, MD
The resident will be in clinic evaluating patients three days a week and in the OR two days a week. One OR day is focused on more complex cases, such as total ankle arthroplasty and major foot/ankle reconstruction. The other OR day is spent at an outpatient surgery center with a focus on smaller cases, such as hallux valgus deformity correction and forefoot fusions.
Elective
The senior elective is a flexible rotation that affords the PGY-5 resident the freedom to work with any of the Orthopaedic Surgery providers in the Louisville community. The purpose of the senior elective rotation is to allow the resident to address any interests/areas of improvement prior to graduating from the program and moving into fellowship/practice. There are no specific requirements on the amount of time spent in clinic versus the OR.
PGY-1
None while on Orthopaedic rotations. They will be expected to take some call while on the following off-service rotations: General Surgery Trauma, Pediatric General Surgery, Vascular Surgery.
PGY-2
While on the Fracture Service, resident will take one weekend of primary Adult Trauma call per month at University of Louisville Hospital. There will be no weekend call while on Night Float. For the remainder of the PGY-2 rotations, resident will take up to one weekend of primary Pediatric Orthopaedic call per month at Norton Children’s Hospital.
PGY-3
While on the Spine Service, resident will take one weekend of primary Spine call per month at University of Louisville Hospital, Norton Hospital, and Norton Children’s Hospital. There will be no weekend call while on Night Float. For the remainder of PGY-3 rotations, resident will take up to one weekend of primary Adult Orthopaedic call per month at University of Louisville.
PGY-4
While on the Fracture Service, resident will take one weekend of primary Adult Trauma call per month at University of Louisville Hospital. For the remainder of PGY-4 rotations, resident will take up to one weekend of primary Adult Orthopaedic call per month at University of Louisville.
PGY-5
Resident will take up to one weekend of Adult Trauma call per month at University of Louisville Hospital. The resident will not carry a pager or see consults, but will only come in to participate in surgery.
Clinical Sites
University Hospital
The current facility was built in 1979, has 404 beds and has undergone several major renovations and expansions. It is the only Level I Trauma Center in the region where over 12,000 surgery procedures are completed annually. In all, UofL Hospital has 18 operating rooms, including two featuring the da Vinci® Robot, and more than 40 multi-specialty surgeons who are also the teachers and researchers at UofL School of Medicine. From limb-saving procedures to hip replacements, our team of nationally-recognized orthopaedic surgeons offer a comprehensive range of orthopaedic care to include upper extremity, musculoskeletal oncology, sports medicine, hip and knee arthroplasty and foot and ankle surgery. All of our physicians have received specialized training in orthopaedic surgery and its subspecialty areas. They are dedicated to the study of medicine for the purpose of making advancements in orthopaedic care and understand that their research, discoveries and leading-edge therapies impact lives every day.
UofL Health Jewish Hospital
Jewish Hospital is a 462-bed, internationally renowned, high-tech tertiary referral center located in downtown Louisville, developing leading-edge advancements in a vast number of specialties and services.
Norton Hospital
Norton Hospital is a 605-bed hospital with special emphasis on advanced diagnostics and surgical procedures. Serving as a teaching facility for the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Norton Hospital is regionally recognized as a leader in the areas of minimally invasive and cancer surgery. Norton Hospital is home to one of the largest spine centers in the nation, providing expert care for patients with spinal cord defects and injuries.
Norton Brownsboro Hospital
Norton Brownsboro Hospital is a full-service, 127-bed community hospital serving patients in northeastern Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Carroll, Henry, Spencer, Trimble and surrounding counties.
Norton Children’s Hospital
Norton Children’s Hospital is Kentucky and Southern Indiana’s only full-service, free-standing pediatric hospital. The 300-bed hospital is Louisville’s only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, provides the area’s highest-rated neonatal intensive care unit and serves as the primary pediatric teaching facility for the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
UofL Health Mary & Elizabeth Hospital
Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1874, UofL Health - Mary & Elizabeth Hospital (formerly KentuckyOne Health – Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital) is a 331-bed primary care hospital offering advanced treatment in orthopaedics, cardiology, medical imaging, surgical and emergency services. Three on-campus medical plazas provide office space for a wide array of physicians representing a number of specialties.
Louisville Life
Visitors to Louisville express appreciation for the abundance of natural beauty in it's gently rolling landscape, large number and variety of eating establishments, and an easy going lifestyle.
Louisville is foremost recognized nationally as the home of the world's most famous horse race--The Kentucky Derby. The Derby is the springboard for grand festivities that prime the atmosphere in the city for weeks prior to the race. There are fireworks, parades, marathons, hot air balloon races, music, shows and all manner of bustle that contribute the remarkable celebration of the "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports". Everyone participates.
Sports fans appreciate the KFC Yum Center, Louisville's newest 22,000 seat arena and the 55,000 seat Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Both are indicative of the great love we have for the UofL basketball and football programs and these facilities are host to almost nightly concert tours and other notable events.
The city's architecture is as varied as it's climate. Large and proudly preserved historic sections, towering technological marvels of steel and glass and everything in between.
Located on the Ohio River, which separates the northern and southern states, Louisville has developed as a center of cultural diversity and a major contributor to the east central US economy. Religious communities include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian, Wicca and many others.
When the sun goes down, Fourth Street Live emerges full of fun, music and entertainment. There are a number of clubs, restaurants and musical venues throughout the area that provide for tastes that run the gamut from main stream to the quite quaint. Downtown also sports Actor's Theatre and the Center for the Arts. There is always something going on.
With a population still just under a million, the city is large enough to provide great potential for business and innovation, but small enough to maintain a strong sense of community and hometown charm.
Winter, spring, summer or fall, Louisville has a season or two for everyone--just enough winter and just enough summer to accentuate the lush green landscapes of spring and the beautiful colors of fall.
Louisville is consistently ranked among the top 10 cities for safety. Kentucky rates fifth among the 50 continental states for low incidence of violent crimes. Moderately priced housing, low cost of living and less vulnerability to major economic crisis makes Louisville a great place to live and raise a family.
