Earlier this fall, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health's orthopedic trauma research team, led by Paul Whiting, MD, received the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC) "Implementation and Data Quality All-Star Award." The award was announced and presented at the Orthopedic Trauma Association's 39th Annual Meeting held October 19-21, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.

Read more here.

UW SMPH Orthopedic Trauma Research Team

L to R: Christopher Domes, MD, Paul Whiting, MD, Gabrielle Kuhn (former orthopedic trauma research coordinator), Christopher Doro, MD, Gerald Lang, MD, and Jacquelyn Dunahoe, MD

Josh Roth, PhD, was awarded a Piloting Research Innovation and Market Exploration (PRIME) research grant for his study, "Developing and evaluating a personalized calibration approach for our ligament tensiometer." PRIME funding is administered by Discovery to Product (D2P), a unit within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education.

Dr. Roth's handheld tensiometer is a non-invasive sensor his team developed to measure ligament tension. Improper ligament tensioning during total knee arthroplasty is associated with postoperative stiffness and pain. Direct measurements of ligament tension in the operating room enabled by the team's handheld ligament tensiometer will enhance a surgeon’s ability to identify overly tight ligaments, ultimately improving postoperative patient quality of life.

According to Dr. Roth, "There are no sensors on the market capable of non-invasively measuring the tension in ligaments. The primary limitation of our handheld ligament tensiometer is that we do not have a way to calibrate it for each patient . . . this study is innovative because it will enable rapid, personalized measurements of ligament tension."

Ashley Mohan, DO, received funding through the department’s Pilot Award Program for her research entitled “The Effects of Osteopathic Manual Treatment on Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain and Upper Extremity Function in Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study.”

Dr. Mohan's research aims to advance current treatment strategies for one of the most common complications after a stroke that causes significant disability for patients. This pilot study will provide important feasibility data to inform the development of a larger randomized clinical trial.

Alison Brooks, MD, MPH, received the Oded Bar-Or Award, 1st place - Best Research Presentation at the October 20-24 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition, Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness H Program in Washington, DC.

Dr. Brooks' presentation was titled: “The Association of Previous Youth Tackle Football Participation With Acute Contact-Related Injuries in High School Football Players.”

Optimized Biomimetic Minerals Maintain Activity of mRNA Complexes after Long Term Storage

Choe JA, Brinkman HM, Lee JS, Murphy WL | Acta Biomater. 2023 Dec 5

Validity of Inertial Measurement Units to Measure Lower-Limb Kinematics and Pelvic Orientation at Submaximal and Maximal Effort Running Speeds

Lin YC, Price K, Carmichael DS, Maniar N, Hickey JT, Timmins RG, Heiderscheit BC, Blemker SS, Opar DA | Sensors (Basel). 2023 Dec 4

Risk Factors for Running-Related Injury in High School and Collegiate Cross Country Runners: A Systematic Review

Joachim MR, Kuik ML, Krabak BJ, Kraus EM, Rauh MJ, Heiderscheit BC | J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2023 Nov 16

Sudden Cardiac Death in National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletes: A 20-Year Study

Petek BJ, Churchill TW, Moulson N, Kliethermes SA, Baggish AL, Drezner JA, Patel MR, Ackerman MJ, Kucera KL, Siebert DM, Salerno L, Zigman Suchsland M, Asif IM, Maleszewski JJ, Harmon KG | Circulation. 2023 Nov 13

Gene Expression Alterations in Peripheral Blood Following Sport-Related Concussion in a Prospective Cohort of Collegiate Athletes: A Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium Study

Simpson E, Reiter JL, Ren J, Zhang Z, Nudelman KN, Riggen LD Jr, Menser MD, Harezlak J, Foroud TM, Saykin AJ, Brooks A, Cameron KL, Duma SM, McGinty G, Rowson S, Svoboda SJ, Broglio SP, McCrea MA, Pasquina PF, McAllister TW, Liu Y | Sports Med. 2023 Nov 8

Pre-season Vertical Center of Mass Displacement during Running and Bone Mineral Density z-score are Risk Factors for Bone Stress Injury Risk in Collegiate Cross Country Runners

Joachim MR, Kliethermes S, Heiderscheit B | J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2023 Oct 20

Mindfulness training is associated with improved quality of life in female collegiate athletes

Anderson S, Haraldsdottir K, Sanfilippo J, McGehee C, Watson A | J Am Coll Health. 2023 Oct 19

Opioid dose risk, clinician and patient characteristics, and adherence to opioid prescribing recommendations in chronic non-cancer pain

Coleman C, Lennon RP, Robinson JM, Tuan WJ, Sehgal N, Zgierska AE | J Opioid Manag. 2023 Sep-Oct

Multi-Institutional Journal Club as a Component of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curricula in Residency Programs

Liang JL, Lee SJ, Lopez FJ, Poliak-Tunis M | J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2023 Sep 29

The secondary injury cascade after spinal cord injury: an analysis of local cytokine/chemokine regulation

Hellenbrand DJ, Quinn CM, Piper ZJ, Elder RT, Mishra RR, Marti TL, Omuro PM, Roddick RM, Lee JS, Murphy WL, Hanna AS | Neural Regen Res. Epub 2023 Sep 22

Anxiety and Depression Prevalence in Incoming Division I Collegiate Athletes From 2017 to 2021 Sanfilippo JL, Haralsdottir K, Watson AM | Sports Health. 2023 Sep 21

A hierarchical clustering approach for examining the relationship between pelvis-proximal femur geometry and bone stress injury in runners

Martin JA, Heiderscheit BC | J Biomech. 2023 Sep 2

MRI radiomics for hamstring strain injury identification and return to sport classification: a pilot study

Torres-Velázquez M, Wille CM, Hurley SA, Kijowski R, Heiderscheit BC, McMillan AB | Skeletal Radiol. 2023 Sep 20

The Associations Between Wellbeing and Injury Differ by Time Loss in Collegiate Athletes

Sanfilippo JL, Hoffmann CN, Haraldsdottir K, Steiner Q, Watson AM | Sports Health. 2023 Sep 20

Aligned skeletal muscle assembly on a biofunctionalized plant leaf scaffold

Yun J, Robertson S, Kim C, Suzuki M, Murphy WL, Gopalan P | Acta Biomater. 2023 Sep 18

A hierarchical clustering approach for examining the relationship between pelvis-proximal femur geometry and bone stress injury in runners

Martin JA, Heiderscheit BC | J Biomech. 2023 Sep 2

Last week, the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation was thrilled to host two events as part of the Perry Initiative – an outreach program designed to introduce young women to orthopedics and engineering and inspire them to become leaders in these fields. UW orthopedic surgeons and engineers shared what they love to do with 31 medical students on Friday, December 15, from 5 pm to 8 pm, and 35 high school students on Saturday, December 16, from 9 am to 3:30 pm. Both events included multiple hands-on mock surgical exercises, lectures, and mentoring opportunities for all participants.

Twelve members of our department volunteered their time at these events, including Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Department Chair Tamara Scerpella, MD, and five other members of our orthopedic faculty: Andrea Spiker, MD, Kathryn Williams, MD, Pam Lang, MD, Josh Roth, PhD, and Christopher Doro, MD.

Our department is deeply committed to increasing the number of female orthopedic surgeons in the field and further expanding our work to create a diverse and equitable community. Today, 35% of our orthopedic surgeons and 37% of our orthopedic surgery residents are women – more than three times the national average. We look forward to seeing those numbers continue to grow in the future.

On October 13, the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation welcomed two distinguished alumni for our annual fall visiting professor lectureship: Wayne Gersoff, MD, clinical instructor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Director of Advanced Orthopedics of Colorado Joint Preservation Center, and Ryan Muchow, MD, associate professor and director of the orthopedic surgery residency program at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

L to R: Tamara Scerpella, MD (Department Chair), Wayne Gersoff, MD, Kathryn Williams, MD, Ryan Muchow, MD, and Pamela Lang, MD

Dr. Gersoff presented two talks – the first entitled: “Treatment of Articular Cartilage Lesions – Evidence-Based Decision Making” and the second lecture: “On Being an Orthopedic Surgeon in 2023.”

Dr. Muchow gave two lectures, first exploring “Pediatric Fracture Management in the ASC: Staying Out of Trouble in

the New Frontier,” and later in the day, he presented:

“Effective Feedback to Guide and Grow Orthopedic Surgery Residents.”

This comprehensive, all-day lectureship saw additional presentations by UW Orthopedics faculty, residents, and other residency alumni. For a list of all presenters and topics covered, view the program agenda.

On Friday evening, October 13, following this year's visiting professor lectureship, we welcomed our alumni, current residents and fellows, staff, faculty, and emeritus faculty to a social reception at UW's Memorial Union.

We wrapped up the weekend with a Badger vs. Hawkeye pregame tailgate on Saturday, October 14.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us – a good time was had by all!

The UW SMPH Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation annual Alumni Reception will take place on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 6:00 PM at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA – during the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting.

If you are planning to attend the AAOS meeting, please mark your calendar and be sure to stop by. We enjoy seeing and catching up with our UW alumni and friends!

Lisa Kruse, MD, a hand surgeon with the UW SMPH Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, comments and offers advice in a November 2, 2023, Washington Post article exploring the impact of digital device overuse on muscles in the hand.

Read the full article here.

Earlier this fall, Dr. Alison Brooks appeared on local television news programs across the state to share her expertise on how sports can improve health and decrease the risk of certain illnesses. Dr. Brooks' interview took place during National Youth Sports Week, highlighting the value of youth sports and the important lessons children learn about health and wellness, teamwork, and sportsmanship.

Watch here.

Wisconsin senior and outside hitter Sarah Franklin has racked up honor after honor this season, including being named Big Ten Volleyball Player of the Year ahead of the team’s appearance in the Final Four. Franklin credits the team at UW Health, including team physician Dr. David Bernhardt and surgeon Dr. Courtney Morgan, as part of her success.

During the off-season, Morgan led the surgery on Franklin’s right forearm following a diagnosis of quadrilateral space syndrome. Franklin has expressed her gratitude to the medical team for enabling her to rejoin the team at the start of the season. Coverage appeared on Madison365.com, Madison.com, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and was syndicated in newspapers statewide.

Read more about how Volleyball team physician Dr. David Bernhardt helped prevent Franklin's potentially season-ending injury in this piece from August 2023.