School of Medicine
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

As we close out another year and look ahead to the one before us, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our staff, faculty, residents, fellows, and alumni of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

This past year was marked by many significant achievements that reflect the strength and breadth of our department. Our clinical delivery outcomes have been outstanding this year and we’ve seen consistent excellence in our patient care and quality standards. We proudly hosted our inaugural BMRC Research Symposium, showcasing what collaboration and interdisciplinary research can achieve.

Our faculty, trainees, and staff were well represented at regional, national, and international conferences, including AAOS, ISAKOS, AOFAS and more. We fostered and nurtured relationships system-wide with our first UPMC Orthopaedic Service Line Summit in April. Throughout the year, we deepened our global partnerships, welcoming visiting fellows and researchers from Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, and beyond. Closer to home, our commitment to community engagement remains strong through the UPMC/CNX M.O.V.E.S. program, now in its fourth year of helping local high school students discover rewarding and meaningful pathways into careers in the healthcare industry.

We celebrated 2025’s graduating resident class, whose members have gone on to outstanding fellowship positions across the country. Lastly, we recently had the opportunity to interview 89 outstanding residency applicants, each demonstrating academic excellence and a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives.

None of this would be possible without the collective efforts of each of you. I am deeply appreciative of the time, energy, and passion you bring to this department every day.

As we charge into the new year, I am looking forward to being better together. By honoring our history and remaining focused on innovation and impact, we truly embrace the past and shape the future of orthopaedics here at UPMC-PittOrtho.

Finally, I wish you and your families a healthy end to 2025 and a fulfilling New Year.

December 1 marked the end of an era as the Bethel Musculoskeletal Research Center core labs cleaned up and moved out of their temporary space and into their freshly renovated area in the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Building (BST).

Lab members remarked it was a little bittersweet moment but were thankful for the opportunity the temporary space gave - allowing the BMRC core labs to come together for the first time as a cohesive team.

The refreshed space in BST boasts 25,000 sq ft and includes meeting spaces, lab benches, storage and a state-of-the-art surgical training suite for UPMC-PittOrtho residents.

Click here to see a sneak peek of the labs on BMRC's LinkedIn page.

UPMC-PittOrtho recently hosted our 2025 Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Interview Day, welcoming 89 outstanding candidates representing 61 medical schools from across the country.

The interview pool reflected both academic excellence and diversity, including 26 candidates who are underrepresented in medicine and 34 women. The average USMLE Step 2 score among interviewees was 257.

We send a special thank you to the staff, faculty and residents who helped organize and execute this year's interview days. 

Department faculty and trainees were well represented at the most recent Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS) Annual Meeting.

Dr. William Anderst delivered a podium presentation titled “OINT 34. Midrange Motion Is More Sensitive than End-Range Motion for Detecting Short-Term Effects of Arthrodesis on Adjacent Segment Motion”.

Current faculty and fellows got to connect with UPMC-PittOrtho alumni and colleagues, including Drs. Jay Dalton, Chris Kowalski, Mitch Fourman, John Weddle, Emmett Gannon, Barrett Woods, and more.