School of Medicine
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Our inaugural UPMC Orthopaedic Care Summit, Shaping Our Future, was held Monday, April 28 through the 29. It was a great meeting, highlighting our dedication to providing outstanding orthopaedic care front and center. Together, we reaffirmed our commitment to overcoming obstacles, embracing opportunities, and fulfilling our mission of delivering exceptional care to all our communities.

"The participation and insights shared by orthopaedic surgeons and administrative leaders from across UPMC made this event truly impactful," said Dr. MaCalus V. Hogan. "It highlighted the collective strength we possess when working together towards a common goal."

Thanks to all who joined us in Shaping the Future of Orthopaedic Care at UPMC.

In a fitting end to a year of great research, 2025’s Albert B. Ferguson, Jr, MD Resident Research Day was well attended by staff, faculty and residents alike. Named in honor of Dr. Albert B. Ferguson, Jr., who led the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery for more than three decades, this annual research day stands as a proud tradition that highlights the spirit of academic excellence he championed.

This year we were pleased to welcome back Pitt alumni C. Benjamin Ma, MD as our keynote speaker. Dr. Ma is currently professor and chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Ma’s research focuses on improving the outcomes following soft tissue musculoskeletal injuries. In addition, Dr. Ma is a long-time member of the department’s Resident Education and Selection Committee and has mentored many residents and fellows in his time at UCSF.

Eleven residents (3 junior and 8 chief) gave presentations on their research work and were judged. The following were the award winners:

Best Junior Presentation

Development of a Reproducible in Vivo Rat Model for Investigating Ligamentum Flavum Hypertrophy and Pain-Related Behaviors
Rahul Ramanathan, MD  
Faculty Advisors: Joon Lee, MD; Gwendolyn Sowa, MD, PhD; Nam Vo, PhD

Best Senior Presentations

Characterization and Comparison of Dynamic Subsidence and Strength Following Trapeziectomy with Ligament Reconstruction and Tendon Interposition vs. Suture Suspensionplasty
Maria A. Munsch, MD 
Faculty Advisors:  John Fowler, MD; William Anderst, PhD

Defining Critical Humeral Bone Loss: Inferior Craniocaudal Hill-Sachs Extension as Predictor of Recurrent Instability After Primary Arthroscopic Bankart Repair
Gabrielle C. Fatora, MD 
Faculty Advisors:  Albert Lin, MD; Ting Cong, MD

Congratulations to this year’s awardees!

We are proud to announce our inclusion on the Castle Connolly Top Doctors list for 2025. Many of our Orthopaedic Care members in  orthopaedics and sports medicine are included.

The Castle Connolly Top Doctors® selection process is entirely merit-based. Doctors cannot pay to be listed. Castle Connolly’s peer-to-peer nominations and rigorous research process ensure only the most qualified physicians are included. Our team members are part of more than 400 UPMC physicians to be recognized as 2025 "Top Doctors".

Check out the complete list here or here, on Pittsburgh Magazine's website.

As alumni of the UPMC/Pitt Orthopaedic Surgery Residency and Fellowship programs, we have much to be thankful for - the exceptional training we received and the lasting friendships we formed during that time in our lives.

To better recognize and share information, the department, headed by MaCalus V. Hogan, MD, MBA, started the newsletter you currently read around a year ago. "Mondays with MaC" has been a great source of news about the current activities of the department and we’ve recently discussed adding an Alumni Corner.

Our vision for this section goes beyond highlighting departmental awards and activities to also recognize a program alumnus each month. We see this as a space to allow previous residents and fellows to share life events such as marriage, births, new positions, awards or recognition.

In addition, we are considering an alumni event during the later half of 2025 to allow us to connect in-person. This could be a social gathering or a more formal event, with CME offered, depending on the desires of the group. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

If you have updated email addresses from fellow trainees that have trained with you, please pass along so we can keep the database updated.

Even if you can’t make it back to Pittsburgh this fall, we will see you at our annual AAOS event in New Orleans 2026.

Jack and MaC

Jack Smith, MD
MaCalus V. Hogan, MD, MBA

We were thrilled to host the OREF Mid-Atlantic Region Resident Research Symposium, held Friday, May 2, 2025. In addition to welcoming more than 15 residents from prestigious institutions like The Hospital for Special Surgery, Case Western Reserve University, and University of Maryland, we were proud of our own UPMC/Pitt residents who presented that morning including Zachary J. Herman, MD, Elizabeth O. Clayton, MD and Alexander P. Hoffman, MD. 

We welcomed back to Pittsburgh PittOrtho alumni Christian Lattermann, MD, Brigham and Women's Chair, Orthopaedics and Associate Professor, Harvard University as keynote speaker for the event. Dr. Lattermann is an expert in cartilage repair and posttraumatic osteoarthritis.

Congratulations to the winners:

Third Place
Alexandra Lutz, MD
University of Maryland

Alexander Berk, MD
Case Western Reserve University

Margaret Sinkler, MD
Case Western Reserve University

Second Place
Zachary J. Herman, MD
University of Pittsburgh

Alexander E. White, MD
The Hospital for Special Surgery

First Place
Julia Retzky, MD
The Hospital for Special Surgery

Presenter's Choice Award
Alexander P. Hoffman, MD
University of Pittsburgh

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the inaugural 2025 Orland Bethel Family Musculoskeletal Research Center Symposium (BMRC) here.

Attend panels and talks from BMRC Core Lab and Bethel Orthopaedic BioBank faculty and inaugural 2024 BMRC research fellows. 

We are also pleased to welcome Marc Schulz, PhD, co-author of The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, as our keynote speaker. Dr. Schulz is the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Chair in Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. He received his BA from Amherst College and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.

In addition to attending, research faculty, staff and students are invited to submit abstracts for the poster session. Prizes will be awarded to top posters in multiple categories. Abstract guidelines, rules and an editable template can be found on the BMRC website here.

Abstracts are due Friday, August 1.