School of Medicine
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery was honored to welcome Dr. Ruth Delaney as the featured speaker for the first Grand Rounds of the 2025–2026 academic year.

On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, Dr. Delaney delivered her lecture, “Anterior Shoulder Instability: The Evolution of My Treatment Philosophy,” offering insights into the complexities of shoulder instability and how evolving techniques have shaped her approach to care.

Dr. Delaney serves as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Shoulder Specialist at UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic in Dublin, Ireland, and is an Associate Clinical Professor at University College Dublin. She is recognized for her expertise in shoulder surgery and her contributions to advancing clinical practice and education.

We thank Dr. Delaney for sharing her expertise and setting a strong foundation for another year of educational Grand Rounds.

We are proud to announce the selection of the 2025 class of Bethel/ORS Fellows of the Bethel Musculoskeletal Research Center (BMRC), part of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS). Following a highly competitive application process, these outstanding early-career researchers have demonstrated remarkable potential in advancing musculoskeletal science.

See more on the BMRC website here.

The Bethel Musculoskeletal Research Center (BMRC) proudly hosted its first annual Symposium on Friday, September 5, bringing together nearly 160 faculty, staff, students, and researchers for a full day of research, collaboration and celebration.

This year's Symposium featured talks from core BMRC labs in both clinical and basic science, as well as presentations from the five BMRC/ORS Fellows, who shared research supported by BMRC over the past year.

A highlight of the day was a keynote lecture by Dr. Marc Schulz, Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College and co-author of The Good Life. Dr. Schulz summarized the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, and underscored the critical role of relationships in living healthy, meaningful lives.

The afternoon also included a poster session showcasing the strength of BMRC’s research community. Five outstanding poster presenters were selected as winners and recognized for their achievement.

We extend our gratitude to everyone who helped plan, execute, and organize this milestone event. We look forward to building on this success at the next BMRC Symposium in Fall 2026.

Click here for a full album of photos from the event.

Our department has once again topped charts this year, with national and regional rankings in both U.S. News and the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

Our orthopaedic care teams at both UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside and UPMC Children's Hospital ranked high on the U.S. News charts, with UPMC Children's at number 33 in the nation of best hospitals for pediatric orthopaedic care. UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside ranked #2 for best hospital in PA and our ortho teams consistently scored "High Perfoming" on various categories, including patient experience, preventing outpatient complications, and a variety of procedures (hip replacement, knee replacement etc.)

Not to be outdone, our research labs have been high achieving as well - moving from #21 to #14 in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research charts.

Four researchers were named, with a total award amount of $3.2M:

Dr. Hang Lin
Dr. Nam Vo
Dr. James Irrigang
Dr. Kenneth Urish

Recently our orthopaedic oncology team, led by Dr. Kurt Weiss, successfully performed a rotationplasty on a 13-year-old patient with bone cancer. This complex and rare operation requires precise surgical planning and execution. An advantage is that it offers young patients the ability to retain excellent function after tumor resection.

Dr. Weiss collaborated with Dr. Tom Scharschmidt of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus and Dr. Lauren Zeitlinger from Harrisburg, whose expertise and partnership helped make this case a success. Students and trainees from our department also participated, gaining invaluable exposure to this unique procedure.

The surgery was a true tour de force of orthopaedic oncology knowledge, and we are pleased to report that the patient is doing very well.

The PITT-UPMC Orthopaedics Foot and Ankle Division and the Foot and Ankle Injury Research (FAIR) group within the Bethel Musculoskeletal Research Center (BMRC) had an outstanding showing at the 2025 American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Annual Meeting in Savannah, GA.

Highlights from the meeting included:

• Dr. Peter Mangone was elected to the AOFAS Presidential Line, beginning his service as Secretary of the society.
• Dr. Rebekah Belayneh (PITT–UPMC Orthopaedics Residency Class of 2024) and her research team received the Roger A. Mann, MD Award for Most Outstanding Clinical Study for their work:
• “Enhancing the Progressive Collapsing Foot Deformity (PCFD) Classification System Through the Establishment of Defined Radiographic Cut-Off Threshold Values for the Different Deformity Classes.”

The award-winning team included Dr. Belayneh, Dr. Scott Ellis, Dr. Donald Anderson, Dr. Nacime Salomao Barbachan Mansur, Grayson Talaski, Francois Lintz, MD, PhD, Dr. Cesar de Cesar Netto, and others.

In addition, PITT-UPMC Orthopaedics was well represented throughout the meeting with numerous moderators, presenters, and committee leaders, including faculty, residents, and alumni: Lorraine Boakye, Christopher Murawski, Richard Smith, Dwayne Carney, Alex Kline, Alan Yan, Monique Chambers, Rachit Saggar, MBBS; Joseph Mullen, BS; Warren Austin; Abdulganeey Olawin, BS; Chukwudi Onyeukwu, MD; Emily Lau, MD; Gele Moloney, MD; George Russell, MD; Tyler Williams, BS; Charles Patterson, BS; Soichi Hattori, MD, PhD, and more.

Our presence this past week in Savannah truly demonstrates our continued commitment to education, research, and relationships. Always shaping our future!

Name: Anthony Oyekan
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Where did you go to med school? University of Missouri-Kansas City, 6-year program

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in orthopaedics, and what do you enjoy most about the specialty? Are you currently drawn to a sub-specialty (research, spine, hand/foot, sports medicine, etc)
I had a severe posterolateral corner knee injury from football. I love the technical aspects of orthopaedics, the culture, and the impact we have on patients. I enjoy every sub-speciality and think I'd be happy no matter the focus, but I'll be going onto spine fellowship at Rothman/Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia starting August 2026.

2. What’s been the most memorable or rewarding experience during your residency so far?
Lab year. It was highly productive from a research perspective, I travelled, learned on-call, and developed relationships. I didn't appreciate how big the alumni network was or how respected Pitt Ortho was until I was outside of the bubble.

3. What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I'm a really good skier, English is my second language, and I know quite a bit about aviation.

4. If you weren’t in medicine, what would you be doing?
Flying planes. I planned to be a fighter pilot, then transition into commercial aviation.

The beginning of fall saw the annual UPMC/CNX M.O.V.E.S. Signing Day, the capstone event of this summer’s program, celebrating the hard work and achievements of participating students.

This year, students were honored at an award ceremony that featured personalized jerseys, certificates of achievement, food and refreshments, and an invitation to enjoy a Pittsburgh Pirates game at PNC Park. The Pirates weren’t the only winners that evening as one graduate of the program has already launched their career with full-time employment at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.

Students and guests also heard inspiring remarks from Tim Bedard, EVP and General Counsel of CNX, who encouraged the graduates as they take the next step in their journeys.

We congratulate all of the students on their accomplishments and extend our sincere thanks to CNX for their partnership and continued support of the M.O.V.E.S program.

Click here for information on the development and founding of UPMC/CNX M.O.V.E.S.