For this month's Alumni Corner, we welcome Antonia F. Chen, MD/MBA.
Dr. Chen serves as chair and professor of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern, Dr. Charles F. Gregory Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery. She was also recently tapped as the upcoming American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) president.
What drew you to orthopaedics in the first place?
I love orthopaedics because it gives patients the gift of mobility. I like being active myself, and I appreciate orthopaedics because it meets form with function and restores activity for patients.
What are you currently working on or most passionate about in your practice/research?
In my practice, I have been utilizing robotics in the revision and primary settings, which has been ideal for improving accuracy and certainty to plan in my cases. From a research perspective, continuing work on evaluating risk factors and treatment options for periprosthetic joint infection has been innovative and engaging.
What’s a memorable case, mentor, or moment from your residency/fellowship that still influences your work today?
This is a tough one. I have so many mentors from residency that still impact the work that I do today. From the arthroplasty world, I still do cases like Dr. Brian Klatt and Dr. Chick Yates, and participate in national organizations thanks to their encouragement and mentorship. From the spine world, I learned leadership and conducting research from Drs. Jim Kang, Joon Lee and Bill Donaldson. From the sports world, Dr. Freddie Fu still touches all of our lives in everything that we do in orthopaedics.
What’s one thing you’ve learned since training/residency that you wish you’d known back then?
I wish I had known how to stop and smell the roses. During training, my main goal was to continue to advance my training – I wanted to learn more, do more and get as much done as possible during training. While that’s important and training is a finite amount of time, I wish I had stopped to enjoy the process more instead of just getting to the next step.
What advice would you give to current Pitt Ortho residents/fellows?
My piece of advice is to learn as much as you can from others. You never know what you will learn at any point in time that may impact your future state. For example, there are learning points from training that I apply to my role as Chair and as President of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. There are also connections that I made in training who are lifelong friends, confidants and mentors. Being open to learn as much as possible from as many people as possible make the orthopaedic journey more enjoyable.
