The University of Florida Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship Program

The University of Florida Shoulder and Elbow fellowship is located in Gainesville, Florida. It is designed to offer one fellow per year a comprehensive exposure to all aspects of shoulder and elbow surgery. The fellow will rotate with 6 full time fellowship-trained faculty including 4 members of the ASES society, all who have a high volume of shoulder and elbow cases. Dr. Wright has a large practice divided between shoulder and elbow arthroplasty surgery and arthroscopy. Dr. Farmer’s and Dr. Moser’s practice involves sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder and elbow, and they are responsible for the care of the University of Florida (Gators) athletic teams (optional for the fellow). Dr. King swill work with the fellow 3-4 times per month in the OR and will assist with research activities as well. If interesting cases arise, they may pull you from other clinical duties so you can see these cases.  Similarly, when complex and interesting shoulder elbow trauma comes in, you will be encouraged to work with Dr. Patrick. The fellow is actively involved in all aspects of the patient’s care from evaluation and decision making to the actual surgical procedure and follow-up. This is a surgical hands on fellowship, not an observational one. With 5 shoulder and elbow trained faculty members in the Division and one in the Trauma Division, the fellow will have some flexibility to focus on aspects of shoulder and elbow surgery that fit their particular needs.

The University of Florida is a busy Level I Trauma and Burn Center. Our attendings frequently help out the Trauma service covering upper extremity trauma.  The fellow will treat complex elbow and shoulder trauma generated by these centers both acutely and in a delayed setting. Drs. Wright, Farmer, and King perform inpatient shoulder and elbow surgery, including trauma cases. Dr. Patrick’s unique background as a dual fellowship trained surgeon in trauma and shoulder/elbow offers the fellow a unique perspective on managing both hot and cold shoulder/elbow trauma.  We recognize the importance of tailoring the fellow’s education to your needs, and the opportunity exists to spend additional time in trauma if the fellow desires. The fellowship is educationally oriented and has no mandatory night call.  If the fellow desires, options exist for optional ancillary income including covering an orthopaedic-only afterhours outpatient clinic, Saturday orthopaedic OR, and high school football game coverage (all paid and voluntary).

Didactic conferences are held every Monday morning, every third Tuesday morning, every other Wednesday morning, and Thursday afternoons.  Monday morning conferences alternative between a resident oriented lecture and fellowship oriented case discussions/journal club. Tuesday morning conferences are conducted by Drs. Moser and Farmer and are part of the core residency educational program.  Wednesday morning teaching sessions are conducted with Drs Wright and King.  These occur before proceeded to the OR and are based on the Shoulder/Elbow OKU series and discussion of recent journal articles related to those topics.  Thursday preoperative conferences are conducted at the end of clinic. The fellow will perform preoperative planning that will be used in the upcoming week using the new GPS computer navigation system to assist with shoulder arthroplasty surgery. In addition, one Tuesday morning each month is dedicated to planning and discussing fellow research projects.

The fellow is expected to write one research paper of publishable quality during their time at the University of Florida. Research facilities available to the fellow and housed directly in the Department of Orthopaedics include a biomechanics lab, motion analysis lab, gene therapy lab, stem cell research lab, and a surgical skills lab. We also have a full time clinical research coordinator responsible for the Division’s research and a shoulder arthroplasty database with over 2000 patients dating back to the 1990s. This database includes demographic data, range of motion and multiple patient reported outcomes.  We anticipate that the fellow will have 10% to 20% of the workweek available for research and educational purposes. This time may also be used in our wet lab, which is on the top floor of our clinic building. This is open to fellows at any time.  The fellowship will sponsor travel to one national and one regional meeting per year. The Department also supports travel for research presentations from the fellow’s graduate work at UF.

Our fellowship is unique in that we have a high ratio of shoulder and elbow fellowship trained faculty for a single shoulder/elbow fellow.   Our goal is to supplement your experience as a resident and prepare you to be the shoulder/elbow expert wherever you choose to practice. To accomplish this, we have built in a moderate amount of flexibility, which will allow you to focus on aspects of shoulder/elbow surgery, which suit your individual needs.   Opportunities exist to increase your individual exposure to complex shoulder arthroplasty, sports medicine, and/or shoulder/ elbow trauma.

Clinic Schedule (for the entire year)

• FSC = Florida Surgical Center (Outpatient surgical facility)
• OSMI = Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute (outpatient clinic next to FSC)
• ST = South Tower (inpatient facility 3 miles away from the outpatient facilities)
• VA = Veterans Administration Hospital (inpatient and outpatient ORs next to the South Tower)

Applicants shall have completed an accredited orthopaedic residency in the United States or Canada.  We accept applications through the SF Match. Please visit ASES fellowship site for more information.

For further information, interested parties may email educationoffice@ortho.ufl.edu.