Overview

The Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency provides education and training for residents at four major metropolitan hospitals: The Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Our goal in orthopaedic education is to produce outstanding surgeons with a thorough clinical understanding who are able to critically evaluate and implement new research or ideas. We believe the education offered by our residency provides a firm foundation in the management of musculoskeletal problems and the complexities of an orthopaedic practice. The program strives to provide our residents with skills to assist them to rise to leadership roles within the orthopaedic community. We judge ourselves by the success of our graduates.


Drs. Hedequist and Earp at Children's Hospital, Boston

Residents come from many medical schools with highly varied social, ethnic and educational backgrounds. M.D./Ph.D.’s, ballerinas, athletes and river guides have comprised our ranks. The common thread that unites those admitted to the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency is a history of excellence and achievement in some area.

The advantages to the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program are its diversity and commitment to education. Its size and the depth of faculty present the resident with an array of orthopaedic problems and solutions necessary for the best educational experience possible. Specialty education in our program includes all aspects of orthopaedic management: pediatric orthopaedics, total joint arthroplasty, oncology, sports medicine, foot and ankle, hand and upper extremity, spine, and trauma.

The total number of outpatient visits to the combined orthopaedic departments annually is 122,000 and the total number of surgical procedures performed yearly is 18,000. As health care systems develop in the Boston area, the Harvard teaching hospitals are central to all insurance programs and thus our patient base is insured. Surgical education exists with graded responsibility in all hospitals. Particular effort is expended by our faculty to be sure that patients are evaluated pre and postoperatively by our residents to provide a continuance of care. Rotations in major Harvard teaching hospitals also offer interaction with first class medical and surgical specialties, providing important educational opportunities not present at all institutions. This atmosphere provides the resident with exposure to novel therapeutic methods, ranging from a new prospective of gene therapies to microvascular and minimally invasive surgery.

Eric Rightmire and Reuben Gobezie present at MGH morning trauma conference

There are 75 orthopaedic surgeons actively involved in teaching residents.
Faculty members include two members of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Board of the Orthopaedic Research Society, past presidents of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Orthopaedic Association, the Academic Orthopaedic Society, the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Resident Review Committee and many specialty societies, the Chairmen of multiple AAOS Committees and other important professional and honorary organizations. Members of our faculty publish approximately 150 papers per year.

A residency at the Harvard Combined Program ensures a comprehensive education in the art and science of orthopaedic surgery. Whatever your goals are within orthopaedic surgery we will assist you in pursuing them, and hopefully propel you toward a leadership role in your future.

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Last Updated:
November, 2006