Inaugural ortho symposium

More than 50 medical students from across the state recently took part in the inaugural Orthopedic Surgery Research Symposium for Medical Students in Michigan, hosted by an OUWB student interest group.

The OUWB Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Interest Group coordinated and hosted the Dec. 1 event. Attendees included med students from OUWB, Wayne State University School of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D., School of Medicine.

Held at the Red Ox Tavern in Auburn Hills, several Beaumont Health physicians also attended, serving as judges for an abstract poster presentation competition and speaking.

Drew Moore, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and program director of the orthopaedic surgery residency program, Beaumont Health, was the keynote and offered advice for applying for residency.

“As a med student, it’s very hard to gain exposure to specialties, and it’s even harder to understand what you need to be doing to be prepared to enter that specialty,” Moore said after the event. “I think any advice that I can give them to have them be prepared and to be informed in this decision they make is beneficial.”

Moore also said it’s good for him “to be able to meet the younger medical students and get to know them at an early age so that we can develop that mentor relationship.”

That was just one of the many things event co-organizer Madeleine DeClercq, M2, president of the Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Group (OSSMG), said she hoped people would take away from the symposium.

She also wanted to create opportunities for attendees to sharpen presentation skills and meet their counterparts from other schools. DeClercq said it was important that the event be held in-person.

“We are all pursuing orthopedic surgery and all, most likely, going to be future colleagues,” said DeClercq. “It makes sense that we get to know each other.”

The symposium kicked off with networking opportunities followed by 12 poster presentations selected by a panel of judges out of the 50 or so submitted. The panel consisted of Moore, James Bicos, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, fellowship director, Sports Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Joseph Guettler, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, Beaumont, Royal Oak.

“This was a motivated group of medical students who came together and decided they wanted to do something that was really cool,” said Guettler, noting the challenges of putting together the event in the face of COVID-19.

Guettler added that the group “is held in high esteem by us orthopedic surgeons at Beaumont and we hope that tonight is a prelude to many meetings to come along the same lines.”  

Skyler Porcaro, M3, OUWB, past president of the Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Interest Group, said such events are important, especially with limited in-person opportunities due to COVID-19.

“There were a lot of issues that we were facing as medical students with regard to connecting with residents and physicians, so I just wanted to continue to show support by being here tonight,” he said. “It’s very important to have these types of interdisciplinary relationships, regardless of specialty.”

Students who came to Auburn Hills from all across Michigan said they were glad they had made the trip.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn about the research that’s going on in Michigan and also be inspired by the current ongoing projects,” said Juliana Overbey, M2, WMU. “We all have an interest in orthopedics so it’s really great to deep our perspective in the field.”

Erica Myrick, M2, WMU, called the event “awesome” and noted that it was the first in-person conference she’s been to in at least a year.

“It’s really important for us to start creating connections with other schools and this is a perfect opportunity for use to do that,” said Myrick.

Rami Beydoun, M4, WSU, was the first to present during the event. He said he jumped at a chance to share his work with the judges.

“It felt nice,” he said. “I had a little extra stress going (as the first presenter), but I don’t mind.”

Beydoun also said he was glad the event was in person “because getting to see everybody face-to-face was really great.”

Lateef Shafau, M2, CMU, said he felt it was important to attend the event because of his “continued interest and passion in orthopedics.”

“I’m 100 percent committed and this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “I heard about this program and wanted to come and connect with other people in orthopedics.”

DeClercq said the plan is to make the conference an annual event. She plans to work with the next OSSMG executive board to pull it off. DeClercq said she and co-organizer Luke Fickenworth, M2, research liaison, OSSMG, already have ideas about future versions.

“It’s nice that we’re younger students so we are going to be able to see this through next year and the following year…we can get three of these conferences in before we graduate,” she said.