About Us
The Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, at Western University is located in London, Ontario, Canada. The Postgraduate Training Program in Orthopaedic Surgery began in 1960 and was created with the appointment of Dr. J.C. Kennedy as Professor Orthopaedics in 1948. Since that date, the program in Orthopaedics has grown significantly and has continued to be one of the premiere training programs recognized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
A dedicated commitment to teaching, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, has resulted in the successful graduation of over 100 qualified Orthopaedic Surgeons. The success of our candidates at the Fellowship examinations is exceptional. We are convinced that our excellence is a result of careful selection of trainees, hard work by the trainees and encourangement of maintenance of an intimate relationship between trainees, students and the faculty.
The Western Orthopaedic Surgery Training Program is a vertical program of 5 years after medical school. It is comprised of 10 months of core rotations in affiliated specialties, a 2 month elective period, a 3 month research block, and a further 45 months of Orthopaedic Surgery.
The program is structured on a Clinical Teaching Unit basis and includes rotations in Adult Reconstruction, Paediatric Orthopaedics, Hand and Upper Limb Surgery, Trama, Foot and Ankle Surgery, Spine Surgery, and Sports Medicine.
In addition, all residents participate in a one-month rotation in Musculoskeletal Oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Residents and students are assigned to a specific orthopaedic team based on well-designed educational objectives. Ultimate authority for the activities of each team rests with the responsible consultant. It is expected that the Senior Resident in each hospital or on each team will assume considerable responsibility acting, in fact, as a Junior Staffman.
Junior residents will be delegated responsibilities commensurate with their level of training. In order for the team approach to be successful, however, no member should assume any responsibility for any activity with which he/she is not familiar. We feel that the strength of our program owes much to this philosophy.
The Division currently includes 29 Faculty Orthopaedic Surgeons, who contribute to the Clinical Teaching Units (CTUs) at all three hospital sites in London: Adult Hip and Knee Reconstructive Surgery at LHSC-University Hospital; Sports Medicine at the Fowler-Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic 3M Centre Western University; Orthopaedic Paediatric Surgery, Spine Surgery, and Trauma/Foot and Ankle Surgery at LHSC-Victoria Hospital; and Hand and Upper Limb Surgery at the Roth/McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre at St. Joseph's Health Care.
Western Orthopaedic Surgery offers Clinical and/or Research Fellowship into each of the subspecialty Clinical Teaching Units, all of which have full-time clinicians and research scientists.
