Orthopaedic Surgery News

A Message from the Chairman

Dear Friends,

As the new chair of the SIU Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, I am pleased to join this collegial community of surgeons and look forward to the opportunity to meet all of you.  SIU has always enjoyed a strong relationship with our former residents and area orthopaedic surgeons and in an effort to strengthen this, we are starting a bi-annual newsletter.

I hope that you enjoy our efforts to provide updates on developments in the department. Despite the rapid changes in the medical care environment, including the significant challenges to academic Orthopaedic practices, our department continues to thrive. I am privileged to have the full complement of outstanding Orthopaedic sub-specialists to help meet our primary mission to care for patients. In addition, we are actively recruiting new faculty.

We continue to have outstanding resident applicants and thus, outstanding residents in our program to help us in the management of our patients. We have formulated a Grand Rounds Series that we extend to our colleagues in the community and includes free Continuing Medical Education credits. Our research continues to thrive. Finally, our Health System continues to grow with building projects on the main campus including the Cancer Center and both Hospitals as well as expansion into the outlying region.

This newsletter will serve as our opportunity to keep you informed of the educational and social events that are coming up. We would also like to know what is going on with you and help you keep in touch with other faculty, staff and alumni. If you ever have suggestions or news to report, please contact Anita Weinhoeft (aweinhoeft@siumed.edu)  or Susan Helm (shelm@siumed.edu ). We would appreciate any testimonials about your experience at SIU and residency.

We will have our Alumni Reception at the AAOS meeting in New Orleans. Please be alert to notices of those events. We look forward to seeing you then.

Sincerely,
Khal

Anita Weinhoeft, Residency Program Coordinator in orthopaedics, received a Certificate of Recognition for the ACGME Program Coordinator Excellence Award awarded on the 13th day of September 2009.  A portion of the letter accompanying the certificate read "Anita was part of an elite group of extremely talented and highly recommended individuals that were brought to the ACGME's attention."  Recipients were chosen from coordinators nominated from every residency specialty throughout the country. 

The ACGME description of the award: "To honor and recognize the very crucial role that program coordinators play in the success of residency program, the ACGME is proud to announce its newest award, the GME Program Coordinator Excellence Award. As most residents, fellows, program directors, faculty and ancillary staff know, the program coordinator has a pivotal position within the residency. Everyone depends on the program coordinator to know what is going on and what the process is. The ACGME is equally dependent on these individuals to wear the many hats of administrator, counselor, enforcer, coordinator, organizer, scheduler, and program information form (PIF) maven."

Mark P. McAndrew, MD

SIU orthopaedic traumatologist Mark P. McAndrew, M.D., recently received an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) challenge coin and Landstuhl Medical Regional Center (LMRC) coin for volunteering his time to serve in the AAOS/OTA Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program.   In 2007, Dr. McAndrew spent 3 weeks caring for wounded soldiers at Landstuhl, Germany. 
Challenge coins are a modern military tradition thought to originate with aviation squadrons in World War I.  They symbolize an important contribution made by an individual in military affairs and are traditionally offered in a handshake. 

Recently Dr. McAndrew was named to the Mass Casualty Preparedness Committee of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA).  It is an ad hoc subcommittee of the organization’s Health Policy Committee and its purpose is to develop a cadre of orthopaedic traumatologists who are educated in the principles of disaster management and credentialed to act as responders in the event of a significant regional or national disaster.