Orthopaedic Surgery NEWS
UCDAVIS
Fall 2008
Health System
A View from the Chair’s Corner
our current operating space at UCDHS,
even with the opening of the Same Day
Surgery Center this past November.
I would like to welcome you to the
inaugural edition of the UC Davis
Orthopaedic Quarterly Newsletter.
Our hope is that through this medium,
you will have the opportunity to stay
abreast of the thriving programs within
our specialty, specifically as it pertains
to our four UC Davis missions:
expansion of our teaching endeavors,
clinical improvement projects,
involvement in our community, and
efforts in research.
In the past two years that I have been
chair, we have experienced exciting
expansion in both breadth and depth.
This summer we have expanded our
subspecialty services to include
tumor/oncology and foot and ankle.
We are in the process of recruiting an
epidemiologist who will be charged
with building a clinical registry for our
patients, so we as faculty can improve
the care we provide. We are
partnering with Mercy San Juan to bring
elective practices of tumor, foot and
joints to their facility. Our purpose for
this endeavor is to decrease our number
of pending cases as we have outgrown
We said good bye to five chief
residents and four fellows this past June
and celebrated their research success at
our annual symposium. The festivities
continued with our annual resident and
fellow dinner at the Granite Bay Golf
Club with Jody Buckwalter, Chair of
Orthopaedics at the University of Iowa
as our guest of honor. The department
welcomed four new residents in July
and four fellows this past August. Our
fellowship programs continue to excel
and are on the trajectory to expand this
coming year.
During these times of growth, we
rely on our alumni, our friends in the
community, our patients and each other
to support the missions in which we
serve. We are in the process of
establishing a grateful patient
campaign and are working with our
Health Sciences Advancement
Department to develop a strategic
fundraising plan. This plan will outline
initiatives that can contribute to our
financial viability as we strive to put
the UCD Department of Orthopaedics
on the map -- not as 40th in the
nation, as noted in the 2008 US News
and World Report study, but as a
nationally and globally renowned
center recommended for unparalleled
clinical care, recognized for the
advancement of research, attractive to
trainees as an innovative place to learn,
and known for it’s commitment to
involvement in our community.
Paul E. Di Cesare, MD, FACS
Michael W. Chapman Endowed Chair
Teaching Program Flourishes
This coming December we are slated
for our ACGME site review. Our hope
is for a successful visit and the
opportunity to further expand our
residency program. We currently have
23 residents; 22 on a five year track
and one on a six year track. Our acting
intern program is the largest it has ever
been as we continue to attract trainees
from all across the United States. Our
fellowship program grew in 2007 to
include a joint fellowship. In addition,
we have fellows in research, trauma (2),
hand and spine. Our trauma and spine
fellowships are looking to expand in the
near future and we have a pediatrics
fellow scheduled to begin August 2009.
Many thanks to our specialty fellowship
directors, our residency director, and the
volunteer clinical faculty who enrich
our teaching program. We recently
appointed Robert Tamurian as Assistant
Residency Director. We welcomed
Brad Yoo, MD, as Co-Instructor of
Record with David Fyrhie, PhD. They
are working on enhancing the
educational experience for our OSU
264 course. Mark Lee, MD, continues
to oversee our Basic Science Lecture
series and Philip Wolinsky, MD, has
been appointed to oversee the faculty
mentorship program. Teaching is one
of our four key missions and we strive
to integrate active learning as we fulfill
the clinical, research and community
service missions of the University.
Of 170 hospitals in 16 adult specialties,
the Department of Orthopaedics at the
University of California, Davis
is ranked 40 by the the
2008 U.S. News and World Report.
Meet our Team...
Adult Reconstructive Service
John P. Meehan, MD
Chief and Fellowship Director
Paul Di Cesare, MD
Michael W. Chapman Chair
Amir A, Jamali, MD
Clinical Medical Director
Foot and Ankle Service
Eric Giza, MD
Chief
Hand/Upper Extremity Service
Robert M. Szabo, MD
Chief and Fellowship Director
Robert H. Allen, MD
Oncology
Robert Tamurian, MD
Chief and Assistant Residency Director
Pediatrics
Michelle A. James, MD
Chief
Jennette Boakes, MD
Fellowship Director
Joel Lerman, MD
Debra J. Popejoy, MD
George T. Rab, MD
Peter B. Salamon, MD
Spine Service
Munish Gupta, MD
Chief and Center Medical Director
Daniel R. Benson, MD
Eric O. Klineberg, MD
Fellowship Director
Rolando F. Roberto, MD
Residency Director
Sports Service
Richard Marder, MD
Chief
Kirk J. Lewis, MD
James Van den Bogaerde, MD
Trauma Service
Philip R. Wolinsky, MD
Chief
Tania Ferguson, MD
Mark A. Lee, MD
Fellowship Director
Brad Yoo, MD
Research
David Fyhrie, PhD
Director
A. Hari Reddi, PhD
Dominik Haudenschild, PhD
Front row left to right: D. Nicolaou, M. Gupta, A. Cullen, T. McDonald, C. Kwak, P. Di Cesare,
R. Cardoso, L. Calafi, N. Schrivistava, L. Mitsunaga, H. Hwang. Second row: C. Kreulen,
J. Meehan, T. Nathe, K. Mitsunaga, J. Eastman, D. Hallare, J. Roberts, R. Roberto. Third row:
E. Lo, M. Khadder, W. Page, C. Bonds, S. Khan, J. Gogia. Fourth row: G. Abbi, K. Lewis,
M. Lee, R. Farac, J. Williams.
Welcome New Residents
Raj Kullar, MD
University of California, Davis
School of Medicine
Lance Mitsunaga, MD
University of California, San Diego
School of Medicine
Daemeon Nicolaou, MD
University of Michigan
School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI
Joel Williams, MD
Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY
and Fellows
Hand/Upper Extremity
George Myo, MD
Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center
Brooklyn, NY
Spine
Gene Choi, MD
New York Medical College
Queens, NY
Adieu to
Hand/Upper Extremity Fellow
Niket Shrivastava, MD
Spine Fellow
Ho Sun Hwang, MD
Trauma Fellows
Domingo Hallare, MD
Jason Roberts, MD
Graduates of our Residency
Program and Where
They Are Now
Roy Cordosa, MD
Hand Fellow at Wake Forest University
Baptist Med Ctr, Winston-Salem, NC
Aaron Cullen, MD
General Orthopaedics
Kaiser Permanente, North Sacramento
Leo A. Calafi, MD
Trauma
Orthopaedic Trauma Fellow, University of
Washington Harborview Medical Center,
Seattle, WA
St. Mary’s Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
Christine Kwak, MD
George Karl Van Osten III, MD
Michael Quackenbush, DO
University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey, Stratford, NJ
Kaiser Permanente San Diego
Knee and Sports Medicine Research
Thomas McDonald, MD
Hand Fellow at Indiana Hand Center,
Indianapolis, IN
Our Newest Faculty
Assistant Professor of
Orthopaedic Surgery,
specializing in
reconstruction of the
foot and ankle,
arthoscopy and knee
and shoulder surgery.
Eric Giza, MD
Robert Tamurian, MD
Assistant Professor of
Orthopaedic Surgery,
specializing in
Orthopaedic Oncology
focusing on the
treatment of bone and
soft tissue tumors.
Dominik Haudenschild, PhD
Assistant Professor
in Residence and
Orthopaedic Cartilage
Biologist with expertise
in matrix production,
growth-factor and
receptor biology and
intracellular signaling
pathways related to
cartilage.
James Van den Bogaerde, MD
Assistant Professor of
Orthopaedic Surgery,
specializing in sports
medicine, arthroscopy
and reconstructive
surgery of the
shoulder and elbow.
Welcome!
News from the Lawrence J. Ellison Musculoskeletal Research Center
7th International Conference
on Bone Morphogenetic Proteins
The International Conference on Bone
Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs),
established by Dr. A. Hari Reddi in
1994 took place July 9 - 13, 2008 at
the Granlibakken Conference Center
in Tahoe City, California.
More than 250 researchers and
clinicians from around the world
attended the meeting to present and
discuss their recent developments
in the field with special reference to
translational regenerative medicine.
The conference was organized by
A. Hari Reddi, John Wozney (Wyeth
Inc.) and T. Kuber Sampath (Genzyme
Inc.). The goal of the conference
was to bring together researchers
from many fields, ranging from bone
repair and healing, dentistry and
genetic therapy, all with common
research interests, and broaden their
scientific perspective of BMPs. The
next International Conference on
BMPs will be held at Katolieke
Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium in
2010. For more information visit
www.bmpconference.org.
Ortho
Research
Workshop
In March, the Ellison
Center for Tissue
Regeneration and
Repair hosted a oneday workshop on
Lubricin/SZP/PRG-4 at the Shriners
Hospital for Children in Sacramento.
The workshop was attended by about
30 researchers, clinicians and graduate
students and focused on lubrication
of articular cartilage in joints. The
workshop provided a forum for young
students and researchers to meet with
the top scientists in the field and
discuss their research.
Dr. A. Hari Reddi will be presenting on
“The History and State of the Science
of BMP in Bone and Cartilage” at the
Miami-Toronto Bone Symposium on
Oct.31 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Medi cal Mi ssi on to Li be r i a
Dr. Peter Salamon, UCDMC Pediatric
Orthopedist and his colleague, Dr.
Gary Murata, spent two weeks this
past March on board the hospital ship,
Africa Mercy, docked in the port of
Monrovia, Libia.
As volunteers with Mercy Ships, a
nonprofit group that has been
operating hospital ships in developing
nations since 1978, the doctors
performed surgery on children who
have no access to electricity, running
water or sewage systems, much less
health care. Salamon said there are
only two orthopaedic doctors in this
nation of 3.1 million people.
They treated many congenital
abnormalities, straightened deformed
legs and repaired club feet, a defect
that occurs about once per thousand
births. The deformities were much
more severe than seen in the United
States because these children had
received no prior medical care.
Spotlight on.......
Orthopaedic Spine Service
Spine surgery here at UC Davis has
come a long way in the past 35 years.
Beginning in 1975 with a single spine
surgeon, it has grown into a full service
center that includes four surgeons, a
fellow, residents, and students. Services
are available for both children and adults.
Areas of expertise include minimally
invasive micro-discectomy surgery,
degenerative reconstruction and fusion
for scoliosis and spondylolithesis.
Treatment for fractures, tumors and
infection is also offered.
In 2006, the spine service moved into
a multidisciplinary center where patients
are treated by pain management
specialists, orthopaedists, physical
medicine physicians and neurosurgeons.
Spine related injury or disease can be
diagnosed and treated with the latest
diagnostic tools. ORs have state-ofthe-art equipment, including the Zeiss
Pentero microscope with an integrated
BrainLab spinal neuronavigational
system.
Microscopic surgery is now used for
minimally invasive cases, and artificial
disk surgery is being investigated.
Our team includes: our administrator,
Penny Herbert, who was instrumental
in the development of the Spine
Center; Peter Than, RN, the OR team
leader who keeps the equipment
working properly; Megan Lunsford,
our practice manager, who directs the
day to day operations; and Cinnie
Barrett,our clinic case manager since
1998. Our nurses are Mandy Walker,
Janet Lukenbill, Ty Dawson, Danny
Evans, Nicole Polk, and Patty Holt.
Margaret MacNitt is our academic
coordinator; she keeps all four spine
surgeons organized.
Munish Gupta, MD, Spine Service
chief and co-director of the Spine
Center, trained at Northwestern
Medical School in Chicago and at
the Leatherman Spine Program in
Louisville, KY. He specializes in
scoliosis and reconstructive spine
surgery, and has been with UC Davis
since 1997.
Rolando Roberto, MD, the residency
program director has been with UCD
for four years. He trained at the UC
Irvine Medical School, University of
Illinois for residency and at the Twin
Cities Spine Fellowship Program in
Minneapolis. His expertise is in spinal
deformity, cervical spine disorders and
spondylolisthesis.
Eric Klineberg, MD, is the newest
addition to our service. He trained at the
University of Maryland School of
Medicine, the University of Washington
for residency, and completed his spine
fellowship with the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Klineberg specializes in minimally
invasive surgery, spinal trauma and
cervical surgery and he serves as our
fellowship director.
Daniel Benson, MD, senior member of
the department, has been with the
university since his residency began in
1969. He developed the spine fellowship program and was its first director.
He provides consulting services and
assists in surgery. His interests are
scoliosis, spinal trauma, and coccydynia.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of California, Davis
4860 Y Street, Suite 3800
Sacramento, CA 95817
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