Thanks to the generosity of its partners and donors, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is able to serve as a progressive entity in the fields of clinical and scientific research. Several avenues are available for individuals who wish to contribute a gift to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Funds to Support
Orthopaedic residency has become extremely competitive nationwide, and IU School of Medicine continues to recruit top-notch candidates to participate in its five-year residency program. Providing the highest quality of training depends on generous support.
This fund is an additional educational resource for opportunities that support resident education, allow faculty to enhance their educational skills, and improve the educational skills of medical student clerkship directors. As surgical education is rapidly changing, it is the department’s duty to ensure that both medical students and residents leave IU School of Medicine with the best clinical and academic training possible.
Cancers of the bone and soft tissue can be among the most painful and debilitating diseases confronted by adults and children. Often, these patients grapple with fractures, arthritis, interruptions of blood flow to bone tissue, osteoporosis, and infections. In supporting orthopaedic oncology research, donors can help scientists gain a better understanding of these disease and provide them resources essential in discovering new treatments that help patients survive and enjoy a better quality of life.
A current need within the department is in the area of surgical simulation and educational laboratories. This is a national trend in all disciplines of surgical specialties, allowing residents to practice their skills on a simulator before going into the operating room. This also includes clinical "boot camps" for first-year residents. The department is looking for your support to purchase and provide maintenance for an arthroscopy simulator to be placed in a skills lab environment to match and exceed other residency programs across the country.
For approximately four decades, this fund has helped bring distinguished lecturers to IU School of Medicine for presentations to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. James Wray, MD, served as the second chairman of the department and established its first basic science research laboratories in 1967. The fund was established after his sudden passing in 1973, and today the lectureship named in his honor is part of a two-day even that includes presentations from residents and fellows, along with a celebration of incoming residents and the department’s graduates.
Research is problem solving for the future. In partnership with NASA and the United States Department of Defense, Melissa Kacena, PhD, professor of orthopaedic surgery, is sending orthopaedic research to space. In addition to contributing to the research aspect of this groundbreaking project, these funds will assist students, residents and fellows in participating in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Awards for Students
The Charles H. Turner Young Investigator Bone Research Award was established in 2011 in honor of the late Charles Turner, MD, to support IU School of Medicine trainees at all levels from undergraduate health professions students to postdoctoral fellows and residents to attend the Advances in Mineral Metabolism (AIMM) meeting or the Sun Valley Meeting. To apply for this award, trainees must complete and submit an application, along with an abstract and a short paragraph (500 words or less) describing their career goals and why this award will be useful for their career development to Melissa Kacena, PhD.
Monetary donations to support The Charles H. Turner Young Investigator Bone Research Award are greatly appreciated.
Monetary donations to support The Charles H. Turner Young Investigator Bone Research Award are greatly appreciated.
Gifts may be made to each of these accounts on an annual or one-time basis. For more information on ways to help advance medical research at IU School of Medicine, please contact Ken Scheer, senior associate director of major gifts, at kescheer@iu.edu or 317-278-2122.