The Rush Sports Medicine Fellowship Program is based at Rush University Medical Center located in Chicago’s West Loop. The Rush Sports Medicine Fellowship Program is an accredited postgraduate sports medicine fellowship. Positions are available for four board eligible/board certified orthopaedic surgeons. Since its inception in 1988, we have trained 42 fellows, the majority of whom have entered private practice and developed sports-based practices. Since 2002, approximately 50% of the fellows have entered academic affiliated positions.

Currently, the fellows work with six orthopedic surgery attendings and three primary care sports medicine attendings. One of the strengths of our program is the training the fellows receive by working with our group of diversely-trained faculty (see Faculty).

The fellowship is an extremely active clinical fellowship with a balanced exposure to knee and shoulder surgery. The fellow will be exposed to open and closed shoulder stabilizations, cuff surgery and acromioplasty performed by all attendings. Drs. Anthony Romeo and Gregory Nicholson perform a high volume of arthroplasties, complex revision procedures, and arthroscopic assisted shoulder stabilizations and arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs. Drs. Bernard Bach and Charles Bush-Joseph collectively perform over 200 ACL reconstructions annually. The fellow is exposed to current state of the art single incision endoscopic techniques with patellar tendon autograft, revision surgery (5%), and selected reconstructions with hamstring autografts (5%). Dr. Brian Cole has a particular interest in cartilage and meniscal preservation techniques – Carticel, mosaicplasty and meniscal transplantation. During the 2004-5 academic year, the five attendings performed over 2200 surgical procedures. Knee arthroplasties are not performed on the sports service, although we do perform HTO’s and tibial tubercle osteotomies.

The fellowship is also balanced between the OR and the office setting. One of the highlights for our fellows has been the opportunity to gain considerable experience in the office. This is done under the direct supervision of the attendings in their private offices.

Beginning with the 2004 season, the sports medicine physicians at Rush were chosen to be the team physicians for the Chicago White Sox. The fellows also took part in this endeavor, attending White Sox Spring Training in Tucson, Arizona and also participating in game coverage. In addition, the sports medicine physicians were also chosen as the team physicians for the Chicago Bulls. We also provide coverage for the Chicago Blaze Women’s Professional Basketball team, Chicago Rush Arena Football, Chicago Steel semi-pro hockey team, in addition to local high school team coverage.

Research is a mandatory requirement of the fellowship. At least two published papers are considered the minimum expectation of our fellows, however, we have had fellows achieve greater than 10 publications during their fellowship. The Department of Orthopedic Surgery conducts a year-end Thesis Day usually in late May or June. The fellow must present one of his/her studies at that time. Generally, the fellows have one day weekly for research, although there is ample time throughout the week for additional reading and research.

Another unique advantage of our program is its close proximity to the Learning Resource Center in Rosemont, Illinois. Our fellows have had the opportunity to attend and participate as a junior faculty member in various courses sponsored by AAOS, AOSSM and AANA. This experience enhances the fellows’ education and provides access to nationally and internationally recognized experts in the field of sports medicine. Most fellows will attend at least eight CME courses during the fellowship year.

As stated, four fellows are selected for the fellowship. The academic year is August 1st through July 31st, thus allowing time for the fellow to prepare for written board examinations, move and get acclimated to Chicago. The fellow’s salary is commensurate with a PGY-6 level. Medical and disability insurance is provided. Housing is not provided. Parking is provided. Twenty days of vacation/meeting/interview time is allowed. The deadline for application is December 1, 2007. Interviews will take place on January 10, 2008