Perry Schoenecker, MD

Perry Schoenecker, MD is a professor of orthopedic surgery at Wash U School of Med and practices at St. Louis Shriners, St. Louis Children’s and Barnes Jewish Hospitals. He is a past chairman of the division of pediatric orthopedic surgery at Washington U, Chief of staff at the St. Louis Shriners Hospital and orthopedic surgeon in chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Schoenecker’s practice focus on pediatric orthopedics in the care of infants on up to young adults. He has a special interest includes congenital and developmental deformities of the lower extremity, hip, knee, foot and ankle as well as adolescent and young adult hip problems. He also cares for patients with traumatic, neuromuscular, arthrogrypotic and syndromic associated musculoskeletal deformities.

He is the author of 190 peer reviewed manuscripts, a reviewer for JPO, JCO, CORE and JBJS. He is a regular participant in the annual meetings of POSNA, AAOS and EPOS. He is a frequent visiting professor in North America and a very active participant in out of country symposiums/workshops particularly in South America and Asia. He is a POSNA past president (2006-07). He received the AAP Distinguished Service Award in 2014. He has been the recipient of the Washington University Department of Surgery Distinguished Palma Chironis Award as Clinical Teacher of the Year on 4 occasions, the Distinguished Clinician Award in 2012, and also the Jerome Gilden Distinguished Clinical Surgeon of the year on 3 occasions.

He and Sally were married while in med school in 1967. They have two children, Chris (and his wife Lisa) with three grandchildren living in St. Louis and Jon (and his wife Susan) with two grandchildren living in Nashville.

Peter Waters, MD

Dr. Peter Waters was raised in Syracuse, NY and graduated college and medical school from Tufts University in Boston, MA. Post-graduate residency training included general pediatric training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and orthopedic surgery residency in the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program. He completed his fellowship training in both pediatric orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital; and, hand surgery in the Harvard Hand Surgery program. He believes education is transformative and has gained post-graduate certificates and degrees from programs in leadership, management, and education from Harvard’s Business, Public Health, and Medical Schools along with Middlebury Breadloaf Writers Conference.

Peter is presently Director of the Hand Surgery Program and Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital as well as the John E. Hall Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Harvard Medical School. He was the president of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America from 2011-2012. He is the author of over 225 publications and book chapters, co-author of Surgery of the Pediatric Hand and Upper Limb and co-editor of Fractures in Children. Dr. Waters is known for his expertise in pediatric hand and upper extremity surgery and in particular, care of children with brachial plexus birth palsies.

Outside of orthopaedics, Peter has deep passion and commitment for coaching and has led diverse youth athletic programs in Boston/Brookline as well as Curry College. On a personal note, he has two wonderful kids - Rebecca and James who were foolish enough to engage him in all activities; along with two Charlotte based grandchildren Izzy and Elle. And most importantly, his great wife, Janet, who keeps everything and everyone together.

Wudbhav (Woody) Sankar, MD

Wudbhav (Woody) N. Sankar, MD is an Associate Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an attending surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

He is director of the hip disorders program and the young adult hip preservation program at CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as co-director of the pediatric orthopaedic fellowship at CHOP. Dr. Sankar is a graduate of Cornell University’s college of engineering and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his orthopaedic surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by two pediatric orthopaedic fellowships at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Los Angeles. He then pursued advanced training in the area of adolescent and young adult hip preservation at Boston Children’s Hospital.

He has been on staff at CHOP since 2009, where he specializes in the area of hip and spinal deformity. Dr. Sankar is active in a number of professional societies, including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), and the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA) where he has previously served on the board of directors as a junior member-at-large and currently chairs the fellowship training/qualifications for practice committee. He is co-medical director of the International Hip Dysplasia Institute (IHDI) and is an active member of several other multi-center research groups, including the International Perthes Study Group (IPSG) and the Academic Network of Conservational Hip Outcomes Research (ANCHOR). He also serves on the board of directors for the Legg-Calvé-Perthes Foundation. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and has written and edited two textbooks.

Richard Gross, MD

The son of a theologian/minister and schoolteacher, Richard Gross grew up in western New York and Pennsylvania. In 1961, he graduated from Alfred University, where he was a forgettable Division III athlete(football, wrestling), but compensated for that with an undistinguished academic record. He then went south to Duke for his MD degree, exposing him to the “son, if you can’t get your work done in 24 hours, you better work nights too” culture of that time. Having been commissioned on graduation from Alfred’s ROTC program and deferred to attend medical school, he went on active duty in 1965 for his postgraduate training, including a rotating internship at Ft Lewis(Tacoma,Wa), then what he considers a most valuable PG2 year of general surgery at Ft Knox(Kentucky), and adult orthopaedics at Ft Bliss(El Paso,Tx). Those years involved care of an overwhelming number of Vietnam casualties, and the respite from that during his last year of residency at Carrie Tingley Hospital for Crippled Children in Truth or Consequences, NM, convinced him that pediatric orthopaedics was his future. Followlng residency, he was stationed at Ft Jackson, SC, until 1973, when he returned to Carrie Tingley as a staff surgeon. He used his leave during his last year of active duty to visit the Scottish Rite in Atlanta, DuPont institute in Delaware, and Duke as he had no fellowship training. Subsequently, he went to Oklahoma where he was the first pediatric orthopaedist in the state, and had a great partner in Andy Sullivan. Paul Griffin lured him back east to Boston, where he and Jim Kasser started work at the same time. In 1986, he started at the Medical University on Charleston, where his partners included the Stanikskis, Jim Mooney; and for a magical few years, Paul Griffin rejoined him in Charleston.

He spent a lot of time away from work, with 16 “working” trips overseas, including 3 to Vietnam. As the first graduating resident in his residency not to be immediately assigned to Vietnam, that fulfilled something missing. He coached soccer in some form for 25 years, the last 15 as goalkeeper coach at his community’s high school; where he learned more about educational principles from a remarkable head coach than in any hospital. During those 15 years, 3 of his goalkeepers were All State. He took a month off from work to write the first POSNA study guide, moderated debates on the local public radio station for 4 years, was an AMA delegate for 5 years, and a mentor in the AAOS Leadership Training program for 2 years. For the past 6 years, he has served on the board of Pattison’s Academy, a charter school for children with multiple disabilities, including 3 as board chair. He considers his major academic accomplishment as being (what he thinks) the only orthopaedic surgeon to publish editorials in the NEJM, Lancet, and Small Wars Journal. He’s also served on a number of AAOS, POSNA, and SRS committees. He was shocked, but immensely gratified, to learn he would be receiving this award.

William Morris, MD

Analysis of Femoral Head Microstructure and Vasculature Relevant to Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease

Teresa Cappello, MD

Coronal Remodeling Potential of Pediatric Distal Radius Fractures

Roger Cornwall, MD

Identifying and Pharmacologically Correcting the Molecular Pathophysiology of Contractures in Neonatal Brachial Plexus Injury

Benton Heyworth, MD

Two-Year Functional Outcomes of Operative vs. Non-Operative Treatment of Completely Displaced Clavicle Fractures in Adolescents: Results from the Prospective, Multicenter, Level 2 ‘Facts’ Study

Todd Milbrandt, MD

Does Time to Treatment of Pediatric Femoral Shaft Fractures Impact Clinical Outcomes?

Jeffrey Peck, MD

Safe Transport of Spica Casted Children in Passenger Vehicles is Possible: A Frontal Crash Test Analysis of Child Restraint Systems Using Spica Casted Crash Test Dummies

Indranil (Neel) Kushare, MD

Percutaneous Calcaneal Displacement Osteotomy in the Pediatric Population