A. Noelle Larson, MD

Development of an Automated National Pediatric Scoliosis Registry

Benton E. Heyworth, MD

The SATURN Trial: ITB vs. BTB ACLR in Skeletally Mature Adolescents

Daniel Miller, MD

Effects of Surgery on Seating Pressures in Neuromuscular Scoliosis Patients

Vivian Chen; Julia Skye Sanders, MD; David L. Skaggs, MD; Robert M. Kay, MD; Lindsay Andras, MD

Functional Bracing of Femur Fractures in Young Children Avoids Anesthesia
and Spica Casting with Equivalent Outcomes: A Randomized Prospective Study

Maegen Wallace, MD; Jill C. Flanagan, MD, FAAOS; Jeanne M. Franzone, MD

“O.I. Wish Orthopaedic Surgeons Had Better Strategies to Help with . . .”
Results of a Patient- and Parent-Based Survey

Barbara Minkowitz, MD; Christine Ho, MD; Jennifer Ristic; Allison Davanzo, BS

Tension Band Wiring Olecranon Process Fracture
Using Polyethylene Sutures and Percutaneous Pins
 

R. Baxter Willis, MD

R. Baxter Willis, MD, grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, the youngest of three brothers. He completed his bachelor’s (1967) and medical degrees (1971) at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University). Following a rotating internship at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Dr. Willis returned to London where he completed his orthopaedic residency training in 1976.

His career was influenced greatly by the mentorship of Robert Salter, MD, and many teachers at the Hospital for Sick Children where Dr. Willis did a pediatric orthopaedic fellowship in 1977. He returned to London in 1978 as the first full-time pediatric orthopaedic surgeon and where he remained in academic practice until 1994. His colleagues in London remain close to his heart as some of the finest people with whom he has worked.

During his 16 years in London, Dr. Willis became active in many POSNA committees, eventually becoming president of the society in 2007-2008—a professional highlight.

In 1994, Dr. Willis was recruited to New Orleans as the G. Dean MacEwen Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedics at Louisiana State University Health Centre, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at LSU, and Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. While there, he helped develop the academic and educational program, training many fellows in the process. The friendship and advice of Dr. MacEwen were vital to the success of that venture.

In 2004, Dr. Willis returned to Canada as the Chief of Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), a position he held until 2015. He continued in an administrative capacity as Interim Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics at the University of Ottawa and CHEO from 2015 until 2017.

Dr. Willis has authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics and the Journal of Children’s Orthopaedics.

is interests include pediatric hip disorders, limb and foot deformities, and trauma. He continues to practice part-time at CHEO and still loves his interaction with patients and their families. He enjoys teaching and education in all aspects, especially to residents and fellows. He is actively involved in international outreach education in pediatric orthopaedics in Southeast Asia and South America.

Dr. Willis is married to his lovely wife, Sue, who has been an integral partner in international travel for POSNA courses. Dr. Willis and Sue have three children—Chris, Caroline, and Andrew and two grandchildren, Magdalena and Frances. On a personal note, Dr. Willis feels very blessed in his career and blessed to choose pediatric orthopaedics which became a professional passion. He has had the honour to work with incredible people in London, New Orleans, and Ottawa.

Kevin G. Shea, MD

Kevin G. Shea, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon at Stanford University Medical Center Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Dr. Shea grew up in Montana and California, graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine, and completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Utah School. His training includes pediatric orthopaedics at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, AO Fellowship in Bern Switzerland with Drs. Ganz (hip), Dr. Diego Fernandez (trauma), and Dr. Hans Staubli (sports), and Ilizarov training in Lecco, Italy.

He was the AOSSM Traveling Sports Medicine Fellow in 2008, and practiced in Boise, Idaho, prior to joining the Stanford Faculty in 2018. Dr. Shea is a founding member of the PRiSM Society (Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine), ROCK (Research in OsteoChondritis of the Knee) Multi-center Study Group, and SCORE Pediatric Sports Outcomes Prospective Cohort. He is a member of the AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons), POSNA (Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America), and the AOSSM (American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine).

He has over 15 years of experience in local and national quality committees for the AAOS Evidence-Based Quality and Value Committee and the POSNA Quality Safety Value Council. He has significant experience with health care system performance/quality improvement efforts and continues to work on metric development for health systems to evaluate better care, outcomes for patients, and families. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers and book chapters.

Edwards Park Schwentker, MD

Edwards (Ned) Schwentker, MD, is an Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Penn State College of Medicine. He received a BS degree at Haverford College in 1963 and graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1968. He completed residency training in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in 1973 and a pediatric orthopaedic fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in 1974. Following fellowship, he spent 2 years as a staff surgeon working at the duPont Institute. In 1976, he joined the orthopaedic and rehabilitation faculty at Penn State’s College of Medicine where he served as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon and for a time as the Medical Director of Rehabilitation until retiring in 2008.

During the last year of his orthopaedic residency, Dr. Schwentker had the unique opportunity to spend 3 months on the orthopaedic service at the Princess Margaret Hospital in the Bahamas where he received considerable exposure to pediatric patients, sunshine, and a different culture—all giving him a desire to include global health work in his career. An opportunity to do so came in November 1989, when in response to a devastating earthquake the previous December, Project HOPE sent a team of rehabilitation professionals to set up a pediatric rehabilitation program. Dr. Schwentker joined three other pediatric orthopaedic surgeons (Drs. Denis Drummond, Bob Clark, and Mike Sussman) for a week in Armenia to assess pediatric orthopaedic support. He returned to work with Armenian surgeons for 2 weeks each in 1990 and 1991. He was hooked on global health work but wanted a location a bit easier to get to.

In 1995, under the sponsorship of Medical Group Missions, he traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where working in a small government hospital, he spent 2 weeks evaluating children and performing surgery. Over the next 12 years, he led twenty-one 2-week pediatric orthopaedic projects. For each project, the team would evaluate up to 200 children and perform up to twenty operations. The teams always included his wife, Bunny, who served as a general helper and chief recruiter of POSNA members, at least one medical student, and frequently a Penn State orthopaedic resident. Over the years, eight other POSNA members participated including Kaye Wilkins, a previous POSNA Humanitarian Award recipient. All projects included a Honduran orthopaedic surgeon to identify patients, assist with procedures in the operating room, and provide postoperative care.

Sponsor affiliations changed from Medical Group Missions to Medical Ministry International and in 2004, to CURE International. In 2008, after Dr. Schwentker and Bunny made a 2-year commitment to live and work in Honduras full-time, CURE International built a 20-bed, fully equipped hospital with living quarters above two beautiful operating rooms. It was the only full-time/year-round pediatric orthopaedic facility providing elective care for poor children in Central America.

Unfortunately, in the second year of their commitment, Bunny developed ovarian cancer and they had to return home. CURE International replaced Dr. Schwentker with other North American surgeons, but then in 2013, CURE abruptly closed the hospital for reasons that remain obscure. Dr. Schwentker resumed short-term missions working at the Ruth Paz Foundation Hospital, another NGO. With the onset of the COVID pandemic, trips to Honduras were put on hold. Hopefully, they will be able to resume soon.

Marianne E. Emmert; Qingnian Goh, PhD; Kritton Shay-Winkler; Parul Aggarwal, PhD; Roger Cornwall, MD

The Sex-Dependent Role of Myostatin Signaling in
Contractures Following Neonatal Brachial Plexus Injury

John "Jack" Flynn, MD

John “Jack” Flynn, MD, is the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He went to Johns Hopkins University to play football and baseball and met his wife Mary the first week of college. Next, was Pittsburgh for med school, Mary’s Master’s in Applied Mathematics, and marriage. It was on to Boston for the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Surgery Program 1989-1995, Chief Residency at Boston Children’s 1995, Mary’s career, and two children. After this, was a fellowship at DuPont Hospital for Children (one more baby), then CHOP in 1996 (one more baby).

Dr. Flynn’s clinical focus includes spine deformity, early onset scoliosis/thoracic insufficiency, fractures, and baby hips. He is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and chapters, and editor of the seminal texts in pediatric orthopaedics: Lovell and Winter’s Pediatric Orthopaedics, Rockwood and Wilkins’ Fractures in Children, Operative Techniques in Orthopaedic Pediatric Surgery, as well as OKU 10 and Staying Out of Trouble in Pediatric Orthopaedics. A winner of multiple teaching awards, Dr. Flynn lectures nationally and internationally on management of spinal disorders, pediatric fracture care, safety and value in spine care, and life-work integration for surgeons.

He has served as president of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, vice president of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, president of the Pediatric Spine Foundation, chair of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium, chair of the AAOS CME Courses Committee, and president of the Children’s Spine Study Group.

Jack and Mary have been married for over 30 years and are the embarrassingly proud parents of Erin (30), Colleen (27), John (25), and Kelly (22).