Angela S. Kuo Memorial Award

Joshua Abzug, MD

Physeal Injuries: Creation of an Animal Model and Subsequent Analysis

Angela S. Kuo Memorial Award

A. Noelle Larson, MD

Development of an Automated National Pediatric Scoliosis Registry

Angela S. Kuo Memorial Award

Eric Fornari, MD

Psychological Assessment of Scoliosis Patients Undergoing Surgery (PASS)

Angela S. Kuo Memorial Award

Hiroko Matsumoto, PhD

Boston Children’s Hospital “Impact of SMN2 Copy Number on Musculoskeletal Pathoanatomy in SMA Children”

Arthur H. Huene Award

Matthew Halanski, MD

Phoenix Children’s Hospital “Decreasing the Morbidity of Neuromuscular Hip Treatment”

Arthur H. Huene Award

Woody Sankar, MD

Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound to Evaluate Femoral Head Perfusion in DDH

Arthur H. Huene Award

Eric Edmonds, MD

Acute Interpositional Adipose Grafts to Reduce Arrest in Physeal Fractures

Arthur H. Huene Award

Benton E. Heyworth, MD

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

Best ePoster

Raymond Liu, MD

An Ovine Study of Locked Intramedullary Implants Across the Distal Femoral Growth Plate
Raymond Liu, MD; Alex Benedick, MD; Chang-Yeon Kim, MD; Kouami Amakoutou, MD; Derrick Knapik, MD; Lewis Zirkle, MD
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

Best Video Abstract

Indranil Kushare, MD

Talo-Calcaneal Coalition Resection with Ankle Arthroscopy
Indranil Kushare, MD; Shane Ford, PA-C; Kristen Kastan; John Shilt, PA-C 
Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX

Distinguished Achievement Award

Lori Karol, MD

Dr. Lori Karol is currently the Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital Colorado and professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Colorado. She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan and served her orthopaedic residency at Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. Karol completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics and scoliosis at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. She served as the president of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 2015-2016. Her clinical areas of interest include scoliosis, clubfoot, and the orthopaedic management of cerebral palsy. She has authored 93 peer reviewed manuscripts on topics ranging from early onset scoliosis, the orthotic management of scoliosis, the application of gait analysis in clubfoot. She has lectured widely both nationally and internationally. Lori has been married to Bob Karol for over 35 years, and has three lovely and successful daughters, Molly, Leah, and Abby.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Behrooz Akbarnia, MD

Behrooz Akbarnia, M.D. graduated from Tehran University and continued his Orthopaedic Surgery residency at Albany Medical Center including a year of Pediatric Orthopaedics under Dr. Howard Steel in Philadelphia. He then completed a Scoliosis Fellowship at Twin Cities Scoliosis Center with Dr. John Moe and colleagues. Dr. Akbarnia was Professor/Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Louis University and Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital for 10 years before relocating to San Diego in 1990. There, he established his academic practice, created the San Diego Spine Fellowship Program and founded the San Diego Spine Foundation to support educational and research programs.

Dr. Akbarnia’s interest has been focused on spinal deformity, especially Early Onset Scoliosis which started with POSNA Growing Rod Tutorials at Children’s Hospital, San Diego. He then worked with other colleagues to establish the Growing Spine Study Group. GSSG recently merged with CSSG to become Pediatric Spine Study Group (PSSG), creating the largest database of young children with spine deformity. In 2007, he established International Congress on Early Onset Scoliosis (ICEOS), which just held its 13th Annual Meeting. He has published several books including 2 editions of The Growing Spine Textbook (3rd Ed. in progress). His efforts have significantly affected the lives of young children with spinal deformity around the world.

He has helped many children globally with his innovations, developing new means for treating young children with EOS. His efforts comprise over 200 peer-reviewed publications, many book chapters, and presentations nationally and internationally. He has received the AAP Distinguished Service Award, SRS’s Blount Humanitarian and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He is past president of Scoliosis
Research Society and currently a Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at University of California; San Diego.

He and Nasrin married in 1968 and now reside in La Jolla, California. He is both proud father of three children and grandfather of five.

Distinguished Achievement Award

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.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Scott Mubarak, MD

Scott Mubarak, MD, was Surgeon in Chief at Rady’s Children’s Hospital (2015-2021), Professor of Orthopedics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and Emeritus Chief of the Division of Pediatric Orthopedics at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, before he retired in July 2021.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine (Madison) as an Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society member, where he met his bride-to-be, Sandy, a nurse. 

His orthopedics training was at the University of California, San Diego, and his Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship was at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, under the leadership of Robert Salter and Norris Carroll. 

Dr. Mubarak is a member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (EPOS), American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Scoliosis Research Society, and International Pediatric Orthopaedic Think Tank (IPOTT). He has received numerous awards, including:

1. The AAOS Kappa Delta Award for research on compartment syndromes and muscle pressure measurement, 1987. 
2. POSNA Walter P. Blount Pioneer Award for outstanding clinical scientific paper on muscular torticollis, 1991.
3. President of POSNA, 2004-2005. 
4. POSNA Presidential Guest Speaker, Hawaii, 2010. 
5. Nicolas Andry Lifetime Achievement Award for work on Compartment Syndromes, 2020.

Dr. Mubarak’s research interests are infant hip dislocation, foot deformities, tarsal coalition, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, trauma, and compartment syndromes. He has authored 176 peer-review journal articles, 43 book chapters, and a textbook, Compartment Syndromes and Volkmann’s Contracture. Some of his publications include (1) Pitfalls of the Pavlik Harness for DDH, (2) San Diego Pelvic Osteotomy, (3) 3C Osteotomies for valgus foot deformities, and (4) Treatment of Tarsal Coalitions. He has described more than 27 procedures or techniques useful in orthopaedic surgery. 

After 44 years of pediatric orthopaedic surgery, he is enjoying retirement with his wife of 54 years, Sandy, traveling from their Old Coach Vineyards ranch outside San Diego to Maui and the South Pacific, and entertaining their two sons, their wives, and five granddaughters. In his spare time, he writes about South Pacific artists under his pen name of CJ Cook. He has published two award-winning biographies of the year, Tyree, Artist of the South Pacific (2017) and Leeteg (2021), with a third book out later this year, Beauty in the Beasts, Flora, Fauna, and Endangered Species of artist Ralph Burke Tyree available at www.SouthPacificDreams.com.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Charles E. Johnston, MD

Charles (“Charlie”) E. Johnston, MD, is assistant chief of staff emeritus at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, where he practiced continuously since 1985, until his retirement from direct patient care in 2021. A native of Los Angeles, with family ties to south Texas, he graduated from Yale University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, completed a
surgical internship in San Antonio, and an orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. He returned to Texas as a Harrington Fellow in Pediatric Orthopaedics and Scoliosis at TSRH in Dallas in 1981-1982 (the fellowship had no relationship to Dr. Paul R. Harrington).

Dr. Johnston is currently Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and continues as a volunteer orthopaedic staff and researcher at TSRH. He is an elite reviewer for the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and the Journal of Children’s Orthopaedics. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic
Surgeons and serves on two committees and is a former member of the executive committee of the Pediatric Spine Study Group and Foundation.

Currently, in emeritus status, he has been a member of the Scoliosis Research Society since 1987 and delivered the 2021 Harrington lecture on “The Search for Biologic Treatments Addressing Etiology of Scoliosis.” As a member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America since 1986, he has served on multiple committees and received its Humanitarian Award in 2020, based on his multiple medical mission/teaching trips to Palestine, Jordan, Honduras, and Guatemala beginning in the 1990s. He
was elected to the POSNA Hall of Fame in 2022. He also is a member of the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society and the Texas Orthopaedic Association.

Dr. Johnston has published over 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored approximately 30 book chapters. He has been an invited faculty or visiting professor at national and international institutions on over 60 occasions. 

Distinguished Achievement Award

Colin F. Moseley, MD

For his ground-breaking work in leg length discrepancy, hip and leg deformity; for his leadership and continued guidance as President of POSNA from 1990-1991; for his guidance in teaching residents and fellows in Pediatric Orthopaedics at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and as Chief of Staff at Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Alvin H. Crawford, MD

For his leadership and vision in developing and expanding the Pediatric Orthopaedic Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. For his contributions to the education of orthopaedic surgery students, residents and fellows in the United States and worldwide. For receiving the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Diversity Award. Defining diversity: “Being able to accept other people’s values, then relate and communicate. That’s what diversity is.” For being a role model and exemplifying the best of pediatric orthopaedic surgery by “making achievement a lifestyle, not a goal.

Distinguished Achievement Award

James R. Kasser, MD

For his outstanding service to the organization, especially as President 2001-2002. For his contributions to pediatric orthopedic patient care and clinical research. For his commitment to the education of orthopaedic surgery residents and fellows. For his excellence in leadership in the pediatric and general orthopaedic community.

Distinguished Achievement Award

James H. Beaty, MD

For excellence in Leadership in the pediatric and general orthopaedic community as president of POSNA, AAOS, and ABOS. For dedication to education as author and editor of Orthopaedic Texts, Including Operative Pediatric Orthopaedics, Selected Bibliography of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Fractures in Children, and Campbell’s Operative Orthopaedics. For advancement of Pediatric Orthopaedic Knowledge through his contributions to original research and peer-reviewed literature.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Charles T. Price, MD

For his outstanding service to the organization, especially as President 2003-2004. For his direction and expansion of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium. For his contributions to the education of orthopaedic surgery residents and fellows.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Stuart Weinstein, MD

For his Peerless Contributions to Orthopaedic Research, in Particular for his Commitment to Documentation of the Long-Term Outcomes of Pediatric Orthopaedic Conditions and their Treatments. For his leadership and service in The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, The American Orthopaedic Association, The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, and The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. For excellence in writing and editing orthopaedic texts and atlases, especially those related to pediatric orthopaedics and pediatric spinal surgery.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Vernon Thorpe Tolo, MD

For leadership in his advocacy for Pediatric Orthopaedics as President of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, as President of The Scoliosis Research Society, and as President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. For his leadership as researcher, as author, and as Deputy Editor for Pediatric Orthopaedics of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. For his leadership in establishing premier Pediatric Orthopaedic Centers at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and in inspiring and training many future leaders.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Tony Herring, MD

For development of the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children into one of the premier centers of Pediatric Orthopaedic Care in North America. For his leading role in the training of over 100 Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellows from North America and over 30 Fellows from abroad. For editing and revising the third and fourth editions of Tachdjian’s Pediatric Orthopaedics as well as bringing together the stellar team of authors.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Raymond Morrissy, MD

For his commitment to updating and improving one of the seminal texts of Pediatric Orthopaedics, and for developing its accompanying atlas. For his dedication to the education of Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellows. For his leadership and vision in the expansion of the Atlanta Scottish Rite Hospital into a premier full-service pediatric hospital.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Ignacio V. Ponseti, MD

For his long-term work as an international orthopaedist. For his commitment to clinical and basic research in orthopaedics. For his tireless efforts to revolutionize the treatment of clubfoot in infants worldwide.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Robert Hensinger, MD

For his pioneering work as a pediatric orthopaedist and member of POSG. For his long-term and distinguished role as a member and President of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. For his long-term commitment to teaching and clinical research. For his outstanding editorial work for the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedic

Distinguished Achievement Award

Marc A. Asher, MD

For his pioneering work as a pediatric orthopaedist. For his long-term and distinguished role as a member and officer of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. For his long-term commitment to teaching and clinical research. For his outstanding work in the field of spinal deformity surgery with innovations in instrumentation, three dimensional correction and surgical outcomes.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Hamlet A. Peterson, M.D.

For his pioneering work as a pediatric orthopaedist. For his long-term and distinguished role as founding member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Study Group and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. For his long-term commitment to teaching and clinical research. For his outstanding work in the field of growth plate injury and the treatment of growth arrest.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Lynn T. Staheli, M.D.

Dedicated international teacher and mentor in pediatric orthopaedics. Founding member, co-chair and president of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Study Group. Instrumental in the development of a subspecialty journal for pediatric orthopaedics. Described a standardized acetabular shelf procedure. Active in developing low cost orthopaedic texts for use in third-world countries. Consummate gentleman and colleague.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Kaye E. Wilkins, M.D.

For his long-term distinguished role in the Pediatric Orthopaedic Study Group and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. For his role as a teacher and compassionate clinician, especially in the care of children with fractures. For his role in outreach to care for children in third-world countries and to teach those orthopaedists who work there. For his long-term authorship on children's fracture care in an effort to promote the best possible treatment for children.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Mercer Charles Rang, M.D.

For his role as a teacher and compassionate clinician, especially in the care of children with cerebral palsy. For his ability to raise serious issues masked in gentle and entertaining humor. For his uniquely recognizable authorship of books on children's fractures and the history of medicine. And for his enthusiastic and devoted vision of internationalism which sees children worldwide as the scope of pediatric orthopedic surgery.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Newton C. McCollough

For his guidance and leadership in the formative years of POSNA and especially for his wisdom and vision in molding the Shriners Hospitals for Children into a formidable force for the betterment of children with orthopedic problems.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Paul Griffin, MD

For his enormous impact as a teacher and for his vision which led to the creation of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society. The vision played a major role in establishing the entire field of pediatric orthopaedic surgery as a separate specialty within orthopaedics.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Howard Steel, M.D.

For his enormous impact on pediatric orthopaedics as a teacher, thinker and scientist. His imaginative ideas have stimulated and provoked a whole generation of orthopaedic surgeons. He has worked tirelessly to encourage young surgeons to expand beyond the horizons of orthopaedics. Above all, he has done this with infectious good humor.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Robert B. Salter, M.D.

For his enormous impact on pediatric orthopaedics by integration of scientific research with clinical practice. He has had a world-wide influence on the treatment of children with hip disease, epiphyseal fractures, and the healing of damaged joint cartilage using continuous passive motion. Above all, he has been a tireless and powerful teacher in his lectures and writing.

Distinguished Achievement Award

G. Dean MacEwen, M.D

For the many significant contributions to the literature of pediatric orthopaedics in its widest scope; for directing a multitude of young surgeons to pursue a career in the specialty of pediatric orthopaedics both by direct encouragement and by his example as an outstanding role model; and for his broad vision of orthopaedics whereby he has spent countless days traveling the world to teach the principles of pediatric orthopaedics.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Sherman S. Coleman, M.D.

For influencing many to enter the field of Pediatric Orthopaedics and continue his tradition of enthusiasm, dedication to patient care, and advancement of pediatric orthopaedics science.

Distinguished Achievement Award

Dennis R. Wenger, MD

For his ground-breaking work in Hip Dysplasia, SCFE, and Perthes Disease, for authorship of "Children's Orthopaedics in North America- History, Genealogy, and Evolution"; his enthusiastic participation as a thought leader at POSNA annual meetings, and his excellence in teaching fellows and residents in Pediatric Orthopaedics at The Rady Children's Hospital, University of California-San Diego.

Distinguished Achievement Award

George H. Thompson, MD

For his innovative work in Early Onset Scoliosis & Pediatric Disorders of the Spine; his leadership and continued guidance as President of POSNA from 2002-2003, President of the Scoliosis Research Society from 2006-2008, and SRS Lifetime Achievement Award Winner in 2013; his role as Co-Editor of the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics; his role as a life-long Educator of Orthopaedic Residents and Fellows;  his role as the First Recipient of the Endowed Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Distinguished Achievement Award

James W. Roach, MD

James W. Roach MD retired in 2016 as a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh where he held the William F. and Jean W. Donaldson Endowed Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedics. Dr. Roach, a Texan, graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Chemistry, attended law school at the University of Texas, graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine and attained an MBA at Duke University. His internship and residency were at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii and his fellowship at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. Dr. Roach held several academic and business positions during his career. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, he had been the Assistant Chief of Staff at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for 13 years, the Director of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery and Vice- Chairman of the Cook-Fort Worth Children’s Health Care System for 9 years, Chief of Staff of Shriner’s Hospitals for Children Salt Lake City for 10 years and the Medical Director of Shriner’s Hospitals for Children Erie for 6 years. He had special interests in the treatment of complex spinal deformities, developmental dysplasia of the hip, outcomes research, and pediatric trauma. He published 96 articles, book chapters, and textbooks and has presented his research findings at 199 national and international meetings. He was a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, and the Scoliosis Research Society. He served as an Associate Editor of Spine Deformity and as a reviewer for the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Spine, and the Journal of AAOS. He was the Director of the University of Pittsburgh Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellowship Program and in 2010-2011, President of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America.

Distinguished Achievement Award

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.

Humanitarian Award

John E. Herzenberg, MD

In recognition of his Outstanding Contributions to the Mission of POSNA in advocating for responsible volunteerism and providing compassionate musculoskeletal care for children in underserved areas of the world.

Humanitarian Award

Lynn T. Staheli, MD

Dr. Lynn Staheli is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Washington. He graduated from the University of Utah Medical School with AOA Honor Society membership (1959), and served three years as medical doctor in the United States Air Force (1960-1963). He completed his residency in orthopaedics at the University of Washington (1969), and was one of five to receive the AOA Outstanding Resident Award. During his thirty-year practice at Seattle Children's Hospital, Dr. Staheli served Director of Research and Education (1970-1977) and Department Director (1977-1992). The Staheli Chair for Research in Pediatric Orthopaedics was established at Seattle Children's Hospital in Seattle (2002). He also started three annual lectures that still continue to this day. Dr. Staheli received a Carl Berg Traveling Scholarship (1971). Before POSNA was established, he served as President of Pediatric Orthopedic Study Group (1979). He is the Founding Editor (1981-2002) and Editor Emeritus (2002-present) of the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics, and Founder of the International Scholarship of Pediatric Orthopaedics (1982). His research, talks, and publications are credited with changing the management of developmental variations in children and dispelling the myth of the "corrective shoes". For this contribution, he received the first Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (1995). Later he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from POSNA (2002), a Merit of Honor Award from the University of Utah (2004), the AACPDM Humanitarian Award (2010), and was the Presidential Guest Speaker at POSNA (2004). Over his career, Dr. Staheli has taught in 40 countries and has published 85 papers, 10 chapters, and 18 books. Dr. Staheli founded Global HELP Organization (2002) and served as Volunteer Director (2002– present). Global HELP provides free medical publications and videos worldwide (180 publications and 175 videos in total). PDFs are available in up to 35 languages and have been downloaded from Global HELP’s website over 22 million times in over 190 countries. Global HELP has since added two sub-sites, Pediatric Orthopaedic Academy (POA) in English and Spanish, and provides free and open access to all materials. The organization created and published Clubfoot: Ponseti Management (2.5 million PDF downloads, 30,000 printed copies, available in 31 languages) and has contributed to sustainable clubfoot projects in Uganda and Bangladesh.

Humanitarian Award

Hugh G Watts, MD

In Recognition of his Outstanding Contributions to the Mission of POSNA in advocating for responsible volunteerism and providing compassionate musculoskeletal care for children in underserved areas of the world.

Humanitarian Award

Shafique P. Pirani, MD

In recognition of his outstanding service to the underserved children of uganda with clubfeet through the Uganda Sustainable Clubfoot Project. For his training of countless health professionals on the Ponseti method. For his outstanding organizational skills to mobilize both Canada and Uganda to support and sustain these meritorious efforts. For the expansion of these programs beyond the boundaries of Uganda to Cure Clubfoot Worldwide. For his and his families’ sacrifices for a higher medical purpose.

Humanitarian Award

Kaye Wilkins, MD

In recognition of efforts to improve the orthopaedic care of the world’s children. For his special commitment to the education of the physicians and the care of the children of Haiti. For providing orthopaedic education in more than fifty three countries. For his refusal to be intimidated by political unrest, natural disasters, or state department watch lists.

Humanitarian Award

Elizabeth A. Szalay, MD

In recognition of her Outstanding Contributions to the Mission of POSNA in advocating for equitable medical care of native North American children and providing compassionate musculoskeletal care FOR children in underserved areas of the world.

Humanitarian Award

Richard M. Schwend, MD

In recognition of his time and energy to build and advocate for the POSNA COUR Committee, and for delivering outstanding musculoskeletal care to the underserved children of the world.

Humanitarian Award

David A. Spiegel, MD

In recognition of his outstanding service to the Underserved Children of the World with musculoskeletal disorders.

Humanitarian Award

J. Norgrove Penny, MD

In recognition of his outstanding service to the underserved children of the world with musculoskeletal disorders especially through CBM International and the Uganda Clubfoot project in Africa. For the expansion of the Uganda project to Cure Clubfoot Worldwide. For his training of allied health professionals throughout the world to bring improved care to these needy children. For his and his families’ sacrifices for a higher medical purpose.

Humanitarian Award

Coleen Sabatini, MD, MPH

Coleen Sabatini, MD, MPH, is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, CA, with a practice emphasis on trauma and clubfoot/foot deformities. Dr. Sabatini’s research and advocacy efforts focus on improving access to, and quality of, musculoskeletal care for children, particularly for those in lower-resource settings.

Although she has had the privilege to teach and/or work in different countries, including Nepal, India, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, her international work has primarily been based in Uganda, where she has been working since her first trip there (with Dr. Norgrove Penny) in 2013. In 2015, she started a research program to study neglected surgical conditions and to help build musculoskeletal research capacity in the country. One major focus of her research has been on musculoskeletal disabilities related to intramuscular injections (often for treatment of malaria) that affect thousands of children in Uganda. Recognizing that a few short trips a year were not sufficient to achieve meaningful collaboration and impact, in 2019, she began to spend approximately 4 months a year working in Uganda. Recently, with others from POSNA, Dr. Sabatini was a lead faculty for a COEDN-sponsored pediatric orthopaedic COSECSA fellowship based at CoRSU Hospital. She organized weekly online educational conferences during COVID restrictions. Currently, with colleagues in Uganda, she is doing sustainability planning to ensure an ongoing fellowship and expansion of pediatric orthopaedic education in the country while also continuing her long-standing research and advocacy work.

Dr. Sabatini previously served on the COUR (now POGO) Committee of POSNA, including 3 years as Chair. She is a Co-Director of the UCSF Institute of Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology (IGOT) and Associate Director of the UCSF Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA) and is involved in numerous education, advocacy, and research efforts focused on global surgery/health equity through these entities.

Humanitarian Award

Jacob Heydemann, MD

a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon with over 40 years of experience. He earned his medical degree in 1979 from Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock, TX, and completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery in 1984 at the University of Arkansas Medical School, Little Rock, AR. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics in 1985 at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Heydemann established his private practice in El Paso, TX, in 1985. Two years later, in partnership with Hospital De La Familia Foundation, he developed a pediatric orthopaedic clinic across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Over the last 33 years, he and a team of volunteers have served tens of thousands of children and young adults facing severe adversity and who would otherwise be unable to access the level of care they need. His humanitarian work continues to this day. 

In 2005, in appreciation of his efforts, the Mexican government granted him the highest decoration of honor awarded to foreigners: The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle. 

Dr. Heydemann has also served as Chief of Staff and Chief of Orthopedics at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, founding member of the Border Children Health Clinic in El Paso, and President of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation. He has received several awards, including Distinguished Alumni for Texas Tech University Health Sciences, “Rene Mascarenas Miranda” International Excellence Award, and La Rosa del Desierto Award, which commemorates extraordinary individuals in the El Paso/ Ciudad Juarez region.

Humanitarian Award

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.

Humanitarian Award

Bob Cady, MD

While in the library as a seventh grader at Levy Junior High School in Syracuse I read a book about Albert Schweitzer’s work in Africa and went home that day and told my mom I was going to be a doctor and work in Africa like Albert Schweitzer. 

That was always my goal and it never changed. After graduation from Hamilton college in 1967 and Upstate Medical School in 1971, Linda and I headed west where I was an intern at Multnomah County Hospital in Portland, Oregon. The patients that I cared for there were poor, and out of hope. I discovered that you didn’t have to work in Africa to find under served people to care for. 

After internship I fulfilled my military obligation as a flight surgeon at Minot AFB North Dakota where I saw my first patient with a clubfoot while volunteering at the Four Bears Sioux reservation in nearby New Town, ND. 

I switched my residency plans to orthopedics and was accepted into David Murray’s program in Syracuse. Following residency I did a fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto where I got to work with some of the finest pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the world, Drs. Bobechko, Salter, Rang, Moseley, Carroll and Gillespie. Subsequently I returned to Syracuse to develop the pediatric section of the orthopedic program. 

My practice grew rapidly and I soon recruited John Lubicky and then Steve Albanese to join me. I could not have had better partners. We closed the pediatric orthopedic clinic and welcomed all the uninsured and poorly insured patients into our private practices. All of our patients received the same level of care regardless of their ability to pay. 

I had always seen large numbers of babies with clubfeet, but after the Ponseti revolution, clubfoot treatment made up the bulk of my practice. With the success of Shafique Pirani and Norgrove Penny’s sustainable  clubfoot  treatment  programs in Africa I decided to look for a country where I might have similar success. In 2009 at the suggestion of Kaye Wilkins and Scott Nelson I decided that Haiti  was the place. 

Haiti is a beautiful place with beautiful people who so much appreciate our efforts. With the help of CURE Clubfoot Worldwide (now Hope Walks), the Global Clubfoot Initiative, MiracleFeet, MD Ortho, PIA, and Clubfoot Solutions we have clubfoot clinics throughout Haiti managed by Haitian cast technicians, administrators, and Haitian orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Francel Alexis, the first Haitian member of POSNA ,who works with Scott Nelson at Hopital Adventiste in Carrefour Haiti is our program director. 

I’ve  been very lucky to be a part of POSNA since its inception. There is not a finer group of human beings in the world than the members of POSNA. This award means everything to me and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

Humanitarian Award

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.

Humanitarian Award

Charles Johnston, MD

After growing up in the 50’s & 60’s in Southern California, Charlie Johnston left the Beach Boys/Jan & Dean for the right coast attending Yale, Columbia P&S, and U.Va. before coming full circle back to Texas where family ancestors first immigrated to south Texas in the 1870’s. After fellowship at TSRH with Tony Herring and Dennis Wenger and a brief stint at LSU NOLa, he has had but one job, secured only with a handshake, since 1985, and attributes his medical “attitude” directly to the TSRH philosophy that provides the most expert care available anywhere to any child with an orthopedic condition, without regard to the cost – actually, there was no billing dept.at TSRH - or amount of time to complete the task.

Having known and been mentored by many giants – the aforementioned Herring and Wenger, Luque, Dubousset, Coleman, Hall, Goldner, Gillespie, Dimeglio, to name a few - it didn’t take much to transport all that knowledge and expertise to patients unable , through geographic or political isolation, to access care and escape the debilitation and impairment of neglected treatable conditions. The goal however was not to simply swoop in, operate, and be back in the office by Monday, but to identify, train and mentor local orthopods who could then effectively treat their own population while minimizing the effects of neglect and incompetence. He was first challenged to venture to the Moskito Coast, Honduras to treat children who could only be reached by air or water – no roads existed to connect to the usual “mission” sites in San Pedro Sula or inland. Then an opportunity to build a spine deformity program in the West Bank, Palestinian Territory arose through the auspices of Hugh Watts and The Palestine Childrens Relief Fund(PCRF). There were no local physicians in Moskito environs, so those patients had to be brought to Dallas for surgery and rehab….but once we penetrated the physical and political isolation of Palestine, it was just a matter of enlisting other US mentors and an Israeli colleague to develop now three well-trained and competent “residents” who engage as COUR scholars and who have become our junior colleagues locally.

The message: there are probably an infinite number of patients and places needing POSNA expertise, and many are covered by regularly-visiting brigades. But imagine the efficiency and the benefit when you can teach, train and turn over care to someone who lives locally and becomes the pediatric orthopedist for their community, region, even nation. The value of having local pediatric orthopedic colleagues with real “skin in the game” is a worthy goal for POSNA colleagues who can commit more to the patients who are otherwise reliant only on the visiting brigades and Mercy ships or have the means to travel to come to us.

Presidential Guest Speaker

Lori Karol, MD

Dr. Lori Karol is currently the Assistant Chief of Staff and Chief Quality Officer at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, and professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Texas-Southwestern in Dallas. She is the medical director of the movement science laboratory. She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan, and served her orthopaedic residency at Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. Karol completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics and scoliosis at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. She served as the president of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 2015-2016. Her clinical areas of interest include scoliosis, clubfoot, and the orthopaedic management of cerebral palsy. She has authored 93 peer reviewed manuscripts on topics ranging from early onset scoliosis, the orthotic management of scoliosis, the application of gait analysis in clubfoot. She has lectured widely both nationally and internationally. She credits her success to the team at Scottish Rite, especially Tony Herring, who has served as a mentor throughout her career. Lori has been married to Bob Karol for 35 years, and has three lovely and successful daughters, Molly, Leah, and Abby.

Presidential Guest Speaker

Michael Millis, MD

Dr. Millis is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program. He was Chief Resident under Dr John Hall at the Boston Children’s Hospital. After 2 years in the US Navy in Charleston, he returned to a faculty position with Dr. Hall in Boston. Following a fellowship with Professor Heinz Wagner, in Germany, he has pursued a career-long interest in developmental hip conditions and their evolution through adolescence and adulthood, with a particular interest in hip preservation surgery. He was the Founding Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Hip Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital and is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He began the continuing series of Instructional Courses on Hip Osteotomies and Hip Preservation at the AAOS Annual Meetings in 1984. He, Dr John Clohisy, and Dr Perry Schoenecker founded the ANCHOR Group. He and Dr Young-Jo Kim established the Children’s Hospital Hip Fellowship in 2003. He is a member of POSNA, EPOS, the American Hip Society and the International Hip Society. Dr. Millis received the Pro Maximis Meritis Award from EPOS in 2017.

Presidential Guest Speaker

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.

Presidential Guest Speaker

Deborah Eastwood, MB, ChB, FRCS

Dr. Eastwood is a Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore, in London. She is member of EPOS and served on Executive Committee between 2009-2015 and as EPOS President in 2013-14. Dr. Eastwood’s completed her orthopaedic training at the Birmingham and Bristol Programs, and undertook several paediatric orthopaedic fellowships, at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Her clinical practice incorporates a wide variety of paediatric orthopaedic conditions, with a particular expertise in children with overgrowth syndromes, metabolic bone disease, neurological conditions, clubfoot and hip dysplasia. During her career Dr. Eastwood has received many awards, including; the Zimar Palmudio SICOT Fellowship (1993); the ABC Travelling Fellowship (1994); Percivall Pott Trainer of the Year (2014) nominated by the trainees on the (regional) Royal London /Barts rotation for teaching/supporting/mentoring and BOTA Trainer of the Year – runner up (2016) nominated by trainees, assessed by educationalists and selected on interview. She was also awarded with the “John Sharrard Award” for the Best Clinical Paper (EPOS 2014) and the Best E- Poster (POSNA annual meeting 2012). She is a member of BSCOS, BOA, and the RCS of England and has editorial responsibilities within Bone and Joint Journal (previously JBJS-B), Journal of Children’s Orthopaedics and Injury. She also reviews in a regular/occasional basis for Lancet, British Medical Journal, Annals of the Royal College of Surgeon, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Haemophilia, British Journal of Infectious Disease and Radiology. During her career she dedicated part of her time to education with numerous educational activities in Europe, South America, United States and China. She has published over 76 peer reviewed scientific articles, numerous book chapters and was the Editor of two textbooks.

Presidential Guest Speaker

James Roach, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Neil Green, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Charles Price, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Jean Dubousset, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

James Kasser, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Kaye E Wilkins, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Scott Mubarak, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

J. Anthony Herring, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Colin Moseley, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Alvin Crawford, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Michael Goldberg, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Dennis Wenger, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Lynn Staheli, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Peter Armstrong, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Clifford Tabin, PhD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Stuart Weinstein, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Norris C. Carroll, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Vern Tolo, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Bruce Latimer, PhD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Robert Hensinger, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

R. Mervyn Letts, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Mercer Rang, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Howard Steel, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

G. Dean MacEwen, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Sherman Coleman, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Richard L. Cruess, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Anders Langenskiold, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Mr. Anthony Catterall

Presidential Guest Speaker

Ignocito Ponseti, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Martin Barkin, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Clement Sledge, MD

Presidential Guest Speaker

Clement Sledge, MD

Special Effort and Excellence Award

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.

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Derek M. Kelly, MD

Derek M. Kelly, MD is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery for the University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He serves as the Campbell Clinic Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship Director, and the Campbell Clinic Assistant Orthopaedic Residency Program Director. After graduation from medical school and orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR, he completed the Dorothy and Bryant Edwards Fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic and Spine Surgery at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, TX. He currently practices pediatric orthopaedics and spinal deformity surgery at Campbell Clinic and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN. He 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 served on multiple committees and currently chairs the POSNA Publications Committee. He also serves as the Deputy Editor for Review Articles for the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. He is an active member of the International Perthes Study Group (IPSG) where he serves as Chair of the Membership Committee. He was a POSNA/EPOS Traveling Fellow in 2016. He has contributed over 65 peer-reviewed scientific articles to the orthopaedic literature, as well as numerous chapters to orthopaedic textbooks. He has been married to Hallie for 13 years and has two daughters, Muriel (6) and Anabel (4).

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Jeffrey E. Martus, MD

In Recognition of his Outstanding Service to the Mission of POSNA, especially his leadership of the Publications and E-Editorial Committees and as Editor of OKU Pediatrics 5.

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Brian D. Snyder, MD

In recognition of his Outstanding Service to the Mission of POSNA, especially his leadership of the pediatric device committee and forum, and representation of pediatric orthopaedic research in the national orthopaedic community.

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Donald Bae, MD

Donald S. Bae, MD is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Attending Surgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital. He also serves as co-director of the Harvard Hand and Upper Extremity Fellowship, Associate Clinical Director of the SimPeds Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Associate Program Director of the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Surgery Residency.

After completing his undergraduate and medical school degrees at Harvard, Dr. Bae completed orthopaedic surgery residency in the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program. He joined the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital after fellowship training in both pediatric orthopaedics and hand surgery. Clinically, Dr. Bae specializes in congenital, traumatic, neuromuscular, and sports-related conditions of the hand and upper limb.

In addition to patient care, his clinical research focuses on pediatric upper limb conditions, including congenital differences of the hand. Dr. Bae currently serves as PI of a multicenter prospective longitudinal cohort study of children and adolescents with distal radius fractures, supported by a POSNA Quality-Safety-Value grant. He is co-PI of a multicenter prospective registry of congenital hand differences, with currently over 2,500 patients enrolled across seven institutions in North America. Most recently, he has helped form a multicenter effort studying osteochondritis dissecans of the elbow.

A devoted member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, Dr. Bae has previously served on the POSNA Board of Directors as the junior member-at-large, as chair of the Educational Courses Committee, and most recently Director of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium.

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Kenneth Noonan, MD, MHCDS

Ken is the director of Pediatric Orthopaedics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Ken graduated from Luther College in Decorah, and Medical School from the University of Iowa in 1989. He performed his residency at the University of Iowa and is proud to have learned from Ignacio Ponseti, Stuart Weinstein, Fred Dietz, and other leaders in orthopaedics. He then spent a year in the Ponseti Laboratory studying growth plate chondrocytes as an NIH Training Grant Fellow. Ken counts his subsequent clinical fellowship year as being formative as his director, Chad Price, models the perfect synergy of art and science in the field. 

After fellowship, Ken spent 5 years at Riley Children’s Hospital as an assistant professor. He has fond memories of working, learning, and maturing with his partner Kos Kayes, and is honored to have learned how to manage children with spina bifida from Richard Lindseth. In 2001, Ken and his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin to begin work at the University of Wisconsin and equally important; to be closer to family, cross country skiing, and trout. For the last 20 years, in Madison, Ken has been practicing general pediatric orthopaedics that includes spine, upper extremity, neuromuscular, limb deformity, lower extremity, and oncologic reconstruction. His research and service has been equally diverse; every year he travels to Honduras to deliver care in this underserved country. Over time, Ken recognized an appreciation for the administration of health and recently completed a Master’s in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth College. 

Ken considers POSNA as a second family and has been honored to have been selected as a Traveling Fellow, serve the family as a POSNA Junior Board Member, Secretary of the Board, and as the chair of multiple committees including the Program Committee, Specialty Day Committee, Industry Relations Committee, ECC Committee, By-Laws Committee, IPOS Advisory Board, AAOS CME Courses Committee, and the AAOS Trauma Evaluation Committee. Ken’s passion for education lead him to chair multiple CME courses for POSNA and AAOS. Most recently, Ken has spearheaded the development of JPOSNA and is the initial Editor in Chief. 

Special Effort and Excellence Award

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.

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Marcella R. Woiczik, MD

a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Shriners Hospitals for Children, Salt Lake City, and the University of Utah. Dr. Woiczik grew up in Buffalo, NY. She graduated from the Medical College of Ohio and completed her orthopaedic surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her pediatric orthopaedic fellowship training was completed at the University of Utah, and she spent some additional time learning advanced hip preservation techniques in Bern, Switzerland in 2010.

Dr. Woiczik has nearly 15 years of clinical experience, with a focus on trauma, clubfoot, and hip disorders from infancy through young adulthood. She served as the fellowship director of the University of Utah program for 8 years. She has served on multiple committees within the AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) and POSNA (Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America) throughout her career, with specific leadership roles as chair of the AAOS Emerging Professionals Committee and the POSNA Fellowship Training and Qualifications Committee. Her goals have been to support and promote optimal fellow education and training.

Whenever possible, Marcella spends time hiking with her husband, Tim, and two Labradors, Addie and Lucy. 

Special Effort and Excellence Award

Carter Clement, MD, MBA

Carter Clement, MD, MBA, is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans and associate professor of orthopaedics at LSU. He trained at Penn, UNC, and Rady Children’s Hospital before returning to his hometown to practice. He specializes in spine deformity, hip preservation, and complex foot deformity.

Dr. Clement has been a POSNA member for 5 years and is an enthusiastic member of the PEMR and POGO Committees. He is passionate about international medical work and has spent time abroad volunteering in numerous countries. He is also very engaged in education, including serving as associate program director for LSU’s orthopaedic surgery residency and as chair of the Education Committee in the division of pediatric orthopaedics. He has won multiple teaching awards in these roles.

Whenever possible, he enjoys spending time with his three young children (especially practicing for Little League and watching Mardi Gras parades) and exploring the New Orleans restaurant scene with his wife, Meredith.

Special Efforts and Excellence Award

Jeffrey R. Sawyer, MD

In recognition of his Outstanding Service to the Mission of POSNA, especially his leadership of the Practice Management Committee in researching, reporting and monitoring the pediatric orthopaedic work.

Special Efforts and Excellence Award

Bryan Tompkins, MD

In recognition of his Outstanding Service to the Mission of POSNA, especially his leadership and countless hours invested in building and renovating POSNA’s technological capacity.

Special Efforts and Excellence Award

Richard M. Schwend, MD

In recognition of his outstanding service to the Mission of POSNA, especially his leadership on the Children’s Orthopedics in Underserved Regions Committee and leadership in liaising with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Special Efforts and Excellence Award

Michael G. Vitale, MD

In recognition of his outstanding service to the mission of POSNA. Especially his leadership on the Industrial Relations Committee in fostering increased sponsorship of our educational and research programs.

Special Efforts and Excellence Award

Todd A. Milbrandt, MD

While still a candidate member, he designed and implemented the new POSNA website, thereby saving POSNA over one hundred thousand dollars.

St. Giles Young Investigator Award

Michael Patrick McClincy, MD

Evaluation of Capsular Impact on Hip Biomechanics Under Physiologic Loading

St. Giles Young Investigator Award

Brendan Williams, MD

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “Development of A Trochlear Dysplasia Porcine Model - A Pilot Study” 

St. Giles Young Investigator Award

Romie Gibly, MD, PhD

The Impact of E-cigarette Vaping on Bone Metabolism

St. Giles Young Investigator Award

Daniel Miller, MD

Effects of Surgery on Seating Pressures in Neuromuscular Scoliosis Patients