At just a year and a half from the initiative’s inception, the RJOS Medical School Chapters are in full swing and continuing to grow. The chapter count now stands at over 120 chapters, with approximately a quarter being at schools without home orthopaedic programs. More importantly, as the organization grows, so does its programming. Since the last newsletter, we have hosted three national events – a Match panel, a Transition to Residency panel, and our second annual Welcome to Ortho panel – circulated new resources, including contact information for recently-matched members and a spreadsheet to find housing for away rotations, and are in the final stages of launching our resident-medical student mentorship and research pairing programs.

Most exciting, however, are our regional events, which are occurring in a range from in-person to hybrid to entirely virtual formats across all seven RJOS regions. Sponsored by a generous AAOS IDEA Grant, these events will give RJOS medical students a chance to present research, network with residents and attendings in their regions, and build connections with peers in this incredible community. First in the lineup of events were two on complete opposite ends of the country, with both the Northeast event at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the virtual Pacific-Northwest event, which took place on October 19th. Next was the Mid-Atlantic event at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City on October 26th. Next, the Southeast event will be held in a virtual format on November 9th.

After a brief Winter hiatus, the regional events will resume in the Spring of 2025 with a hybrid virtual event for the Great Lakes region on April 5th, an in-person Midwest event at KUMC in Kansas City on May 3rd, and additional events on dates to be announced in the West and Southwest/Mountain West regions.

We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported our vision for the Medical School Chapters initiative. Thank you to our incredible 15-person board and the veritable army of sub-committee members who have worked tirelessly to bring these programs and events to life, to Dr. Lieberman for serving as our faculty champion, to Dr. Franklin and the RJOS Board of Directors for supporting us, and to all of you, the RJOS Medical Students who fuel our passion for making orthopaedics more accessible!
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Sincerely,
Jessica Schmerler
RJOS Medical School Chapters Committee Chair