Every two years, some of North America’s most promising Fellows are selected to participate in the North American Travelling Fellowship (NATF) tour, which visits a handful of orthopaedic centres across Canada and the US. NATF is an American Orthopaedic Association initiative that promotes clinical and scientific exchange and fellowship.
Notable UBC Ortho NATF alumni include Drs. Adrian Huang (2022), Kelly-Ann Lefaivre (2011), Brian Kwon (2003), Alastair Younger (1997), Bassam Masri (1996), and Stephen Tredwell (1972). Related: 2022 North American Travelling Fellows Stop by UBC Orthopaedics.
We’re excited that UBC Orthopaedics has been selected to host this year’s cohort of fellows:
- Bopha Chrea, MD
- Robert Parisien, MD
- Varun Puvanesarajah, MD
- Jeffrey Stepan, MD, MSc
- Seper Ekhtiari, MD, MSc, FRCSC
On October 16, the Fellows will present during the residents’ academic half-day from 1:00–4:00 p.m. in DHCC 9299. We encourage all UBC Orthopaedics fellows and residents to attend. RSVP to attend in person or to receive the link to attend virtually.
Speakers
Dr. Bopha Chrea, University of Iowa Medical Health Centre
Dr. Chrea is a fellowship-trained and board-certified orthopaedic surgeon on the faculty at the University of Iowa, with subspecialized expertise in foot and ankle disorders. Following her residency at the University of Mississippi, she underwent fellowship training in foot and ankle surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
Dr. Chrea is an expert in the treatment of orthopedic conditions of the foot and ankle, with a focus on trauma and post-traumatic reconstruction, deformity correction, soft tissue, and sports-related injuries. Her research focuses include post-traumatic ankle arthritis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.
Dr. Robert Parisien, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Robert L. Parisien, a Board-Certified Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Surgeon at Mount Sinai in New York City, specializes in Sports Medicine, Cartilage Regeneration, and Arthroscopic Surgery of the Shoulder, Hip, and Knee.
Dr. Parisien serves as a Team Physician for the US Ski & Snowboard and USA Fencing teams. Dr. Parisien has published over 150 scientific manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters.
In recognition of his research, Dr. Parisien has received numerous awards and has been recognized as a Clinician Scholar by the Orthopaedic Research Society. Dr. Parisien also previously participated in the prestigious AANA Traveling Fellowship.
Dr. Varun Puvanesarajah, University of Rochester Medical Centre
Dr. Varun Puvanesarajah is an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Rochester. He pursued undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina before attending Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for his medical doctorate and residency in Orthopaedic Surgery. He then completed his spine surgery fellowship at Columbia University.
Dr. Puvanesarajah is currently the Division Chief of Spine Surgery and Co-Director of the Spine Surgery Fellowship. His research interests include cervical spine trauma, basic science pathways in degenerative disc disease, and assessing post-operative recovery following elective spine surgery using both advanced motion analysis metrics and patient-reported outcomes.
Dr. Jeffrey Stepan, University of Chicago Medicine
Dr. Jeffrey Stepan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area as a first-generation American. He attended college at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, where he played soccer.
After college, Dr. Stepan attended Washington University in St. Louis for medical school, where he also completed a Master’s in Clinical Investigation. He completed residency at Hospital for Special Surgery before returning to WashU for a hand and microvascular surgery fellowship. Since finishing his fellowship, Dr. Stepan has been at the University of Chicago, where he has a clinical interest in brachial plexus and peripheral nerve surgery.
His research interest is social determinants of health and patient-reported outcome measures.
Dr. Seper Ekhtiari, McMaster University
Dr. Seper Ekhtiari is an academic arthroplasty surgeon practicing at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. After completing a Bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto, he completed medical school and residency at McMaster. He also completed an MSc in Health Research Methodology with Dr. Mohit Bhandari.
Following this, Dr. Ekhtiari completed the Hip Society’s Müller Fellowship at the ENDO Klinik in Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Cambridge in the UK. This was followed by a Complex Arthroplasty Fellowship at Sinai Health in Toronto.