Our department has been named to the Becker’s Hospital Review’s 2025 list of 100 hospitals and health systems with exceptional orthopedic programs. 

The department’s participation in the AOA’s Own the Bone program, led by Lori Fitton, PhD, ARNP, CNP, CCD, was named among the institutions awarded Star Performer recognition. Only sites that have achieved a 75% compliance rate on at least 5 of the 10 Own the Bone prevention measures qualify for this designation. 

Don Anderson, PhD, was recently recognized as a co-author on a paper that received the Roger A. Mann Award at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. The award-winning paper, “Enhancing the progressive collapsing foot deformity (PCFD) classification system through the establishment of defined radiographic cut-off threshold values for the different deformity classes,” highlights research originally supported by a departmental pilot grant. 

Don Anderson, PhD, was inducted as a Fellow of International Orthopaedic Research at the 2025 World Congress of Orthopaedic Research in Adelaide, Australia. 

Don Anderson, PhD, Larry Marsh, MD, and Mitchell Coleman, PhD, will lead a primary investigative site as part of a $7.8 million CDMRP Clinical Trial Award to Indiana University (Todd McKinley, PI). 

Joseph Buckwalter IV, MD, MS, Jose Morcuende, MD, PhD, and Stuart Weinstein, MD, have been included in the 2024 Wall of Scholarship celebrated by the College of Medicine. This prestigious honor is determined by their published research articles, which have achieved citations of more than 1,000 times in at least two of the three recognized academic indexes: Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. 

Bopha Chrea, MD, named the 2025 Inherited Neuropathy Fellow through the Inherited Neuropathy Consortium. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA), the nation’s largest philanthropic supporter of CMT research, has announced its 2025 Inherited Neuropathy Fellow through the Inherited Neuropathy Consortium (INC). 

Bopha Chrea, MD, received The Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellowship (NATF) Tour is one of the AOA’s flagship tours. The NATF promotes significant clinical and scientific exchange and fellowship. The tour is an intense introduction to the diverse ways that leaders address challenges facing orthopedics today.  She traveled to the following facilities from October 4 – November 1,: University of California Davis, University of Utah, University of Arizona Phoenix, University of Minnesota, University of British Columbia, University of Colorado, University of New Mexico, Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, Naval Medical Center San Diego, University of California San Diego, University of California Los Angeles, Cedars Sinai Medical Center. 

Joseph Galvin, DO, was selected for the 2025 Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) Traveling Fellowship. He traveled to NYU Langone, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and Duke University. 

Matthew Karam, MD, was inducted as a fellow of the International Orthopedic Trauma Association. 

Heather Kowalski, MD, elected Iowa Orthopaedic Society President with James Nepola, MD as the Vice-President. 

Heather Kowalski, MD, named medical director of Pediatrics Surgical Services. 

Hongshaui (Ken) Li, MD, PhD, was an invited lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Musculoskeletal Research Seminar (IMSKR) in University of Minnesota and presented “Skeletal muscle as a target for improving bone health – implications of FGF21-mediated muscle/bone interactions in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.” 

HongShuai (Ken) Li, MD, PhD, was one of the founding members of the new Skeletal Muscle section at the ORS and will serve on the Executive Leadership Committee as the Section Chair-Elect. 

Hongshuai (Ken) Li, MD, PhD, was selected as a standing member for NIH study section, The Skeletal Muscle Biology and Exercise Physiology Study Section (SMEP). The term is for 4 years (2025 to 2029). 

Hongshuai (Ken) Li, MD, PhD, mentors a MSTP student, Amelia Hurley-Novatny, who was awarded an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30 fellowship grant). The total amount is $196,724. 

Nicolas Noiseux, MD, MS, FRCSC, was course director of OrthoSkills: Techniques in Total Hip at the AAOS in Rosemont, Illinois held on September 26-27. 

Catherine Olinger, MD, MS, FAAOS, FAOA, received the Scoliosis Research Society 2025 Lori A. Karol, MD Women in Spine Award.  As a recipient of this award, she will attend the SRS 60th Annual Meeting as well as participate in a 2-3-week visiting fellowship with an SRS member. The fellowship will be completed in March 2027 at the National University Hospital in Singapore. 

Ling Wang, MD, PhD, received The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2025 Mid-Career Faculty Travel Grant. 

Robert Westermann, MD, and Michael Willey, MD, contributed with four scientific presentations and six instructional course lectures at the annual ISHA meeting in Fukuoka, Japan held on October 1-3. 

Robert Westermann, MD, was selected as the ISHA Vice-Chair of Early Career Committee and ISHA Co-Chair for Trainee Mentorship Taks Force. 

Michael Willey, MD, and Jessica Goetz, PhD, were awarded two grants from the Arthritis Foundation totaling $400,000 in research support. Their projects focus on hip dysplasia and hip mechanics. More details on their research are included below.  

• Predicting FastOA in Dysplastic Hips Using Articular Contact Mechanics 
  Contact PI: Willey 
  09/01/2024-02/28/2026 
  Total Costs $150,000 

• Persistence of Altered Contact Mechanics After PAO Placing Hips at Risk for FastOA 
  Contact PI: Goetz 
  09/01/2025-08/31/2027 
  Total Costs $246,604