WVU

Hello Everyone,

I am a resident at WVU. VRSA has provided some misinformatin about our program. Were are losing Dr. Gerhmann at the end of the month, however a new Sports guy is starting the next academic year. Futhermore, the new interns would not be affected by the change.

The research year is only for one of the incoming interns. The other three interns will not be required to do a research year. Dr. Emery has been great for the program. He has brought in new faculty. The research provided by the new resident will help give WVU a new academic approach to orthopedics.

As far as fellowships, there hasn't been one resident that I know of that hasn't received the fellowship they desired. WVU graduates orthopedic surgeons that know how to operate with the best of them.

If you have any questions, please post them or e-mail me.

Orthodog
WVU PGY-3

Dear Concerned,
We appreciate your inquiries and would like to dispel any misperceptions you may have.
We do have a new chairman, Sandy Emery, from Case who was an integral part of their spine fellowship and has been a tremendous addition to ours. We also are losing a sports faculty member, Robin Gehrmann, who is returning to his Alma Mater, UMDNJ, to be closer to his family. Despite this loss, we still have sports faculty and work with all of the University's sports teams. In addition, we are adding a new sports trained faculty member in july. Kelly Bal is currently finishing his military commitment and a shoulder/elbow fellowship @ Duke. In addition to taking care of all complex sports injuries, he also has had a significant amount of trauma training.
The chairman of the department of anesthesia has also announced his resignation, which was readily accepted by administration. Dr emery is the chairman of the search committee and will bring in a strong chairman to run our newly added ORs.
As far as our operative experience is concerned, you couldn't be further off base. We get our hands dirty early & often and are very confident with our skills long before our chief year.
Lastly, we place our graduates in the best fellowship and private positions in the country. For example,I am going to Washington University to do a spine fellowship and my classmate will do his trauma fellowship at Case. I am sorry that your experience here misled you and I hope that if you have any further questions, you will contact me.
Geof Cronen
WVU Fourth Year Resident in Orthopaedics

Dr. Cronen,

I appreciate your enthusiasm for your program. I didnt imply that you didnt get good fellowships either (read my post more clearly) or that all the residents weren't well trained(some seemed outstanding - with a wide variation). However, Dr. Gehrman isnt leaving only to be closer to his family....sounds like there were issues with no time to do cases (related to the anesthesia problem, no block time etc, having to do elective cases late at night) and other internal issues. I've been told he was probably the MOST involved in teaching. Dr. Silverstein who has posted on here often(and sent me his tip sheet - thanks!) and was the education director is ALSO leaving the university and I understand had similar problems. I'm just wondering if the whole situation there is heading in the right direction. I also understand that a resident has been fired in the past few years and several have failed their boards....is that accurate?

Thanks

Still concerned

Concerned,
I will not try to dispel all of your concerns. This program like many others has negative aspects that we do not try to hide. However, the positive aspects of our program, especially in the last two years, far outweigh any perceived negatives. The beauty of bringing in a new chairman is that all of these issues, including any with the department of Anesthesia, are actively being dealt with and many have been resolved.
Regarding our education schedule, we are losing Dr Silverstein, our former education director. However, we still have the integral portion of the education committee intact and Dr Silverstein was immediately replaced by Dr Eric Jones.
Good luck in the match, and again, feel free to contact me with other questions,

Geof Cronen
WVU Fourth Year Orhtopaedic Resident

VRSA,

I did a 4 week away rotation at WVU. I found the program to be great. Dr. Emery is an outstanding Chairman and will continue to make improvements in the program. Also, I did not hear any of the attendings complain about their OR schedules or Anesthesia. All of the attendings were very busy, and had cases booked out many months in advance.

The residents at WVU are a great bunch of guys who find time to work out together, and provide a great team environment to work in. They all watch out for each other and seemed very happy with their program. These guys work hard and play hard.

As far as OR experience, It is true that they get to operate often and early. I watched a PGY-2 do a THR with minimal assistance from the Attending who was present for the whole case and provided excellent teaching points throughout the case. I also watched two PGY-4's compentently handle a very complicated trauma case. I thought the residents got to do just as much, if not more than other programs I have seen.

I agree there are several changes occuring at the program as Dr. Cronen mentioned, but I believe these will be positive changes for the future. Most of the changes will be resolved by the time we are PGY-2's.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

rotated at wvu. great program. great group of guys! operate a ton. sports vacancy not an issue, spot filled. spine is very strong. great research potential. major renovations in offices to benefit residents enormously. fun town. lots of action. very reasonable cost of living. recent upgrade in salary--more than competitive vs. any major city. emery is a super guy. no traffic. no commute. bottom line, great people and excellent training.