Research Training

A three month research rotation will be offered during the PGY 3 level. Residents will be free from clinical duties during the dedicated research rotation. Our physicians actively conduct research in both clinical and basic science areas to further advance the treatment of various orthopaedic conditions. During the research rotation, residents will be mentored at the at Shriners Hospital for Children, however research topic areas will not be restricted to pediatric orthopaedic topics. The hospital has a well maintained library with a comprehensive list of orthopaedic journals and textbooks. The hospital has a gait laboratory, an active orthotic lab, and approximately 15,000 square feet of dedicated wet lab and dry lab space.

Dr. Harry Kim has extensive laboratory research involving avascular necrosis, with an opportunity for residents to be involved with basic science laboratory research at Shriners hospital. Dr. G. Douglas Letson offers the opportunity for both laboratory research and clinical research at Moffitt Cancer Center, which houses the Sarcoma Research Laboratory, a center for ongoing research in Molecular Oncology for Sarcomas. There is a clinical research opportunity involved in translational research with clinical trials and also in clinical research for outcomes in segmental joint replacement, which is presently ongoing at the Moffitt Cancer Center. Moffitt has extensive medical libraries, computers, laboratories, IT, and staff support. The Tampa VA Hospital also offers resident research opportunities under the direction of Dr. Karen Duane and Dr. Richard Fellrath. Dr. Duane is currently conducting clinical research on deep vein thrombosis. Clinical research opportunities are available to the motivated resident at all rotation sites. Dr. Pedowitz will also participate with the research education of the orthopaedics and sports medicine residents. He had extensive prior experience with research mentorship at the resident, fellow, and medical student levels.

The ability to critically evaluate the medical literature is an extremely important part of our clinical and research training experience. Research residents will participate with journal clubs, where the focus will be the resident's ability to read scientific literature in a critical manner, giving special consideration to the article's originality, experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and validity of conclusions. In this way the resident will learn to read scholastic materials critically and discern between well-crafted experiments whose results should be incorporated into the resident's own practice and those that should be considered with skeptism. During the three month research rotation, residents will be given instruction on experimental design, hypothesis creation, and research methods by Dr. Harry Kim at the Shriners Hospital.

Residents are encouraged to continue their research experience during the clinical rotations. Clinical projects are available at all of the clinical training sites, with mentorship provided by faculty according to their specific scholarly interests. Residents are expected to complete at least one to two research projects that are of sufficient quality to present and national meetings and publish in peer-reviewed journals. Residents present their research projects to their departmental colleagues and the local community at the resident research day, which occurs towards the end of each academic year.