How to apply

OHSU participates in the Association of American Medical Colleges Electronic Residency Application Service. Applications must be submitted electronically through the ERAS system by November 1 to be considered. Please contact your dean's office for your student workstation software and information on the electronic application process.

A complete application is standard and includes the following items:

• ERAS application (CV) with photograph
• Medical school dean's letter
• Three letters of recommendation (Three is the minimum and we will accept up to four letters. We will accept either a traditional letter or the AOA Standardized Letter of Recommendation. Chair or Program Director letters are welcome but not required. We encourage applicants to obtain letters from faculty who know them best and can speak to their abilities and strengths)
• USMLE board scores - We do not have a minimum cutoff score. We normally require  Step 1 and Step 2 CK results at the time of application. Given current circumstances, if unable to schedule Step 2 examinations prior to application  that is understandable and will not preclude your consideration. Please attempt to schedule as soon as able, as it will be required to happen prior to our final ranking.
• Medical school transcripts
• Your personal statement (Please include a few sentences in your personal statement to let us know why you are interested in OHSU/Oregon.)

After the application review process is complete, you will be notified via email of your interview status. Please note that our review process lasts well into November and we generally send out interview invitations the week of Thanksgiving. Per the AOA/CORD guidelines, we will give our invitees 24 hours to respond to an interview invitation.

If you have had postgraduate training, send letters of recommendation from the program director(s) of your first postgraduate year and any subsequent residency training.

OHSU accepts international medical graduates, but they must have an Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, also known as ECFMG, certificate before they will be appointed. All applicants must be legally able to work in the United States or eligible to obtain work authorization.

Interviewing: What to expect

interview dates for the 2023-2024 academic year:

• Monday, Dec. 12, 2022 afternoon
• Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 afternoon
• Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 afternoon
• Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 morning
• Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023 morning

All interviews will be virtual using Thalmus.

Questions

For more information, please contact Robin Sasaoka, Resident and Fellowship Program Coordinator, at 503 494-5842 or e-mail sasaokar@ohsu.edu. See the AMA's fellowship and residency electronic interactive database for more details (FREIDA). Upon acceptance and hiring, drug testing and criminal record checks will be done as part of the hiring process for OHSU.

Please follow the links below for helpful information about the resident program:

• Rotation
• On call detail
• Example of monthly conference schedule
• National conferences
• Resident benefits
• Living and working in Portland

Intern year

The first year as an intern gives residents the opportunity to learn orthopaedics from the start. Half the year is dedicated to orthopaedic surgery and related specialties, including physical medicine and rehabilitation. The other half is focused on subspecialties of general surgery relevant to orthopaedics, such as vascular surgery, trauma ICU, trauma surgery, plastic surgery, and pediatric surgery. 

Orthopaedic interns are encouraged to attend orthopaedic Grand Rounds, teaching conferences and journal clubs. Interns also have sufficient time outside  the hospital to explore everything that Portland and the beautiful surrounding areas have to offer.

PGY-2 to PGY-5

These years are dedicated to the study of orthopaedics. This part of the program is set up as a mentorship program, with each resident working with 1-3 attendings on each rotation. This helps individualize training and helps residents develop surgical skills. Residents also have early exposure to the operating room to learn these skills. 

As an example of the number of procedures residents might do, one OHSU orthopaedics resident had 682 CPT codes recorded by the end of the R2 year. Most of these came from operating room cases; however, this number also included some fracture reductions and other minor procedures in the emergency department. Furthermore, the only surgical fellowship that the Department of Orthopaedics offers is in spine surgery, which leaves a wider range of educational experiences open to residents only.

The rotation cycle is designed to expose  residents to all orthopaedic subspecialties by the end of their third year. This training is useful when residents decide whether to pursue fellowship training, and in what specialty.  Finally, the orthopaedics residency includes a dedicated research rotation. Residents have protected time to focus on this important component of our resident education program. 

• On call detail 
• Monthly conference schedule
• National conferences
• Resident benefits
• About OHSU
• Living and working in Portland
• Pay scale and spouse support

• Leave policy
• Supervision of Clinical Care policy
• Review of Work Hours policy
• Protocols for Supervision policy
• Transitions of Care policy

• Intern year
  • Plastic Surgery Rotation Responsibilities
  • Plastic Surgery Intern Guide
  • St. Vincent Goals and Objectives
  • ICU
  • Trauma
  • Vascular Surgery
• Joints
• Emanuel
• Foot and Ankle
• Pediatrics PGY1
• Pediatrics PGY4
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Research
• Shriners
• Sports Medicine
  • Sports Goals and Objectives
  • Sports Rotation Orientation
  • Sports Reading list
• St. Vincent
• Trauma
• Tumor
• Upper Extremity
• Veterans Administration
  • Prior to Rotation
  • Rotation Objectives

VirtuOHSU Simulation and Surgical Training Center

This highly versatile space supports open, arthroscopic, laparoscopic, endoscopic, and microscopic technical skills training. The 7,500 square-foot simulation and surgical training center includes:

• Lab A: 2 surgical scrub sinks and a 16 table anatomy dissection lab or 8 station simulated OR (able to flex between 8 or 10 with Lab B).
• Lab B: 2 station simulated OR (able to flex to become part of 10).
• Lab C: Microsurgery suite with 8 Ziess microscopes.
• 70 seat amphitheater with full AV and conferencing capabilities;
• 18-24 seat classroom with SMART board
• MIS Training Suite with 10 laparoscopy stations, 1 laparoscopic VR simulator, 1 endoscopic/bronchoscopic VR simulator, and 1 da Vinci Robot VR simulator.

Medical training simulator

OHSU uses the VirtaMed ArthroS™ medical training simulator to train orthopaedic residents on diagnostic and therapeutic knee shoulder, hip and ankle arthroscopy. Benefits of the simulator include:

• Residents practice procedures and build surgical skills in a risk-free, hands-on environment.
• Residents and trainers can see progress and focus training efforts.
• Skills can be objectively assessed to measure against benchmarks and targets.

2023 Fellowships

• Orthopaedic Trauma - Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA
• Hand and Upper Extremity and Microvascular Fellowship, UC Davis
• Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery - UCSF
• Adult Reconstruction - Rush University, Chicago, IL
• Hand and Upper Extremity - OHSU

2022 Fellowships

• Hand Fellowship - University of New Mexico
• Hand and Upper Extremity - Brown Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
• Sports Medicine and Shoulder - UCSF Orthopaedic Institute
• Adult Reconstruction - Rothman Orthopaedics
• Pediatric Orthopaedics - Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

2021 Fellowships

• Sports Medicine - Southern California Orthopedic Institute
• Adult Reconstruction - Rothman Orthopaedics
• Hand and Upper Extremity - University of Utah Health
• Arthroplasty - Tahoe/Reno Orthopedic Center
• Adult Reconstruction – Houston Methodist

2020 Fellowships

• Spine - New York University 
• Adult Reconstruction - Florida Orthopaedic Institute
• Adult Reconstruction - Scripps, San Diego
• Musculoskeletal Oncology - Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
• Foot and Ankle - Baylor, Dallas

2019 Fellowships

• Adult Reconstruction - Rothman Institute, New Jersey 
• Adult Reconstruction - Washington University, St. Louis, MO
• Sports Medicine - Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
• Spine - New York University
• General Orthopaedics

2018 Fellowships

• Hand and Upper Extremity – University of Chicago
• Hand and Upper Extremity – University of Alabama, Birmingham
• Hand and Upper Extremity – Cleveland Clinic
• Hand and Upper Extremity – University of Cincinnati
• Adult Reconstruction – Tahoe/Reno Arthroplasty

2017 Fellowships

• Adult Reconstruction – Scripps Health, San Diego, CA
• Adult Reconstruction – University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
• Adult Reconstruction – Melbourne Orthopaedic Group, Melbourne, Australia
• Sports Medicine – Steadman Hawkins Clinic, Denver, CO

2016 Fellowships

• Adult Reconstruction – Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ
• Adult Reconstruction – Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
• Trauma & Adult Reconstruction – Dr. Paul Duwelius, Orthopaedic + Fracture Specialists, Portland, OR and Sydney Arthroplasty and Trauma, Sydney, Australia
• Shoulder & Elbow Surgery – Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
• Spine Surgery – Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

2015 Fellowships

• Adult Reconstruction – Tahoe Reno Arthroplasty, Reno, NV
• Adult Reconstruction – University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
• Hand & Upper Extremity – University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
• Pediatric Orthopaedics – Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• Foot & Ankle – Melbourne Orthopaedic Group, Melbourne, Australia and Summit Orthopaedics, Portland, OR

2014 Fellowships

• Sports Medicine – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
• Foot and Ankle – University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
• Spine – Spine Institute of Arizona, Scottsdale, AZ
• Orthopaedic Traumatology – R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center/University of Maryland
• Shoulder and Elbow – Rothman Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA

2013 Fellowships

• Foot and Ankle – Campbell Clinic, Memphis, TN
• Trauma – UCSF, San Francisco, CA
• Adult Reconstruction – Dr. Paul Duwelius, Portland, OR
• Sports Medicine – Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City, NW
• Foot and Ankle – Melbourne Orthopaedic, Australia

2012 Fellowships

• Trauma – OrthoIndy, Indianapolis, IN
• Shoulder and Elbow – Dr. Frederick Matsen and Dr. Winston Warme at University of Seattle, WA
• Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy and Reconstructive Surgery – Southern California Orthopedic Institute (SCOI), Van Nuys, CA
• Foot and Ankle – Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan

2011 Fellowships

• Foot and Ankle fellowships – Oakland bone and joint Specialists/Middlemore Hospital, Auckland NZ 
• Spine – University of Utah Health Care
• Total Joint Arthroplasty – Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.

​​​​​​​2010 Fellowships

• Shoulder and Upper Extremity – Dr. Stephen S. Burkhart, San Antonio, Texas
• Spine – San Francisco Spine Institute
• Hand Surgery – C.V. Starr/St. Luke’s/Roosevelt, New York, N.Y.
• Hand Surgery – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass.

​​​​​​​2009 Fellowships

• Foot and Ankle – Duke University
• Sports Medicine – Southern California Center for Sports Medicine
• Sports Medicine – Santa Monica

​​​​​​​2008 Fellowships

• Spine – San Francisco Spine Institute
• Hand – University of New Mexico

2007 Fellowships

• Spine – San Francisco Spine Institute
• Spine – St. John’s/Santa Monica
• Sports Medicine – TRIA (Twin Cities)

2006 Fellowships

• Trauma – Vanderbilt University
• Trauma – Harborview Medical Center/University of Washington

2005 Fellowships

• Trauma – OrthoIndy Methodist
• Sports Medicine – Pasadena Sports Medicine

2004 Fellowships

• Trauma – Hennepin County
• Hand – Green’s San Antonio

2000-2003 Fellowships

• Spine – University of Washington
• Sports Medicine – Taos Sports Medicine Institute
• Sports Medicine – Pasadena Sports Medicine
• Orthopaedic Oncology – Massachusetts General Hospital