Go West!
A Review of the 2009 CORA Annual Meeting

Gerard Slobogean, M.D.
Kelly Apostle, M.D.
2008-2009 CORA Co-Chairs
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C. 

Just over 100 km north of Vancouver via the picturesque Sea-to-Sky highway lies British Columbia's playground. Home to the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter games, Whistler British Columbia played host to the Canadian Orthopaedic Residents' Association Annual Meeting over July 5-6, 2009.

This year's meeting saw a significant restructuring in format from previous years, in large part due to the loss of all formal financing for the resident's meeting. As organizers, we were skeptical regarding the numbers of attendees to expect. However, the enthusiasm for both academic research and a strong sense of camaraderie amongst Canadian residents should never be underestimated. The participation and attendance by residents across the country was overwhelming! Funding issues aside, the largest change that the CORA meeting underwent this year was having it incorporated into the COA meeting program. Twelve exceptional papers were chosen to be presented in the CORA paper session at the COA meeting. Program directors were asked to consider CORA presentations to be on par with papers accepted to the COA meeting to hopefully assist with funding for resident presenters. A second exciting addition was the introduction of the "Career Development Symposium"; a resident-directed ICL intended to stimulate conversation surrounding topics that affect residents. Attendance at both the paper session and symposium were excellent.

The quality of the papers presented was outstanding. Recognized among these were Dr. Julian Sernik from the University of Alberta and Dr. Peter Lewkonia from the University of Calgary, as recipients of the 2^nd and 3^rd prize best paper awards. Dr. Jaskarndip Chahal from the University of Toronto was awarded the J.A. Nutter award for best overall paper. The abstracts for these three award-winning papers are published just after this article.

Introduced this year by Drs. Mark Glazebrook and Kevin Wing representing the Canadian Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (COFAS), was the COFAS award for best foot and ankle paper at the CORA meeting which was presented to Dr. Syndie Singer from the University of Toronto.

We feel strongly that the CORA meeting is not only important for providing a platform to promote resident research, but to support collegiality and strong working relationships amongst future colleagues. In this regard, we were thrilled to see so many residents come out for the resident social night.

We would like to acknowledge the multiple staff from across the Country who contributed to making the 2009 CORA meeting a success. Drs. Kishore Mulpuri and Nelson Greidanus moderated and adjudicated the CORA paper session and their expertise was greatly appreciated. The overwhelming response from staff eager to present at the Career Development Symposium is a strong reminder of how dedicated and enthusiastic COA Active members are regarding resident education. Drs. Michael Gilbart (Vancouver, BC) and Cole Beavis (Saskatoon, SK) provided valuable insight on choosing a fellowship. Drs. Tim Kostamo (Burnaby, BC) and Derek Plausinis (Kamloops, BC) discussed the benefits of community orthopaedics; while Drs. Carmen Brauer (Calgary, AB) Eric Bohm (Winnipeg, MB) discussed the positive side of academia. Recent graduate Dr. Jeff Pike gave tips regarding Royal College exam preparation and Dr. Kellie Leitch (Toronto, ON) enlightened us on the financial side of starting a practice.

In closing, despite major challenges regarding the restructuring of the 2009 meeting, we were impressed by the strong support shown by CORA members and which made this year's meeting such a success. We would like to thank Ms. Cynthia Vezina, Mr. Doug Thomson and Ms. Trinity Wittman for their dedication to our organization. Without the strong organizational skills and countless hours invested in assisting us in the planning and execution of the meeting, it would have never been possible. We would also like to thank our parent organization, the COA, for allowing us to use their venue and supporting the cost of the resident research awards.

Lastly, the 2010 meeting will be held in Edmonton Alberta, and we would like to wish Drs. Julian Sernik and Roxanne Chow great success in their preparation of next year's meeting.

All the best,
Drs. Gerard Slobogean and Kelly Apostle