Bassam A. Masri, M.D., FRCSC
Chair, Exchange Fellowships Committee
Vancouver, BC

Wouldn’t experiencing orthopaedics at different centres throughout North America or the world be a wonderful opportunity? How about if we also tell you that you will be treated like royalty? You will be the honored guest of Department Chairmen all over the world, you will be asked for your opinions on your areas of expertise, and you will lecture many very interested audiences. In return, you will learn about the research activities of the various centres that you visit. This may sound too good to be true, but it isn’t.

The Canadian Orthopaedic Association has set up a number of travelling fellowships specifically for this one reason: to allow and encourage interactions with colleagues all over the world. The Exchange Fellowships Committee of the COA has been charged with organizing these fellowships in collaboration with the American Orthopaedic Association.

There have been a number of changes to the fellowships administered by the Exchange Fellowships Committee. The CFBS (Canadian, French, Belgian and Swiss) Travelling Fellowship, because of its specific focus, has been transferred to the Quebec Orthopaedic Association (QOA). Interested applicants should contact the QOA directly for further information ( Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir ). The Hong Kong Ambassadorship has been discontinued due to a lack of applications over the past several years.

The remaining fellowships include the North American Travelling Fellowship (NATF), the Austrian, Swiss and German Travelling Fellowship (ASG), and the flagship ABC (American, British, and Canadian) Travelling Fellowship. Having completed both the NATF in 1996 and the ABC in 2001, I can personally attest to the tremendous value of these fellowships.

One Canadian applicant joins a number of American colleagues on a tour of one third of the continent - visiting a number of prominent centres during a four-week period. The NATF applicant has to be within three years of having completed his/her residency training. This is an excellent opportunity to see other centres within North America at an early stage in one’s academic career. The application deadline for the 2005 tour has been extended to November 1, 2004.

The ASG Fellowship allows more senior surgeons (up to the age of 50) to visit Europe and encounter perhaps a different flavour of our profession. It is an excellent opportunity to experience European orthopaedics first hand. One Canadian surgeon will join colleagues from the United States and the United Kingdom on this tour. The application deadline for the 2006 tour is February 12, 2005.

The ABC Fellowship allows young surgeons, up to the age of 45, to spend about three weeks in the United Kingdom, and one to two weeks in the southern hemisphere: either Australia and New Zealand, or South Africa. This is the flagship travelling fellowship of the COA and the AOA. Two Canadian surgeons will join five American surgeons on this tour. The application deadline for the 2005 tour has been extended to July 1, 2005.

As Chairman of the Exchange Fellowships Committee, I would like to encourage any interested academic surgeons to apply. I would also like to ask each orthopaedic Department Chair to nominate at least one candidate from their programme for each of the three fellowships, and encourage them to apply. The continued success of these excellent opportunities rests on the support of the membership of the organization, and the interest of academic surgeons.