Lessons in Orthopaedic Leadership: An AOA Podcast

Hosted by The American Orthopaedic Association

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Latest episode

May 2026

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About the show

Members and affiliates of the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) interview guests to highlight lessons in orthopaedic leadership. Interviews include orthopaedic leaders, faculty and leaders within orthopaedic departments at academic institutions and large practices, health care system leaders, rising leaders, and other medical leaders. Thanks to @iampetermartin for his contribution of introduction and conclusion jazz music.

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60 recent

June 16, 202625 min

Leading Orthopaedics Together with Frederick M. Azar, MD, FAOA

If orthopaedic surgeons stop showing up, who decides what our profession becomes? We sit down with Dr. Fred Azar, past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a longtime leader and current Department Chair at Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics, to talk about the future of organizational involvement in orthopaedic surgery and why it matters more than ever as healthcare grows more complex.We get practical about the pressures surgeons feel right now: hospital employment, limited reimbursement for memberships, shrinking time, and the reality that many clinicians no longer want to “fly to learn.” Dr. Azar argues that the winning model is not meeting-based societies but connected knowledge networks where education, mentorship, data science, AI, and shared outcomes move fast and reach surgeons where they live. The standard for engagement changes too: it has to be meaningful, efficient, and clearly tied to impact for patients.If you care about the future of musculoskeletal care, this is a conversation about unity, credibility, and showing up before someone else writes the rules. Subscribe for more, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with your take: what would make organizational involvement worth your time today?

May 11, 202639 min

A Trauma Surgeon Explains Why Ukraine Will Need Decades Of Orthopaedic Care with Roman Hayda, MD

Ballistic missiles overhead at 2 a.m. Surgeons back in the OR at sunrise. A city buying groceries and sending kids to school while medevacs arrive around the clock. That contrast is the setting for our conversation with Dr. Roman Hayda, Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma at Rhode Island Hospital and a retired US Army colonel who has traveled to Ukraine repeatedly to support frontline trauma hospitals.We trace how his Ukrainian roots and military surgical career shaped a calling for war surgery, then zoom in on what makes the current conflict medically different. With contested airspace and relentless drone surveillance, traditional evacuation assumptions collapse. When you can’t fly a helicopter and you can’t safely drive into the kill zone, the “golden hour” becomes a moving target and the downstream impact shows up in limb salvage decisions, prolonged tourniquet times, infection risk, and a growing need for amputation care and complex reconstruction.We also dig into leadership lessons for any orthopaedic surgeon considering humanitarian work: arrive with humility, listen first, adapt to limited resources, and treat teaching as a two-way exchange. Finally, we talk practical ways to help even if you never get on a plane, from donating external fixation resources to supporting reputable NGOs and advocating for sustained support.Subscribe for more conversations on the future of orthopaedic surgery, share this with a colleague who cares about trauma systems and global surgery, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question.

April 28, 202627 min

How Patient-Reported Outcomes Improve Orthopaedic Care with Judith Baumhauer, MD, MPH

“I’m fine” is one of the most expensive sentences in health care, because it can hide pain, lost function, fear, and stalled recovery. We talk with Dr. Judy Baumhauer, a national leader in orthopaedic surgery and outcomes measurement, about how patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) give patients a real voice in their care and give clinicians a clearer signal about what’s working.We get specific about PROMIS and why computer adaptive testing can measure physical function, pain interference, and even depression in just a few minutes, then trend those scores across an episode of care. Dr. Baumhauer explains how her team scaled PROMs from orthopaedics to a system-wide workflow, how results show up in the electronic health record, and why the numbers are most powerful when they spark a better conversation rather than replace one.Then we zoom out to the future of value-based care in orthopaedics: CMS requirements, public reporting, bundled payments, and the risk of choosing the wrong instrument. We dig into why certain mandated surveys can blur pain and function, how comorbidities and ceiling effects can skew “improvement,” and why PROMIS crosswalks could help standardize reporting while lowering implementation costs.If you care about patient-centered care, orthopaedic quality measurement, and where reimbursement is heading, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with your take: should PROMIS become the default language for outcomes reporting?

April 13, 202633 min

The Business Of Better Orthopaedics with Aaron M. Chamberlain, MD, MBA, MSc, FAOA

The next wave in orthopaedic surgery isn’t just surgical technique it’s how care gets organized, measured, and paid for. We sit down with Dr. Aaron Chamberlain, senior medical director for Intermountain’s musculoskeletal clinical program, to unpack why vertically integrated healthcare systems can be a powerful engine for value-based care and what that means for surgeons who want to lead, not just react.We talk candidly about “risk” and why taking on financial accountability can actually unlock better medicine: clearer incentives, tighter alignment with payers, and a sharper focus on outcomes across the full episode of care. Aaron shares how Intermountain uses deep data infrastructure, enterprise dashboards, and careful patient cohorting to reduce unwarranted variation and make cost and quality visible to clinicians. If you’ve ever wondered how an Epic-era analytics platform can change real-world practice patterns, you’ll hear the nuts and bolts.You’ll also get a concrete care redesign example: shifting appropriate hand procedures from the hospital or surgery center into the clinic, then using shared savings to reward the extra work required to make the change safe and scalable. We connect that playbook to broader trends like bundled payments and the CMS TEAM model, and we close with leadership lessons that translate anywhere: keep physicians involved, stay close to the bedside, and “fall in love with the problem” before you pitch a solution.If you found this useful, subscribe to the AOA Lessons in Leadership Podcast series, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review with the value-based care question you’re wrestling with right now.

April 7, 202635 min

Fixated on Bone: Orthopaedic Bone Health Optimization

We sit down with Dr. Paul Anderson, a nationally recognized orthopaedic spine surgeon and longtime leader in bone health, to explain how bone fragility quietly drives pseudoarthrosis, hardware failure, periprosthetic fracture, and revision surgery across orthopaedics, including spine fusion, total hip and knee arthroplasty, shoulder procedures, and sports medicine repairs. Our goal is simple: help you make bone health optimization a normal part of elective surgical planning, not an extra task that never fits the schedule. We start by clearing up a common trap: relying on a DEXA T-score alone. Dr. Anderson walks us through a more operational definition of clinical osteoporosis that combines bone mineral density, fragility fracture history, and the FRAX 10-year fracture risk calculator. That broader view catches the patients who “do not look osteoporotic” on paper but still have fragile bone and higher risk of poor outcomes after surgery. From there, we lay out a step-by-step workflow you can actually run in clinic: who to screen, when to order DEXA, how to use imaging clues like CT Hounsfield units, and why orthopaedic surgeons should feel confident interpreting DEXA quality and results. We also cover how to build referral pathways using fracture liaison services, how to think about antiresorptive vs anabolic medications, and what timing looks like when you decide to delay surgery to improve bone strength. If you want fewer failures, fewer fractures, and more predictable fixation, bone health has to be part of the plan. Subscribe and share this with a colleague.

March 9, 202643 min

Humility Scales Influence: Lessons In Succession, Mentorship, And Balance with Michael T. Archdeacon, MD, FAOA

Great leaders aren’t born in a boardroom—they’re forged in moments where stakes are high, information is messy, and people need clarity. That’s the lens we bring to a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Mike Archdeacon, trauma surgeon and long-serving chair at the University of Cincinnati, on how to navigate leadership without losing the joy of clinical work.We dig into the real mechanics of leading a modern orthopaedic department: building an executive committee that actually decides, giving vice chairs ownership, and using a predictable cadence to turn hot-button issues into shared choices. Mike breaks down a major communication miss during vendor consolidation and how he’d do it differently—define decision rights early, share constraints, and close the loop with a clear rationale. From AOA’s Chair Forum to intentional mentorship, we explore why peer spaces matter and how to spot and grow emerging leaders with targeted skill building in finance, conflict, philanthropy, and strategy.If you care about orthopaedic leadership, succession planning, and the balance between the scalpel and the C-suite, this conversation offers a practical, human roadmap. Subscribe, share with a colleague who’s eyeing a leadership role, and leave a review telling us the one leadership habit you’re working on next.

February 23, 202633 min

How A Traveling Fellowship Shapes Orthopaedic Leaders

Ready to Rethink How Orthopaedic Leaders are Made? We sit down with Rex C. Haydon, MD, PhD, FAOA, archaeologist turned musculoskeletal oncologist and Second President‑Elect of the American Orthopaedic Association—to trace the ABC Traveling Fellowship from its post‑war roots to its modern role as a launchpad for mid‑career transformation. Across five to six weeks and multiple continents, the fellowship pairs deep academic exchange with the kind of shared experience that forges lifelong mentors, collaborators, and friends. From resourceful solutions in international settings to the power of hosting fellows and paying forward the mentorship you received, this episode makes a compelling case for leaving your comfort zone to grow your career, your community, and your impact.

February 16, 202628 min

Fixated on Bone: How Orthopaedic Leaders Built Own the Bone

Fracture fixed, problem solved? Not even close. Dr. Andrea Spiker sits down with two orthopedic leaders, Dr. Marc Swiontkowski and Dr. Kyle Jeray, who helped turn a quiet crisis—osteoporosis-related fractures—into a national movement that’s changing how surgeons practice, teach, and lead.You’ll hear the untold origin story of Own the Bone and why it succeeded where earlier efforts stalled: simple, reliable interventions, clear follow-up, and a registry that reveals what works. There’s a proven playbook, real people at the AOA ready to help, and shared best practices that make programs sustainable.Owning bone health is an act of professionalism and empathy—treating the person behind the fracture and preventing the next one. If you’ve wondered how to move from “bone broke, me fix” to truly comprehensive care, this conversation gives you the history, the tools, and the push to start today.Visit the JBJS Orthopaedic Forum to read Dr. Jeray’s presidential address: https://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/abstract/2025/11050/out_of_left_field__leadership_lessons_i_didn_t_see.18.aspx.

February 9, 202635 min

Beyond the Exam: Navigating the Future of Orthopaedic Board Certification

David Martin, MD, FAOA takes us on a profound exploration of orthopaedic board certification's past, present, and future landscape. As Executive Medical Director of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS), Dr. Martin provides podcast host, Dr. Douglas Lundy, rare insights into how the certification process shapes both individual surgeons and the entire profession. Dr. Martin articulates a clear vision that balances competing priorities: "We need to increase the value of board certification and decrease the burden." This tension – maintaining rigorous standards while respecting surgeons' time constraints – drives the evolution of assessment methods. The podcast reveals how the ABOS approaches this challenge.Whether you're a medical student considering orthopaedics, a resident preparing for boards, or an experienced surgeon maintaining certification, this conversation offers valuable perspective on why rigorous professional standards matter – not just for career advancement, but for patient safety and the profession's continued autonomy. Subscribe now to hear more thought-provoking discussions about the future of orthopaedic surgery.

January 26, 202640 min

How Smarter Funding And Better Science Can Transform Musculoskeletal Care

What if the biggest breakthroughs in joint care are stalled not by science, but by budgets? We sit down with Dr. Josh Jacobs to trace the future of orthopaedic research across funding realities, scientific frontiers, and the mission to keep surgeon scientists in the game. It’s a candid look at how NIH indirect cuts, DOD reductions, and shifting hospital margins collide with the urgent need to tackle periprosthetic joint infection, chronic pain, and the rising burden of osteoarthritis.Dr. Jacobs explains why NIAMS remains a vital engine for musculoskeletal research, how advocacy can reshape priorities, and why better grant quality—paired with clinically informed study sections—may be the fastest way to win a larger share of federal dollars. If you care about the future of joint replacement, surgeon scientist careers, and truly personalized musculoskeletal care, this conversation connects the policy dots with the lab and the OR. Subscribe, share with a colleague who writes grants, and leave a review with your take on where orthopedic research dollars should go next.