by Emily Stembridge
Ryan Martin, MD, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, has completed the Knee Society’s Insall Traveling Fellowship, participating in training and research over a period of five weeks at 11 major medical centers in the United States.
The Insall fellowship selects only two U.S. applicants and two international applicants each year. Participants travel to the Mayo Clinic, OrthoCarolina, Duke University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, University of Utah, University of Arkansas, Indiana University, the Steadman Philippon Research Institute, the Rothman Institute, the Hospital for Special Surgery and New York University to share research experiences and learn about the best practices associated with total knee replacement at each center.
“We are thrilled Dr. Martin was selected and participated in this prestigious traveling fellowship. It is one of the highest honors for joint replacement specialists. The lessons he learned from the centers he visited will improve the care of the knee replacement patients at VUMC for years to come,” said Rick Wright, MD, Dan Spengler Professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Martin’s orthopaedic training and initial work experience actually overlapped with four of the 11 centers he recently visited during the Insall fellowship. Martin earned his MD from Indiana University; completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic; completed his fellowship at Colorado Joint Replacement with Raymond Kim, MD, orthopaedic surgeon who now works at Steadman; and accepted his first job with OrthoCarolina.
“Completing a dedicated fellowship and getting to learn from some of the top academic centers’ research and thought processes was a great opportunity as I continue my practice at VUMC,” Martin said. “It was extremely beneficial to meet thought leaders in the field, and those connections will allow us to collaborate with other institutions that have a longstanding history of arthroplasty research.”
Martin, who joined VUMC this summer as an adult reconstructive surgeon specializing in anterior hip replacements and knee replacements, will now share the lessons and techniques he learned during the Insall fellowship with his colleagues in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
“We are delighted that Dr. Martin joined the joint replacement team at Vanderbilt earlier this year, and being selected to participate in this notable fellowship is only the beginning of his contributions to the field of adult reconstruction at VUMC. We congratulate him on this honor, and look forward to further accolades in the future,” said Gregory Polkowski, MD, MSc, division chief of Adult Reconstruction.
Martin says his most memorable learning experience was witnessing complex revision surgeries at each medical center, and he looks forward to building on the research he saw to establish new techniques at Vanderbilt. Martin walked away from the experience hopeful that Vanderbilt will one day serve as a site for the Insall fellows to travel to and learn from.
“The main benefit of the Insall fellowship is what I can bring back to Vanderbilt,” Martin said. “I hope we can continue the collaborative efforts of our department with other medical centers. Vanderbilt Orthopaedics already has great people and the infrastructure required to become a site for the fellowship, and I hope that we can continue building toward that goal.”
