Academic Orthopedic Consortium Is Offering Free Virtual Education

The Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC) recently announced that it will offer free virtual educational content and webinars to all orthopedic residents and fellows.

The content will come from all of its 125 university-based orthopedic departments and will focus on helping people navigate the orthopedics job market, both academic and private practice.

“The AOC is a great, generous organization helping orthopedic surgeons navigate the real world job process, whether one is coming right out of training or from multiple other positions,” said Bonnie Chien, M.D., a clinical fellow in the department of orthopedic surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

“They provide connections to reputable organizations and other resources to help us, it indeed fulfills an area of expertise often not discussed or offered in residency.”

The most recent webinar discussed the do’s and don’ts of job search and employment agreement. The educations modules will also include:

• When and how to start job search
• What to expect in your offer letter
• How to negotiate employment agreements and job offers
• Deciding between academic vs. private practice career pathways
• An overview of contract law, including buy-ins, tail coverage, letter of intent, and non-compete
• Questions to ask/not to ask during due diligence
• Academic compensation benchmarks broken down by subspecialty
• How the AOC will assist those hiring and seeking jobs to find each other more efficiently

Each educational webinar is 60 minutes in length and is followed by live question-and-answer sessions to increase engagement and understanding amongst participants.

“Navigating the job search process for the first time can be daunting,” Daniel London, M.D., chief resident, department of orthopaedic surgery, Mount Sinai Health System, said. “The AOC has created incredibly valuable content that goes into the details of contracts and negotiations. This is knowledge I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. Residents need to be aware of this resource.”

“76% of graduating residents state that the #1 item they lacked during training was preparing for the business of orthopedics, and so we are providing free content to fill that gap to help the national academic landscape,” Michael R. Gagnon, MBA, founder and chief executive officer of the AOC and chief administrative officer-emeritus of Duke University Orthopaedics.

“We are open to any and all suggestions from those who deserve content that better equips them with context and agility to navigate more effectively.”