Leadership profile: Chair, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation

The opportunity

The Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is a nationally recognized leader in academic medicine. The department is committed to conducting cutting edge research, training the next generation of leaders, and providing world-class patient care for both adult and pediatric patients. 

A key feature of the department is its institutional setting within a top-tier university and the nation’s first School of Medicine and Public Health. The department’s more than 50 faculty members span nine divisions covering arthroplasty, foot and ankle, hand, musculoskeletal oncology, pediatrics, spine, sports, trauma, and physical medicine & rehabilitation.

The department is nationally recognized for its contributions to research, education, and clinical care in orthopedics and rehabilitation. The orthopedic program has been consistently ranked No. 1 in Wisconsin and in the top 50 hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. A surgical subspecialty hospital that opened in 2015 serves as the main clinical location for the department’s faculty physicians.

Research in the department bridges basic, translational, and clinical areas and aims to generate new knowledge to keep people of all ages moving throughout their lifetime. Research areas range from laboratory work focused on the use of stem cells for cartilage and bone regeneration, to field-based work on sports- related concussions and injury prevention and treatment in young athletes.

The department is dedicated to teaching and training the next generation of leaders in orthopedics and rehabilitation. It is home to an orthopedic surgery residency program, physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program, and five fellowship programs. In addition, the department is highly engaged in the education of health professions students at the school, offering curricular leadership and instruction on musculoskeletal topics.

The department also maintains a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and understands the work that must be done to increase representation in the fields of orthopedics and rehabilitation. The department has made great strides in gender representation over the last decade and is also committed to advancing racial representation in these historically non-diverse specialties.

The chair will be an innovative leader and a highly respected individual in the fields of orthopedics and rehabilitation, as well as someone who can continue to foster a climate focused on accountability, honesty, respect, and excellence. They will possess a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and will advance the department’s culture of teamwork and consensus-building, positioning the department to be a community and institutional leader.

Organization overview

UW–Madison

“For me, the Wisconsin Idea is the clear vision for what a public university is and should be. I want to celebrate it as a national and even global model for why public universities matter. It’s my goal to keep our teaching, research, and outreach missions strong, to support our students, and to make the university a more diverse and inclusive place to live, learn, and work.” — Jennifer L. Mnookin, Chancellor

Since 1848, this campus has been a catalyst for the extraordinary. As a public land-grant university and one of the most prolific research institutions in the world, UW–Madison is home to those who are driven by a desire to both explore new worlds and to apply new ideas to real-world problems.

With a total annual budget of over $3.6 billion, including more than $1.3 billion in annual research expenditures, UW–Madison has been in the top 10 in national research spending every year since 1972. The campus is home to more than 24,000 faculty and staff and 47,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree students. Members of the student body represent all 50 states and 112 countries. The university was ranked the number one public university and fourth overall in Washington Monthly’s 2021 College Guide and Rankings and is ranked 10th among public institutions in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 rankings of best colleges.

The Wisconsin Idea — the principle that the university should improve people’s lives beyond the classroom — has been guiding the efforts of UW–Madison Badgers for more than a century. The university has been dedicated to studying poverty and social inequity for 50 years, is ranked No. 1 among large schools for producing Peace Corps volunteers, and boasts 20 Nobel Prize winners among its faculty and alumni.

School of Medicine and Public Health

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) is recognized as an international, national, and statewide leader in education, research, and service. Founded in 1907, it transformed into the nation’s first School of Medicine and Public Health in 2005 to integrate the principles and power of interwoven medical and public health approaches in all of its missions.

Powered by more than 5,500 employees, including over 2,000 faculty, the school’s engagement spans the entire state of Wisconsin and includes a deep commitment to improvement of the health of the population. This commitment manifests itself in innovative models that serve as paradigms for the rest of the country.

Members of the school rapidly translate discovery into application and continually foster synergies between clinical care, education, and research. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top medical schools, SMPH has established high-performance academic programs that are intentionally distributed across the entire spectrum of academic medicine. Its faculty members hold appointments in 27 departments — 17 in the clinical sciences and 10 in the basic sciences. The faculty is composed of some of the nation’s leading researchers, educators, and clinicians. This includes several National Medal of Science recipients and National Academy of Science honorees.

Mission and values

UW SMPH strives to carry out its mission of advancing health and health equity through remarkable service to patients and communities, outstanding education, and innovative research. It upholds the values of integrity and accountability, compassion, diversity, equity and inclusivity, and excellence. The school’s Shared Guidelines for Professional Conduct help the SMPH community embody these values in their daily activities.

Fostering a diverse and inclusive community is important both as an end in itself and also as a valuable driver of eliminating health disparities. The school strives to be comprised of a diverse, inclusive academic community committed to excellence and equity in health; wellness through teaching and learning, clinical service, and advocacy; and research in all forms of biological science, population health science, and health care.

SMPH is dedicated to creating an inclusive, collaborative, respectful, and welcoming environment in which all faculty, students, and staff will thrive. This effort is referred to as Building Community, and includes a call to action for every SMPH member to examine not only our intent, but our impact — “Every Person. Every Action. Every Time.”

UW Health

UW Health is the integrated health system of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, serving more than 700,000 patients each year in the Upper Midwest and beyond with 1,849 physicians and 21,000 staff at seven hospitals and more than 80 outpatient sites. The health system’s overall annual budget is approximately $3.8 billion. UW Health is governed by the UW Hospitals and Clinics Authority and partners with UW School of Medicine and Public Health to fulfill patient care, research, education, and community service missions.

UW Health Hospitals, which includes both University Hospital on the UW–Madison campus and UW Health East Madison Hospital on the east side of Madison, has been ranked No. 1 in Wisconsin for 10 years in a row by U.S. News and World Report. University Hospital is one of only 25 U.S. hospitals named to Newsweek’s “Top 100 Global” list, which includes hospitals in 11 countries around the world. American Family Children’s Hospital is also nationally ranked as a top children’s hospital. UW Health has been designated by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as a Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality in the Healthcare Equality Index.

Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation

Founded as a division of general surgery in 1926, the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation obtained departmental status in 2000. Since that time, the department has grown from 11 to more than 50 faculty members and from 3 to 45 advanced practice providers.

The department consists of a productive group of faculty and staff, including 51 physicians (28 surgeons), 45 advanced practice providers, 30 orthopedic surgery residents, 9 rehabilitation residents, 4 orthopedic surgery fellows, and 2 non-surgical fellows, as well as talented clinical staff, research personnel, and administrative teams. Each of the department’s nine divisions is co-led by two faculty members. A clinical vice chair, research vice chair, and vice chair of rehabilitation currently support the department chair in strategic decision-making.

The department has made progress toward gender equality, and is among the top academic departments in the nation in terms of female faculty and resident representation. As of January 2023, 37% of the department’s faculty (29% of surgeons) are female. Thirty percent of residents are female. In addition, the department is deeply committed to advancing racial diversity in these specialties, recognizing that they are some of the least diverse of all medical subspecialties.

Department physicians see patients at multiples sites across the city of Madison: University Hospital, UW Health East Madison Hospital, American Family Children’s Hospital, William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, UnityPoint Health – Meriter, and the Madison Surgery Center. Faculty in the department also provide care to numerous Badger collegiate athletes who are part of the university’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (UW Athletics), in collaboration with the division’s athletic trainers.

The orthopedic surgery residency hosts six residents per year and the physical medicine and rehabilitation residency hosts three, in addition to the department housing five prestigious fellowships. The department is also highly involved in the phase 1 musculoskeletal section for the Mind and Motion course in the Doctor of Medicine program’s ForWard curriculum.

Gradutate medical education programs:

• Orthopedic surgery residency
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation residency
• Adult reconstructive fellowship
• Non-operative pediatric orthopedic fellowship
• Pain medicine fellowship
• Spine surgery fellowship
• Sports medicine fellowship

Divisions and faculty headcount:

• Arthroplasty: 6
• Foot and ankle: 3
• Hand: 3
• Musculoskeletal oncology: 1
• Pediatrics: 5
• Spine: 4
• Sports: 10
• Trauma: 5
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 14

The department’s vibrant research portfolio has exceeded $13 million over the last five years. Many faculty hold scientific leadership positions, serve on peer review panels for federal agencies, and help develop and co-author national clinical guidelines. A robust fundraising program supports pilot projects. Research interests cover trauma, sports medicine, athlete performance, biomechanics, stem cell regeneration and therapy, and tissue engineering. 

Major research programs have both a local and national impact:

• Orthopedic Research Labs are located in the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research: the Biomechanical Advances in Medicine laboratory, where novel engineering advances are translated to enhance personalized musculoskeletal treatments; the Musculoskeletal Biology and Regenerative Medicine laboratory, which develops and evaluates stem cell-based therapies as regenerative treatments for tissue repair; and the Bioinspired Materials laboratory, which is building innovative biomaterials to address challenges in biology and medicine.
• Wisconsin Sports Injury Research Network is a community-based research program focused on the incidence, risk factors, prevention, and health outcomes for musculoskeletal injuries and related conditions in youth sports. Since its inception, this network has worked with over 300 high schools and youth sport clubs and enrolled 40,000 adolescent athletes as research participants.
• Badger Athletic Performance Program, in partnership with UW Athletics, functions to advance the science of athlete care and performance with a goal of reducing sports-related injury and improving athlete well-being. Innovative collaborations between researchers, clinicians, coaches, and industry partners provide research opportunities for many of the department’s clinician- scientists and learners.
• Collaborative Research Network of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine is housed in the department and strives to create opportunities for high-impact research within sports medicine and sports science, develop the pipeline for future researchers who can conduct research of the highest quality and methodology, and translate research into outcomes that improve community health. 

Qualifications and attributes of leadership

The successful candidate will have a compelling vision for the future of orthopedics and rehabilitation in a leading public academic institution and medical center. The chair will possess proven leadership and management skills as well as an outstanding academic background and dedication to furthering diversity of the faculty, staff, and students in the department and establishing an inclusive and professional work environment. The chair will provide strategic, academic, and administrative leadership of the highest quality to this distinguished department in its patient care, research, teaching, and service missions. 

Applicants must have a MD, MD/PhD, DO or equivalent degree(s); active board certification in their field; eligibility for a Wisconsin Physician license; have a substantial record of achievement in administrative leadership, clinical care, teaching across the full continuum of learners; and a strong academic background that would qualify for appointment as a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The community

Located on an isthmus between two lakes, Madison is the capital city of the state of Wisconsin. Madison has been voted:

• No. 1 Best Place to Live in the USA (Liveability, 2022)
• No. 1 City for Most Successful Women Per Capita (Forbes, 2019)
• No. 1 City for Best Work-Life Balance (SmartAsset, 2022)
• No. 7 Best City for STEM Professionals (CEO World, 2020)
• No. 4 Best State to Practice Medicine (WalletHub, 2022)
• No. 2 Best City for Biking (People for Bikes, 2020)
• No. 2 Fittest City in the U.S. (ACSM American Fitness Index, 2022)
• No. 2 Best Cities for Millennials (rent.com, 2020)
• No. 4 Greenest City in the US (Zippia, 2020)
• No. 1 Best Place to Retire (Money, 2020)
• No. 1 Best Place in the U.S. for Raising Children (DiversityDataKids.com 2020)
• No. 1 Best College Football Town in America (Sports Illustrated, 2019).

Madison’s technology economy is growing rapidly, and the region is home to the headquarters of Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, American Family Insurance, American Girl (Mattel), Sub-Zero, and Lands’ End, as well as many biotech, healthcare IT, and health systems startups.

The city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Madison acknowledge that they occupy ancestral Ho-Chunk land. The School of Medicine and Public Health recognizes the health inequities faced by Native communities and pledges to address this as an important component of its missions.

Madison is the second largest city in the state, with a city population of approximately 273,000 and regional population of over 1 million. It is the fastest-growing county in the state of Wisconsin. The city is within easy driving range of Chicago and Milwaukee. Madison offers numerous unique neighborhoods and commercial areas including the Capitol Square, State Street, Willy Street, Shorewood Hills, Maple Bluff, and Hilldale.
Suburbs and surrounding smaller communities include Sun Prairie, Middleton, McFarland, Verona, Cottage Grove, Waunakee, and Fitchburg.

Madison is home to one of the strongest local food scenes in the country with several James Beard Award winners, gastropubs, and farm-to-table restaurants. From April to October, the Capitol Square hosts the impressive Dane County Farmers’ Market, the largest producer-only farmers’ market in the country. The city is rich with cultural offerings such as the Overture Center for the Performing Arts, Orpheum Theatre, Concerts on the Square, Jazz at Five, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music and Hamel Music Center, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Opera, Madison Ballet, UW–Madison Chazen Museum of Art, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin Historical Museum, and Madison Children’s Museum, among others.

The city has a dedicated athletics fanbase which largely centers around the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Sports venues include Camp Randall Stadium, the Kohl Center, LaBahn Arena, Wisconsin Field House, and the Alliant Energy Center. Madison is home to Forward Madison FC, the first professional soccer team in the city, as well as the Madison Mallards, a college wood-bat summer baseball league team. Marquee endurance sports and specialty sporting events include IronMan Wisconsin and IronMan 70.3, Reebok CrossFit Games, Madison Marathon, and many national and international championship competitions.

Application process

Nominations

Please send nominations to:

Christopher Bradfield, PhD, and Rebecca Minter, MD,
Co-chairs of the Chair of the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Search Committee
c/o Benjamin Schultz-Burkel, DMA
4299C HSLC, 750 Highland Avenue
Madison, WI, 53705-2111
drbenjamin.schultzburkel@wisc.edu

Applications

To apply, please visit the UW-Madison jobs website, using the "apply now" button below. Candidates must apply through this portal to be considered as a candidate. Applicants will be asked to upload a CV and personal statement/cover letter detailing the following:

1. Your interest in this position and vision for the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation.
2. A summary of your background and qualifications for this position.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has a deep and profound commitment to diversity both as an end in itself but also as a valuable means for eliminating health disparities. As such, we strongly encourage applications from candidates who foster and promote the values of a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist workplace.

Applications from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals, those who identify as LGBTQ+, women, persons with disabilities, military service members, and veterans are strongly encouraged.

Deadline

To receive full consideration, please apply by January 29, 2023. The position will remain open and applications may be considered until the position is filled.

Confidentiality

Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. The University of Wisconsin is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.

Apply now