Sports Medicine Imaging Research Fellowship

A: Charles P. Ho, PhD, MD, is the Director of the new sports medicine MRI fellowship at the Steadman Philippon Research Institute. Please see the Imaging Research Department’s section of our website for a brief biography on Dr. Ho.

A: Yes, this is a new fellowship program for clinical sports medicine imaging, in addition to the existing six orthopaedic surgery sports medicine fellowships offered by the Steadman Philippon Research Institute. We will establish imaging data collection, and we will develop specific clinical sports medicine MRI research programs for the hip, shoulder, knee, foot and ankle, with clinical correlation and validation with physical exam and operative findings.

A: The radiology research will be done utilizing our new 3T Siemens Verio MRI onsite. The Siemens 3.0 Tesla imaging system was installed in December 2008 at Vail Valley Medical Center, where the Steadman Hawkins Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute are located. The Steadman Hawkins Clinic uses this 3T MRI machine for all of its patients who require MRIs.

A: The clinical time and research time are essentially identical as every clinical case will be evaluated and the imaging findings incorporated as data for the imaging portion of the Institute clinical data base. The breakdown of clinical research time is as follows: 1 day with sports medicine orthopedic staff and orthopedic fellows in the Steadman Hawkins Clinic seeing and evaluating patients’ clinical symptoms and physical exam findings for clinical diagnosis; 3 days spent with radiology staff evaluating patient clinical MRI exams and correlating with the clinical diagnosis and findings; 1 day spent in the operating room seeing and correlating the operative findings with the evaluations in the Clinic and on the MRI exams and learning the operative treatment techniques. The fellow will assist in designing imaging data collection forms and will be responsible for collecting imaging data on our patients for the Institute data base. The fellow will assist with analyzing the imaging data for validation by correlating with the clinical exam and operative findings. This validation process will allow the Steadman Philippon Research Institute to advance imaging capabilities.

A: This is a unique fellowship opportunity in that the clinical work is the research. The sports medicine MRI research fellow will review and read the clinical patient MRI exams with our MSK MRI staff with 20 years experience in cutting edge sports medicine MRI; assist in developing and validating clinical sports medicine MRI protocols, data, and scoring systems for incorporation together with the clinical and operative data in the Institute’s clinical database; and work with the Clinic’s sports medicine doctors in the clinic and operating room, experiencing unparalleled clinical correlation of patient MRI findings with physical exam in the Clinic and operative findings in the Operating Room. The fellow’s primary responsibility will be the clinical imaging research data collection and analysis noted above, with correlation of imaging with clinical and operative findings for clinical imaging evaluation research and outcomes, and writing papers for the peer-reviewed literature.

A: Yes, there will be one MRI fellow selected for each year. At this time we are accepting applications for one fellow for fellowship years 2015 and 2016.

A: Yes, the fellowship is sponsored by the Steadman Philippon Research Institute. Currently, the fellowship offers a competitive annual salary plus medical benefits. The coverage includes medical, dental and vision insurance.