Leaders in Orthopedic Surgery Represent UC San Diego at National Conference

Surgeons lead every day, from the operating room to the clinic. On top of their ever-changing schedules, practitioners with an interest in leadership growth often tackle this work in their free time and on weekends.  

Next week, the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), a pillar in its field, recognizes the tireless dedication of Frank Chiarappa, M.D., an associate professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and an orthopedic oncologist with UC San Diego Health, with a formal induction as a fellow at its annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN. Chiarappa has mentored and supported dozens of orthopedic surgeons and helped found a world-class Sarcoma Program with UC San Diego Health.  

“The AOA fellowship recognizes that you’ve got a broad skillset and are making meaningful contributions to your community,” said Chiarappa. “I think that the organization’s mission really aligned with what I value as a surgeon, healthcare provider, and person.” 

Notably, the AOA has also invited Garrett Berger, M.D. and Molly Hulbert, M.D., two fourth-year residents from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, to attend the meeting’s Resident Leadership Forum. The forum provides a structured environment for emerging leaders in the field to exchange best practices in soft skills such as building trust with patients and colleagues, managing stress, and more.  

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Chair Susan Bukata, M.D., herself a Fellow of the AOA, nominated all three attendees for their separate distinctions. 

“We want people to understand that leadership has to happen at every level,” said Bukata. “Leadership requires years of development and practice. Helping these talented individuals nurture and build their gifts is key for the future of orthopedics.”  

Building momentum 

Chiarappa has been a member of the AOA’s Scott D. Boden Emerging Leaders Forum since 2020, when a mentor of his own encouraged him to join. He had joined UC San Diego in October 2019, months before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and countries began implementing stay-at-home orders.  

As isolation set in for the department’s residents, Chiarappa connected with colleagues at UC Irvine to develop a remote “crash course” to prepare residents for board certification exams. He followed the course with a certified practice exam created in partnership with Rutgers University. 

Within his own practice, Chiarappa used the momentum he’d built in the months preceding the pandemic to build something new. Reid Abrams, M.D., clinical professor of orthopedic surgery and chief of the Division of Hand and Microvascular Surgery, had tasked him with creating a new sarcoma program at the university.  

Sarcoma is and remains a collection of rare and under-studied cancers. Originating in the bones or muscles, cartilage, fat and other soft tissues of the body, sarcoma occurs in only about 1% of adult cancer cases but can make up to 15% of pediatric cancers.  

As the pandemic ground on, Chiarappa worked his new connections to begin building San Diego’s first and only medical center focusing on sarcoma. The program is now nationally recognized, offering patients expertise from surgeons at the top of their field, boundary-pushing clinical trials and minimally invasive treatments with astonishing potential. 

“Building out the Sarcoma Program and my team has been incredibly rewarding,” said Chiarappa. “We’re providing amazing care and really pushing the envelope on what can be done. We are also pioneering new treatments for patients with metastatic bone cancer. Many patients come to us in wheelchairs or stretchers, and through a tiny incision, we can insert screws and cement, burn the tumor, and these patients will walk out the next day. It doesn’t sound real, but it is.” 

Chiarappa is now on a mission to share his skills and lessons from the operating room with residents. Between restoring patients to health in the OR, teaching, and seeing patients in clinic, Chiarappa dedicated his weekends to developing a four-part lecture series introducing residents to surgical and practical skills to aid them in navigating complications, finances and the workforce.  

Creating opportunity 

Among the trainees that Chiarappa has trained is Berger, one of the two residents attending the AOA Resident Leadership Forum this summer.  

Berger is an active member of the California Orthopaedic Association, the San Diego Orthopaedic Society, and hospital leadership committees. He was part of a two-person team responsible for keeping residents connected during the COVID-19 lockdown and helped launch the “Resident Bowl,” a friendly Jeopardy-style competition meant to foster camaraderie between orthopedic surgery residents with UC San Diego and the U.S. Navy.  

He and co-resident Hulbert are approaching the Resident Leadership Forum as a chance to network and exchange ideas that could lay the groundwork for structured leadership training within their program. Both find motivation in mentoring junior residents and medical students, an endeavor made easy by UC San Diego’s nonhierarchic approach to residency.  

“I think all residents should be trained in leadership skills,” said Berger. “We’re sending residents out into the world to be surgeons representing UC San Diego, so having us work as a unit with good fundamentals in leadership reflects positively on everyone.”   

Hulbert has made her mark on the department’s residency program through her implicit bias lecture series. Informed by peer-reviewed research, the series explores various unconscious biases that could impede a surgeon’s ability to deliver the highest-quality care to all patients.  

Hulbert says that the series was partly influenced by research she co-authored during a sub-internship with Charla Fischer, M.D., chief of orthopedics for Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion, and an orthopedic surgeon at New York University Langone’s Spine Center. When Department of Orthopaedic Surgery leadership asked for volunteers to address gaps in bias training, Hulbert stepped forward with the support of Jan Hughes-Austin, M.P.T., Ph.D., and the rest of the department’s equity committee.  

Hulbert has also taken on the mantle of leadership through BONE Academy, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery’s high school outreach initiative, and a mentorship program with the UC San Diego chapter of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society. Both have given her the opportunity to pass on what she herself has learned.  

 “We have some really incredible leaders at our institution,” said Hulbert. “I think it’s important to demonstrate those skills in the operating room, and amongst colleagues and patients.” 

The department continues to foster this spirit of exchange and community throughout its ranks. To the residents attending the AOA, the opportunity and the chair’s nomination are both “hugely meaningful.”