Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellowship

The Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellowship (NATF) Tour is one of the AOA’s flagship tours. The NATF promotes significant clinical and scientific exchange and fellowship. The tour is an intense introduction to the diverse ways that leaders address challenges facing orthopaedics today.

The tour runs approximately five weeks in the fall of odd-numbered years and travels to regional orthopaedic centers in the US and Canada, rotating the region to be visited.

Congratulations to the 2025 Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellows:

Varun Puvanesarajah, MD (AOA Emerging Leader)
Jeffrey Stepan, MD, MSc (AOA Emerging Leader)
Robert Parisien, MD, FAAOS, FAANA
Bopha Chrea, MD, FAOA

Thank you to the following institutions for hosting the 2025 Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellows!

University of California Davis
University of Utah
University of Arizona Phoenix
University of Minnesota
University of British Columbia
University of Colorado
University of New Mexico
Stanford University
University of California San Francisco
Naval Medical Center San Diego
University of California San Diego
University of California Los Angeles
Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Eligibility & Criteria

Applicant Criteria

2025 NATF Applicants must have completed:

Must have completed approved orthopaedic training (including residency and fellowships) on or after June 30, 2020. (Extended by 1 year due to COVID-19)
Must have completed approved orthopaedic training on or after the June 30, 2019, if they subsequently entered into military service.
Must be qualified to practice orthopaedic surgery in the United States; must be a United States citizen OR a Permanent Resident with a full-time position at a hospital/institution in the United States.
Able to attend the AOA Annual Leadership Meeting the year after their tour (2026 AOA Annual Leadership Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico).
Must be an active AOA Member or Emerging Leader

All 2024 tour applicants must be able to take the tour in the fall of 2025. Exact dates will be determined. Selected candidates can work with the ABOS to comply with the Boards collection of cases if it conflicts with tour dates.

Hosting

Hosts are encouraged to use their creativity to plan a unique and exciting experience that will allow the visiting fellows to grow in their leadership skills, research, and career goals. Hosts may also take advantage of any unique environments that they may have either academically or historically.

Host Responsibilities

Hosts will be asked to:

Identify a key contact person at the host institution for the AOA
Coordinate academic, leadership and social programs
Send the AOA a finalized, detailed itinerary six weeks prior to the tour
Meet the NATF Fellows when they arrive in the local area. If the fellows fly in/out of the region, fellows must be transported to/from the airport to the designated hotel or meeting location
Provide housing, meals and ground transportation for the NATF Fellows, as well as covering the costs for these arrangements

Group Host

The Traveling Fellowship Subcommittee also encourages members to “group host,” with several institutions in one area sharing the hosting duties and costs, thus adding to the diversity of the tour.

Become a NATF Host

If you are interested in hosting future NATF Fellows, please contact fellowships@aoassn.org.

Eric R. Wagner, MD	2021
Gabriella E. Ode, MD	2021
Amit Jain, MD	2021
Jason Strelzow, MD	2021
Adrian Huang, MD	2021
Rachel M. Frank, MD	2019
Christopher E. Gross, MD	2019
Daniel G. Kang, MD	2019
Julie Samora, MD, PhD, MPH	2019
Moin Khan, MD	2019
Christina Goldstein, MD	2017
MaCalus V. Hogan, MD	2017
Scott M. Tintle, MD	2017
Brian R. Waterman, MD	2017
Bheeshma Ravi, MD	2017
Anna N. Miller, MD	2015
Xinning Li, MD	2015
Addisu Mesfin, MD	2015
Jonathan Dickens, MD	2015
Bashar Alolabi, MD, MSc, FRCSC	2015
Eric J. Strauss, MD	2013
Carolyn Hettrich, MD	2013
Daniel J. Stinner, MD	2013
Sanjeev Kakar, MD, MRCS	2013
John A. Grant, PhD, MD, FRCSC	2013
Jaimo Ahn, MD	2011
John Elfar, MD	2011
Kelly A. Lefaivre, MD	2011
Peter S. Rose, MD	2011
Shane Nho, MD, MS	2011
Gregory J. Della Rocca, MD, PhD	2009
Ryan T. Bicknell, MD, MSc, FRCSC	2009
Amanda D. Marshall, MD	2009
Wellington K. Hsu, MD	2009
Robert H. Brophy, MD	2009
Samir Mehta, MD	2007
Bang H. Hoang, MD	2007
George S. Athwal, MD, FRCSC	2007
Jennifer Moriatis Wolf, MD	2007
Brett D. Owens, MD	2007
Matthew T. Provencher, MD	2005
Kevin J. Bozic, MD, MBA	2005
Heather A. Vallier, MD	2005
Johnny Tak-Choy Lau, MD, MSc, FRCSC	2005
Rex C. Haydon, MD, PhD	2005
James T. Guille, MD	2003
David L. Glaser, MD	2003
Jason L. Koh, MD	2003
William M. Mihalko, MD, PhD	2003
Brian K. Kwon, MD, FRCSC	2003
Steven L. Frick, MD	2001
Khaled J. Saleh, MD, MSc, FRCSC, MHCM	2001
Peter A. Cole, MD	2001
David W. Sanders, MD	2001
Alexander Shin, MD	2001
Jess H. Lonner, MD	1999
Herb P. Von Schroeder, MD	1999
Jeffrey C. Wang, MD	1999
Martin I. Boyer, MD	1999
Kristy L. Weber, MD	1999
David J. Hak, MD, MBA	1997
Judith F. Baumhauer, MS, MD, MPH	1997
Sohail K. Mirza, MD, MPH	1997
Ken Yamaguchi, MD	1997
Theodore Miclau, III, MD	1996
Steven D. Glassman, MD	1996
Philip J. Kregor, MD	1996
Andrew S. Levy, MD	1996
Bassam A. Masri, MD	1996
James V. Bono, MD	1995
Thomas J. Graham, MD	1995
Darren L. Johnson, MD	1995
Jeffrey M. Spivak, MD	1995
Emil H. Schemitsch, MD,FRCS	1995
Mark R. Brinker, MD	1994
Paul H. Marks, MD	1994
Mark D. Miller, MD	1994
Robert A. Pedowitz, MD, PhD	1994
George Murrell, MD,PhD	1994
John S. Kirkpatrick, MD, MS	1993
Graham J.W. King, MD	1993
Todd J. Albert, MD	1993
Thomas P. Schmalzried, MD	1993
Sean P. Scully, MD, PhD	1993
Robert F. McLain, MD	1992
Peter B. MacDonald, MD	1992
Kevin P. Speer, MD	1992
Steven H. Stern, MD	1992
Richard Berger, MD, PhD	1992

Questions?

Please e-mail fellowships@aoassn.org

Policies and Procedures

Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellowship