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.

Upcoming Tour Information

Applications for the 2025 Vincent D. Pellegrini, Jr. North American Traveling Fellowship Tour will open October 2024.

Eligibility & Criteria

Applicant Criteria

2025 NATF Applicants must have completed:

  • Approved orthopaedic training (including residency and fellowships) on or after June 30, 2020. (Extended by 1 year due to COVID-19)
  • 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).

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.

Learn More

Learn more about the NATF tour through the experience of past NATF fellows. Visit the AOA Traveling Fellowships Blog.

NATF Alumni

Full Name                                                                       Traveling Year 

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
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