Letter from the Editors-in-chief

We are very proud to bring you The University of Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Journal. This is a banner year for UPOJ as we celebrate our 20 volume and our 25 anniversary. This journal, to our knowledge, is the oldest resident-run orthopaedic journal in the country. Started in 1985 by then Chair Dr. Carl Brighton, UPOJ was published continually until 1993 and reborn in 1997 with Volume 10 bringing new life, direction, and vision to the journal. Aside from for a few difficult years, UPOJ has been published since then, continuing the tradition of resident management, financial independence, and peer-reviewed scholarship. Keith Baldwin and Surena Namdari deserve much credit for reinstating UPOJ in 2009 and praise for publishing a remarkable volume. All prior editors have set a high bar for us with Volume 20, but have also laid the groundwork for us to present this hardbound collection of quality peer-reviewed studies, reviews, and essays. We have included expert commentaries drawing from the global community of orthopaedic surgeons. Volume 20 should appeal to a broad readership, with high impact articles in all orthopaedic subspecialties. We include superb editorials ranging from historical topics to current events crisiscare in Haiti, describing the service of Drs. Samir Mehta and Derek Dombroski. We conclude with updates on the Penn Health System and a tribute to our graduating residents. UPOJ remains financially independent from the department, as it has since 1997. This production is only made possible by the generous support of our advertisers, whose artwork can be viewed herein, and by educational grants from Synthes North America. We are grateful for all support and recognize that healthy and productive academic collaborations with industry can and do occur. Not only does this year bring a milestone issue for our journal, it brings a time of changes to the administration of our Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. We dedicate this issue to Dr. Richard Lackman for his 10 years of successful leadership as Chairman of our department and program director of our residency. Dr. Lackman has created an environment of camaraderie between attendings and residents, ripe grounds for resident-focused training, and cohort after cohort of loyal residents to Penn Traditions, who will always regard Dr. Lackman as a leader, surgeon, teacher, mentor, and friend. We are hopeful to have even more time with Dr. Lackman, to share a casual beer over fishing or baseball, now that he has refocused his energies on his practice, the Abramson Cancer Center, and the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society. This Journal is the result of tireless efforts by several residents in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. We would like to recognize our associate editor Dr. John Scolaro, and section editors Drs. Okechukwu Anakwenze, Keith Baldwin, Ryan Moore, Surena Namdari, Nick Pappas, Mara Schenker, and Ejovi Ughwanogho. We are equally grateful for the dedication put forth by the rest of our staff and by our faculty peer reviewers. Dr. Paul Matuszewski deserves recognition for his technical expertise in maintaining our website at http://www.upoj.org and designing a highly functional electronic article submission and review system. With remarkable energy, Dr. L. Scott Levin has shown great enthusiasm in the department’s support of UPOJ as chairmen have since Dr. Brighton in 1985. We are grateful for his interest and involvement in UPOJ and are excited be on his team of Penn Orthopaedics. Finally, thank you to Samir Mehta, our faculty advisor and former UPOJ Editor-in-Chief for Volume 17. Dr. Mehta shared freely his valuable experiences as editor, his expertise in orthopaedics and trauma, as well as his academic insights and acumen that a production like UPOJ requires.