The American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society® (AOFAS) and the Arthritis Foundation announced a new partnership, called the Foot and Ankle Arthritis Development Program, on September 12, 2024, at the AOFAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The program will provide medical students and residents from underrepresented groups with valuable training and mentoring opportunities across the country.
“This fantastic program aims to improve patient care for individuals with arthritis of the foot and ankle by increasing the diversity of providers to match patient populations,” said Jonathon D. Backus, MD, chair of the AOFAS Committee on Outside Collaborations. “The program also helps spark interest in orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery early for medical students and residents.”
Over a three-year period, the Foundation and AOFAS will select 4-6 medical students and/or residents annually to participate in the program. Selected participants will visit different academic medical centers to tour facilities and labs, learn about advancements in ankle arthritis care, and meet physicians in the field.
This program marks the second partnership between the two organizations. Last year, the Arthritis Foundation and AOFAS announced the recipients of the first-ever AF/AOFAS Ankle Arthritis Think Tank Research Grants. These grants provided nearly $600,000 in funding to support innovative clinical research that advances knowledge toward treatments to stop or slow ankle osteoarthritis.
“Ankle osteoarthritis typically is understudied, though it has a significant impact on patient quality of life,” said Arthritis Foundation President and CEO Steven Taylor. “Our grant-making partnership with AOFAS enables us to find and fund the most promising research opportunities that could benefit those with ankle osteoarthritis.”
Applications for the inaugural AF/AOFAS Foot and Ankle Arthritis Development Program will open in November 2024. Participants will be selected in mid-2025 and begin travel in September 2025.
