Login
Create Account
Renew Your Membership by January 1 to Maintain Access to Exclusive Cutting-Edge Resources.

About AAOS / Diversity & AAOS / Idea Grant Program® / Recipients / 2025 Track 2 Recipients

2025 IDEA Grant Recipients

Track 2

These grants are intended to support organizations, programs, and events with a longitudinal focus on recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce in orthopaedic surgery. 

  • JRGOS - $20,000
    • The JRGOS Newly Matched Intern Boot camp and Residency Symposium is a weekend long event that brings together all applicable newly matched black and under represented minority incoming interns for for hands-on education, networking, and mentorship. It is run in conjunction with a cadaver-based course for more senior residents on complex surgical skills and fracture care.
  • Early Exposure for College and High School Students in Orthopedics (ECHO) - $3,905.24
    • The grant will support a nine-week team-based peer mentorship program that will expose Black and Latina women in high school and college to the field of orthopedic surgery. The program will be led by SUNY Downstate women medical students in the orthopedic interest group and supervised by members of the Downstate Orthopedic Department and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office. Program components will include didactic lectures on orthopedic related topics, case-based lectures led by local orthopedic surgeons, opportunities to learn more about the application process, and networking opportunities with medical students and faculty.
  • Medical Student Orthopedic Society - $6,480
    • Launched in 2022, the national MSOS mentorship program includes 425 mentees and 256 mentors. This grant will expand the program to provide education sessions and scholarships for medical students to further build meaningful relationships with their mentors through quarterly virtual panel discussions and travel scholarships to the AAOS Annual Meeting.
  • Pride Orthopaedics Inc. (two grants) - $16,000
    • Through this grant, Pride Ortho will support medical student attendance at the annual meeting of Pride Ortho at the 2025 AAOS Annual Meeting. Students will be able to obtain mentorship from LGBTQ+ surgeons on topics especially pertinent to LGBTQ+ applicants, such as coming out during medical school or residency.
    • The grant will also support the inaugural Pride Ortho Research Symposium that will occur during the 2025 Pride Ortho Annual Meeting that is concurrent with the AAOS Annual Meeting. Abstracts from trainees (medical students, residents, and fellows) will include DEI-related research, with a special consideration for research on LGBTQ+ health and orthopaedic surgery. Podium presenters will be connected with faculty mentors to prepare for their presentations and establish long-lasting mentorship.
  • RJOS - $10,000
    • With the support of the 2024 IDEA grant, RJOS has successfully established over 100 medical student chapters across seven regions, engaging more than 500 women medical students in orthopaedics. To build on this success, funding will support Regional Events for RJOS medical student chapters. These events are crucial for expanding our network, providing direct mentorship, and promoting retention and success in orthopaedics. Regional Events will be strategically located to reach a diverse group of women medical students, including those without a home orthopedic program, ensuring they receive the necessary support and resources.
  • RJOS – TCU Burnett School of Medicine Chapter - $2,000
    • With this grant, the RJOS TCU Burnett School of Medicine Chapter will put on a four-part journal club series with unique guest speakers at each of the events to promote networking, collaboration, mentorship, and deepened orthopedic passion and knowledge. We want to eagerly educate our members and our fellow medical school classmates on the possibility of being a female in orthopedics, network with female orthopaedic surgeons, and grow in our personal orthopaedic knowledge as well as research curiosity.
  • RJOS Chapter at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin - $2,000
    • This grant will support the newly established Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society (RJOS) Chapter at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. The chapter provides networking opportunities, hands-on workshops and journal clubs. By engaging undergraduates, the chapter seeks to create a pipeline of interested and prepared candidates who will continue pursuing orthopaedics into medical school and beyond. Through these efforts, the RJOS chapter at Dell Medical School will play a vital role in increasing female representation, diversity, and equity in the field of orthopaedics.
  • SpeakUpOrtho - $7,200
    • Funding will support the virtual Journal Club program and bring an in-person Journal Club led by SpeakUpOrtho to the March 2025 AAOS Meeting. The SpeakUpOrtho Journal Club is designed to improve the work environment and culture in the orthopaedic medical profession by addressing DEI issues. It is a crucial tool to improve orthopaedic professionals' recruitment and retention through its educational module and the execution of a sustainable training model.
  • Student National Medical Association - $8,000
    • The SNMA Orthopedics Surgery Interest Group (OSIG) is dedicated to fostering interest and providing resources for underrepresented medicine students considering a career in orthopedic surgery. This group offers mentorship, networking opportunities, and educational workshops designed to prepare students for the competitive field of orthopedics. Through these efforts, we aim to cultivate a new generation of orthopedic surgeons who are clinically excellent, culturally competent, and socially conscious, thereby enhancing the diversity and quality of care in orthopedics.University of Chicago Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
  • University of Chicago Department of Orthopaedic Surgery - $9,440
    • OrthoReach is a community outreach program developed within the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Chicago, to educate and mentor local under-represented minority (URM) high school students. Using a hands-on approach with skills workshops and surgical simulation, our goals are to demonstrate what orthopaedic surgery is, as well as encouraging Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, in order to increase diversity in the pipeline to orthopaedic surgery. The program aims to implement a longitudinal mentoring program, pairing URM high school students with medical students and residents.