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Tachdjian Memorial Visiting Professor Symposium
Mihran Tachdjian, MD, was the Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital (now Lurie Children’s) and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine from 1964 until 1985.
The legacy of Dr. Tachdjian is foundational to the field of pediatric orthopaedic surgery. A visionary surgeon, educator, author and mentor, Dr. Tachdjian authored the landmark textbook Pediatric Orthopedics in 1972, a comprehensive work that became an essential reference for generations of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons and established a lasting standard for the teaching and practice of the specialty. His commitment to advancing education extended around the world: in 1972, he founded the Pediatric Orthopaedic International Seminars (POIS), bringing together leading pediatric orthopaedic surgeons to share knowledge and ideas across borders. POIS ultimately evolved into the International Pediatric Orthopedic Symposium (IPOS), which continues his vision of collaboration, education, and innovation. Dr. Tachdjian passed away in 1996.
The Mihran Tachdjian Visiting Professorship at Lurie Children’s honors this extraordinary legacy by carrying forward his commitment to advancing pediatric orthopaedics through the exchange of knowledge.
Tachdjian Memorial Visiting Professor Symposium Co-Chairs
Erik C. King, MD, MS
Division Head, Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine; Martha Washington Foundation Professorship in Pediatric Orthopaedics
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Cynthia R. LaBella, MD
Medical Director, Institute for Sports Medicine
Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Past Visiting Professors
Mininder Kocher, MD
Dr. Mininder Kocher is the Associate Director of the Division of Sports Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and is a Professor of Orthopaedics Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Clinically, Dr. Kocher’s practice specialized in pediatric, adolescent, and adult sports medicine. He is a well-recognized international expert in pediatric sports medicine. He has particular interests in anterior cruciate ligament injuries in skeletally immature patients, ostechondritis dissecans, articular cartilage injuries, tibial spine fractures, shoulder instability, shoulder arthroscopy, little league elbow, hip arthroscopy, hip labral tears, patellofemoral instability, meniscal injuries and ankle instability. Dr. Kocher is a renown orthopaedic health services researcher. He has performed seminal research in septic arthritis of the hip in children, the development and validation of outcome instruments, anterior cruciate ligament injuries, osteochondritis dissecans, tibial eminence fractures, discoid lateral meniscus, shoulder instability and child abuse. Dr. Kocher has published over 130 peer reviewed scientific articles, over 50 book chapters, and 3 textbooks. Dr. Kocher won the 2005 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)/ OREF Kappa Delta Award/ Clinical Research Award, the highest research honor in orthopaedics.
Michael Vitale, MD
Michael G. Vitale, MD, MPH is the Chief of the Pediatric Spine and Scoliosis Service and Associate Chief of the Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of New York- Presbyterian. Dr. Vitale has a special interest in the treatment of complex spinal deformities in children and has a specific focus in the management of scoliosis in the young child. Dr. Vitale has spearheaded the Center for Early Onset Scoliosis at the Children’s Hospital of New York, which seeks to develop an infrastructure to optimize treatment and improve outcomes for young children with scoliosis treated using a variety of techniques including spinal casting, growth rods, the Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib Device and vertebral stapling. Dr. Vitale leads the clinical research team in a large research effort which focuses on the assessment of patient outcomes in children with various orthopedic problems, and ways to optimize the quality of life of these children. Dr. Vitale has authored roughly 80 original manuscripts and textbook chapters on the treatment of scoliosis.
James Wright, MD
Dr. James G. Wright is Professor of the Department of Surgery, Department of Public Health, and Department of Health Policy, at the University of Toronto, Chief of Perioperative Services, Surgeon-in-Chief, Department of Surgery, and Vice-President, Medical at The Hospital for Sick Kids. Dr. Wright is also Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences Program. Research in this program focuses on the systematic study of characteristics of health and disease and outcomes of treatment modalities in children. Dr. Wright’s research focuses on the development of measures to evaluate surgical therapy, randomized clinical trials, and evaluating unmet need and disparity in the use of orthopaedic procedures. He holds the Robert B. Salter Chair of Paediatric Surgical Research and has published articles in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to his hospital and administrative activities, he served as Associate Editor for the Evidence Based Orthopaedic Section of the American Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery in 2000-2012, and was Chair of the Research Council for the Pediatric Society of North America in 2006-2010.
Gregory L. Landry, MD
Gregory L. Landry, MD, graduated from Indiana School of Medicine and completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following a fellowship in ambulatory pediatrics, Dr. Landry joined the faculty of the UW Medical School. Since 1984, he has served as Head Medical Team Physician for the University of Wisconsin’s athletic teams and as a staff physician for the UW Hospital Sports Medicine and Fitness Center. In the fall of 2001, the AAP Section on Sports Medicine awarded him the Thomas Shaffer Pediatric Sports Medicine Award for lifetime achievement in pediatric sports medicine.
John M. Flynn, MD
Jack Flynn is the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical focus includes spine deformity, early onset scoliosis/thoracic insufficiency, fractures, pre-school hip disorders and CP. He is the author of over 230 peer reviewed papers, reviews and chapters, and editor of the seminal texts in pediatric orthopaedics: Lovell and Winter’s Pediatric Orthopaedics, Rockwood’s Fractures in Children, Operative Techniques in Pediatric Orthopaedics, as well as OKU 10 and Staying out of Trouble in Pediatric Orthopaedics. A winner of multiple Penn teaching awards, Dr. Flynn lectures nationally and internationally on management of spinal disorders, pediatric fracture care, safety and value in spine care, and work-life integration for surgeons.
Andrew Gregory, MD
Dr. Gregory completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Indiana University and received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He then finished a pediatric residency at the University of Alabama in Birmingham before his fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine at the American Sports Medicine Institute. Dr. Gregory joined the Vanderbilt Faculty in August 2001 where he sees young sports medicine patients in the Vanderbilt Sports Medicine Center and the Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
Michael B. Millis, MD
Michael B. Millis, MD, is currently a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and was the founding director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Hip Unit in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He is a founder of the ANCHOR Group, the North American Academic Network for Conservational Hip Outcomes Research. He has a long standing interest in the evolution of developmental hip deformities through growth and adulthood. His major clinical and research interests have included the relationship of hip dysplasia, SCFE, Perthes disease and various hip impingement syndromes to the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Dr. Millis graduated from Harvard Medical School, completed his residency training at the Harvard Combined Residency Orthopaedic Program in Boston and served an AO fellowship in pediatric and reconstructive hip surgery with Professor Heinz Wagner in Altdorf, Germany. His work has resulted in awards from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society, the Hip Society and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation. He received the Pro Maximus Meritis Award from the European Pediatric Orthopaedic Society in 2017 and was the Presidential Guest Lecturer of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 2018.
Theodore Ganley, MD
Theodore J. Ganley, MD, is the Sports Medicine Director at CHOP supporting the clinical, research and outreach initiatives which continue to grow. He is one of a small group of surgeons in the country with a primary focus on sports and trauma in the young athlete. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, reviews or textbook chapters, and was editor of a Clinics in Sports Medicine book on ACL injury in the young athlete. He lectures nationally and internationally on ACL reconstruction, OCD lesions, sports and trauma in the young athlete. He was selected as moderator or instructor at instructional course lectures for the following annual meetings: the AAOS, AAP, AOSSM, POSNA, and IPOS. He co-founded the Research in OCD of the Knee (ROCK) group and is the president of Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine (PRISM) group. He is an advisory board member for the International Pediatric Orthopedic Symposium and is the point person for the sports medicine section of the Surgical Simulation lab, and was the Presidential Guest Lecturer of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 2018.
Noelle Larson, MD
Noelle Larson, MD, is Professor of Orthopedics, Director of Research for the Division of Pediatric Orthopedics and Scoliosis, and pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Larson is certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. She completed her undergraduate degree with Honors in Physics at Stanford University. Dr. Larson earned her medical degree at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. She completed surgery residency training at the Mayo Clinic and the Edwards Fellowship at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, TX. She also served as Board Member at Large and is currently Research Committee Chair for Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America. Dr. Larson has authored over 145 research publications in peer-reviewed journals. She co-directs the Minimize Implants Maximize Outcomes Randomized Clinical Trial and is the PI for a US surgeon-sponsored FDA Investigational Device Exemption study on AVBT. She performed the first US surgeries for the two fusionless scoliosis devices that were approved by the US FDA in August 2019 through a humanitarian device exemption. She serves on the Research Council for the Pediatric Spine Study Group and is an active member of Harms Study Group. She serves as Orthopedic Division Chair for the Mayo Clinic Health System. Dr. Larson’s clinical interests include fusionless scoliosis surgery, early-onset scoliosis, and CT-guided navigation.
Claire LeBlanc, MD
Dr. Claire LeBlanc is board certified as a pediatrician, pediatric rheumatologist and pediatric sport medicine physician who is based at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH). Currently an associate professor of pediatrics at McGill, she is the leader of the musculoskeletal (MSK) curriculum for first year medical students. She also teaches MSK anatomy and physical examination skills in the core curriculum for McGill adult and pediatric rheumatology residents. Dr. LeBlanc participates in international and national clinical research on clinical care and outcomes of Juvenile Arthritis. She is an outgoing chair of the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS) Healthy Active Living and Sport Medicine Committee. Dr. LeBlanc was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) council on sport medicine and fitness continues to be a consultant to the AAP in this regard. Through these roles she has contributed to many position papers promoting healthy active living and safe sport participation. Dr. LeBlanc has written book chapters on a variety of health-related topics. These include the Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology 8th Edition, Care of the Young Athlete 2nd edition, Pediatric Orthopedics for Primary Care 3rd edition, Textbook of Pediatric Care, School Health: Policy & Practice Seventh Edition, and Promoting Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: Primary care Practice and Advocacy.
Jonathan Schoenecker, MD
Dr. Jonathan Schoenecker is an orthopaedic surgeon-scientist dedicated to improving the well-being of children afflicted by disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Additionally, he is enthusiastically committed to a career as a surgeon-scientist, improving patients’ lives with surgery and translational research, while simultaneously training the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons and health care professionals. Dr. Schoenecker’s clinical focus is in hip, lower-extremity, trauma, and infection. His dual training in surgery and basic science allows him the unique opportunity to improve patients’ lives by providing direct clinical care while also conducting high-impact translational research. In addition to clinical research, he has developed a focused translational research program that synergistically parallels orthopaedic clinical practice by focusing his hypotheses on the most significant clinical problems in musculoskeletal medicine that have few efficacious medical and/or surgical solutions. To this end, his program’s research is designed to dissect disorders of the body’s response to tissue injury, referred to as the ‘acute phase response’, and the biology of musculoskeletal tissue development, repair, and degeneration. Novel solutions to preventing and treating these conditions are essential as they account for most of the medical and physical problems that have the greatest morbidity and mortality in patients suffering from musculoskeletal disease.
Pierre d’Hemecourt, MD
Pierre A. d'Hemecourt, MD is a sports medicine physician and the director of Medical Sports Medicine in the Sports Medicine Division at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. d'Hemecourt's clinical interests include ultrasound-guided injections, platelet-rich plasma injections, spinal injuries, concussion management, and distance running injuries. Dr. d'Hemecourt is the director of the Medical Sports Medicine Fellowship program. Having instructed countless fellows over the past two decades, he is also the head team physician for NWHL Boston Pride as well as team physician to multiple schools in the Boston area and is involved in many different sporting events throughout Massachusetts. Since 2007, Dr. d'Hemecourt has served as a co-medical chair of the Boston Marathon, which has led to his interest in helping to establish the International Institute of Race Medicine. Dr. d'Hemecourt is the founder and director of the Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Sports Clinic, founder of the Sports Concussion Clinic, founder of the Running Program, and is well published in the area of spinal injuries sustained by athletes. Dr. d'Hemecourt also serves as clinical professor at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences Physician Assistant program.
Rachel Thompson, MD
Rachel Thompson, MD is currently an associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California San Diego. She is the Director for the Southern Family Center for Cerebral Palsy at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. She is a proud Chicago native. She attended medical school at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She completed a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University and fellowships in pediatric orthopaedics and neuromuscular orthopaedics at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, respectively. She additionally completed a travelling fellowship in adolescent and adult hip dysplasia in Aarhus, Denmark. Prior to joining the staff at Rady Children’s Hospital, she spent seven years at UCLA, where was served as the Residency Program Director for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and held the William and Patricia Oppenheim Presidential Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedics at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. While at UCLA, she served as the Director for the Center for Cerebral Palsy at UCLA/Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children.
Kevin G. Shea, MD
Kevin G. Shea, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon at Stanford University Medical Center and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Dr. Shea grew up in Montana and California, graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine, and completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Utah School of Medicine. His advanced training includes pediatric orthopaedics at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, AO Fellowship in Bern Switzerland with Drs. Ganz (Hip), Dr. Diego Fernandez (Trauma), and Dr. Hans Staubli (sports), and Ilizarov Training in Lecco, Italy. He was the AOSSM Traveling Sports Medicine Fellow in 2008, and practiced in Boise, ID prior to joining the Stanford Faculty. Dr. Shea is a founding member of the PRISM Society (Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine) and the ROCK (Research in Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Knee) Multi-center Study Group, and the SCORE (Sports Cohort Outcomes Research) Multi-Center Registry for pediatric sports. He is currently the President of POSNA (Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America). He has authored more than 270 scientific papers and chapters. His clinic research interests include cartilage and ligament disorders, using pediatric cadaveric tissue and surgical 3D simulations to develop surgeries and improve outcomes for procedures that avoid damage to growth plates. He has years of experience with performance, quality improvement, value, and he worked extensively with the AAOS Quality/Clinical Practice Guideline Committees. He is one of the POSNA members to launch the POSNA Safe Surgery Program. He is a national quality leader in health care with interests in patient safety, risk reduction, and improving value in health care with clinician integration into supply chain. He is an avid cyclist, trail runner, hiker, and spends as much time outside as possible, with his partner Lonnie and their children Beck and Cooper.