14
June
2018
|
07:00 AM
America/New_York

Bradford Waddell, MD, Named Chair of Young Arthroplasty Group

Bradford Waddell, MD, hip and knee surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), has been named chair of the Young Arthroplasty Group (YAG) Committee in the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS).

Founded in 1991, the mission of AAHKS is to advance hip and knee patient care through education and advocacy.

"About two years ago, my colleague Dr. Jeff Lange and I sought to connect recently graduated hip and knee fellows for research and collaboration," said Dr. Waddell. "We began with 10 to 12 surgeons, creating this new informal group and then brought the idea to AAHKS, where it has now grown into a larger group and committee."

The mission of YAG is to connect young arthroplasty surgeons (with under 5 years of practice) in order to promote collaboration and young surgeon activity within AAHKS, with a particular focus on research, leadership and advocacy.

At the inaugural YAG meeting at AAHKS’ Annual meeting in 2017, over 100 surgeons were in attendance.

Dr. Waddell has been a member of AAHKS since 2014 and began his term as chair on June 1, 2018. Previously, as a Health Policy Fellow for AAHKS, he was charged with finding new ways to bring younger surgeons into the organization. "Bringing our informal group to AAHKS was the perfect way to fulfill this duty," says Dr. Waddell, who also practices in CT at HSS Stamford.

The YAG Committee’s co-founder, Jeffrey Lange, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, serves as vice-chair, with 5 liaisons to different AAHKS committees comprising the rest of the committee.

"This group recruits young arthroplasty surgeons and works to encourage and empower them to take advantage of the full benefits of the organization whether it is in research, advocacy or leadership," added Dr. Waddell. "I’m happy to say we’ve had 250 surgeons sign up for the group to date!"

Dr. Waddell joined HSS in October 2017; however he was no stranger to the organization as he completed his fellowship at HSS. He specializes in reconstruction of the hip and knee, specifically primary and revision hip and knee replacement. Devoted to getting his patients back to an active lifestyle, Dr. Waddell currently researches patient safety, new technologies and value-based care.