Residents and faculty with the UC San Diego Department of Orthopaedic Surgery pause at the close of the 2026 Annual Meeting of the San Diego Orthopaedic Society before a networking dinner.

Orthopedic Surgery Faculty, Trainees Create Community at Local Conference

On Friday, January 30, UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery took the lead in engaging community at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the San Diego Orthopaedic Society (SDOS).  

Led by current SDOS President Scott Ball, MD, clinical professor and chief of the Division of Adult Reconstruction at the School of Medicine, department faculty and trainees enjoyed a day packed with talks and opportunities to connect with physicians and researchers from across the city.  

“SDOS is a major vehicle for getting residents to engage with the community and for facilitating their exposure to community orthopedics and San Diego at large,” said Ball. “It’s a potential deficit in our residents’ training if they don’t interface with the community before they graduate.” 

According to a recent survey by the American Medical Association, more than half of all U.S. orthopedic surgeons practice independently or in small groups. Real, one-on-one conversations with surgeons in private practice offer residents insight into whether that approach might suit them.  

Residents and faculty members with Orthopaedic Surgery network with representatives from industry and private practice around the county. 

SDOS’s annual event also draws surgeons from national clinics where trainees may pursue fellowship, a critical year in which they gain experience in their specialization of choice. Ball and other department faculty ensure that residents are released from all clinical duties to attend the conference. 

“[SDOS] is a great opportunity for us as trainees to get advice, see how things are done on the other side of the fence, and network for future job opportunities,” said Garrett Berger, MD, PGY-5, who is this year’s chief resident. “The stronger we can make the resident-community bond, the better.”  

Berger has been a member of SDOS for three years. He said involvement with the community, and the department’s emphasis on its importance, has informed how and where he would like to practice in the future.  

Sharing Lessons in Patient Care 

At SDOS 2026, researchers and surgeons affiliated with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery also had a chance to share knowledge and findings for the betterment of patient care. Among those, Ryan O’Leary, MD (left), assistant clinical professor at the School of Medicine and adult joint reconstruction surgeon with UC San Diego Health, addressed AI’s role in the field. 

O’Leary argued that physicians should guide the adoption of AI for note-taking and other rote tasks, while keeping in mind limitations such as hallucinations and restrictions to data access. With careful guidance, AI could free up surgeons’ time to build relationships with patients.  

Other speakers, including V. Salil Upasani, MD, professor of clinical orthopedic surgery at the School of Medicine and Director of Pediatric Orthopedics and Scoliosis Clinical Fellowship at Rady Children's Hospital, and Rachel Mednick Thompson, MD (right), associate clinical professor at the School of Merdicine and co-Director for the Southern Family Center for Cerebral Palsy at Rady Children’s Hospital, addressed gene editing and implant therapies for children with serious conditions. The research has implications for the treatment of pediatric scoliosis and genetic conditions that have historically limited a child’s lifespan to a mere two years.  

Visit the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery website to learn more about ongoing research.