ABC Travelling Fellowship 2011

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Arriving in Brisbane, the Fellows’ itinerary began with an excellent lunch at the Summit Restaurant, Mount Coot-tha, with its panoramic view of Greater Brisbane. This was followed by a visit to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where the Fellows were able to walk among Australian wildlife and individual photographs were taken with koalas, distributed to the Fellows as a memento of their visit. First-hand experience of some of the recent flood damage was of great interest due to the world wide media coverage of the event. 

The Fellows were then taken to the home of Patrick and Megan Weinrauch for a barbeque dinner attended by past Brisbane ABC Fellows. The Fellows were treated to an excellent barbeque meal with Dr Weinrauch’s famous ‘Tomahawk’ steaks and a selection of Australian wines. The Fellows were interested to watch the media coverage of issues in relation to metal resurfacing total hip replacements on the ABC Four Corners program.

The following day a subspecialty break-out program was arranged. The upper limb Fellows were taken to the Brisbane Private Hospital where they were most interested to see a shoulder arthroplasty procedure and a shoulder resurfacing procedure undertaken by Phillip Duke. The sports medicine program involved a morning of sports consulting with David Hayes on Wickham Terrace. The oncology Fellows were hosted by Peter Steadman who took them on a tour of the Princess Alexandra Hospital and other attractions on the south side of Brisbane. The two spinal Fellows were hosted by Richard Williams and observed a patient being managed with oropharyngeal spinal surgery, after which they toured the Mater Private Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Hospital. 

At lunchtime the Fellows were transferred to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron where they cruised Moreton Bay with Bill and Liz Donnelly and Richard Williams on Dr Donnelly’s cruising catamaran. An excellent lunch was provided by the Donnellys, and the Fellows enjoyed an afternoon of repose. 

In the evening a formal reception was conducted at the Queensland Club with all seven Fellows presenting specified talks and meeting 20 local orthopaedic surgeons, among them past Australian ABC Fellows David Morgan, Bill Donnelly, Richard Williams and Patrick Weinrauch. Several local surgeon presentations had been planned for the formal reception but due to time overrun it was felt that meeting the local surgeons in informal discussion was a preferred option to continuing the academic program. 

L - R: Bruce Miller (Sports Medicine; Ann Arbor, MI), Charles Day (Hand/Upper Extremity; Boston, MA), Robert Satcher (Oncology; Chicago, IL), Ginger Holt (Oncology; Nashville, TN), D. Greg Anderson (Spine; Philadelphia, PA ), Richard Williams, Brian K. Kwon (Spine; Vancouver, BC).

In Adelaide the first scientific session on the Wednesday morning was at the Women’s & Children’s Hospital. Several paediatric papers were presented by the local surgeons and resident staff, and the ABC Fellows presented three papers over a period of an hour and a half.

That was followed by lunch at SportsMed SA and a couple of further papers on sports medicine, including an update on the LARS by Greg Keene, as well as some overview on planning research studies by Bruce Miller. This was followed by a tour of the SportsMed SA clinic and hospital facilities.

The rest of the afternoon was a free day with two of the ABC Fellows playing golf at the Royal Adelaide Golf Course. The other Fellows cycled, jogged or chilled out. 

On Wednesday evening a formal dinner was held at the Adelaide Club. This was attended by the Fellows and 15 local surgeons, including previous Australian ABC Fellows and, in particular, Sir Dennis Patterson. Previous Fellows made short speeches about the importance of the ABC Fellowship and Robert Satcher (2011 ABC Fellow) gave a presentation on his experiences as a space shuttle astronaut. As distinct from his usual presentation style, because of constraints of the venue, this had to be done without slides. This was a most inspiring and personal account of his mission, and it was noted by the other ABC Fellows that they appreciated hearing Robert speak without the distraction of slides, which allowed for a more personal reflection about his experience.

At the dinner, the Fellows were presented with a RM Williams vest as a memento of their visit. 

Thursday morning involved an early morning start for spinal ward rounds, with some other Fellows attending individual clinical reviews and ward rounds. The extended spinal session included presentation by Professor Robert Fraser as well as the other spinal research groups and the morning session was finished with oncology and upper limb presentations by local and visiting presenters.  

Thursday afternoon involved a trip down to McLaren Vale winery’s for a leisurely lunch at D’Arenberg vineyard and then a winery tour. In the evening they were welcomed at a reception at Peter Viiret’s house, which overlooks the city of Adelaide. This provided a spectacular backdrop for their final function, and was washed down by wines from local orthopaedic surgeons. 

A total of of 22 papers were presented over the two days in Adelaide, 8 by the visiting ABC Fellows and 14 by local surgeons. 

The overall impression was that the program was a success. Time was always at a premium but we managed to complete a fairly busy academic and social program. We look forward to hosting the ABC Fellows in the future.

 

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