2022 ABC Travelling Fellowship Report
Eugene Ek took part in the ABC Travelling Fellowship in 2022. Here he writes on the places he visited and valuable experience gained from visiting a range of hospitals, universities and scientific meetings across the UK and North America.
The 2022 ABC tour was a great success!
Despite the relatively late notice that all the host centres received due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID travel restrictions, each of the institutions provided the very best experience possible.
As is tradition, we commenced our travels in London with a dinner hosted by the British Orthopaedic Association.
We then started our travels in Canada, with the first stop being Ottawa (University of Ottawa). We then went on to Halifax (Dalhousie University) and ended our time in Canada at the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, meeting in the lovely Quebec City.
The USA leg of the tour began in Boston (Mass General/Brigham and Women’s/Harvard), followed by the American Orthopaedic Association Meeting held in Providence, Rhode Island.
We then continued our journey to New Haven and Yale University. After which we went to New York, where we were hosted by New York University and the Langone Orthopedic Centre and Hospital for Special Surgery. Our final destination was Philadelphia, where we visited the University of Pennsylvania and Rothman Orthopaedic Institute (Jefferson University).
The ABC Traveling Fellowship truly lived up to all my expectations. It was certainly a great circuit breaker in my orthopaedic career, where I was able to meet amazing and inspirational leaders in orthopaedics, engage in meaningful conversations about the challenges we all face on a daily basis, and establish and consolidate a global network for future potential research collaborations and exchanges. Furthermore, being able to travel with four British fellows, one New Zealander and one South African, I felt it was a truly unforgettable global experience for me.
I look forward to presenting a more detailed account of my travels at the upcoming AOA/NZOA meeting.
Applications for the 2026 ABC Travelling Fellowship are now open for AOA members.