ABC TRAVELLING FELLOWSHIP
Every two years, one Australian is selected by members of the Board of Directors of the Australian Orthopaedic Association to join six other Fellows in the United Kingdom for a five-week tour of orthopaedic centres in North America. The Fellowship offers the recipient an exceptional academic experience and is very highly regarded by all participating orthopaedic associations. The successful applicant will also be invited to attend the Annual Scientific Meeting of both the American or Canadian Orthopaedic Association and is expected to present a paper on his or her work at hosting centres.
It is important to note that from 2009, the American Orthopaedic Association will begin to regionalise hosting of Fellowship tours in the US, in order to avoid asking certain institutions to host multiple different tours of travelling Fellows each year. This means that in odd years when the ABC Fellows visit the US, they will travel within only one region of the country (West, Midwest or East). When you are applying for the ABC Fellowship, you may wish to plan your application around your preferred touring region.
The schedule of regions for 2009-2014 is:
| Year |
Region |
2009 |
|
2010 |
East |
2011 |
|
2012 |
Midwest |
2013 |
|
2014 |
West |
In 2016 the Fellows would travel to the East Coast and follow this same schedule through 2020.
The Canadian Orthopaedic Association will continue to separately plan the Canadian portion of the tour, which may or may not be regionalised.
ELIGIBILITY
Australian applicants for ABC Travelling Fellowship must be under the age of 45 years at 31 December in the year before taking up the award and must be a Fellow or Associate Fellow of the Australian Orthopaedic Association. All applicants are expected to make themselves available for interview by members of the Board of Directors of AOA. Interviews are normally held on the Sunday preceding the Annual Scientific Meeting in the city where the ASM is being held.
APPLICATIONS
Application forms are available from:
Ms Kerri Clarke
Membership and CPD Officer
Australian Orthopaedic Association
Ground Floor
229 Macquarie Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Download the ABC Travelling Fellowship application form.
Applications close on the last Friday in June in the year before the Fellowship becomes tenable. Late applications are not accepted.
Applicants must submit 20 copies of their application, including a full CV and a recent photograph.
HISTORY OF THE ABC FELLOWSHIPS
The ABC Fellowships were conceived and developed in 1948 by Dr R I Harris of Toronto, Canada, during his term as President of the American Orthopaedic Association. Dr Harris believed that because of World War II and post-war difficulties, young orthopaedic surgeons might find it difficult to visit orthopaedic centres in Canada and the United States of America. He was concerned 'they would reach senior positions in England with little knowledge of the state of orthopaedic surgery in North America'.
Together, R I Harris, President of the American Orthopaedic Association, J E Samson, President of the Canadian Orthopedic Association and S A S Makin, President of the British Orthopaedic Association, organised the visit of the first ABC Fellows to North America in 1948. In all, 13 Fellows and one honorary Fellow from Great Britain visited orthopaedic centres in North America and attended the combined meeting of the Canadian, British and American Orthopaedic Associations held in Quebec City. These first exchange Fellows were funded through the combined efforts of the three associations.
In 1949, the British Orthopaedic Association hosted five American and 10 Canadian orthopaedic surgeons at orthopaedic centres in Great Britiain. From 1950 to 1953, the exchange visits ceased, resuming in 1954 under the guidance of J Dickson, President of the American Orthopaedic Association and Sir Reginald Watson-Jones, President of the British Orthopaedic Association. Initially, in odd-numbered years, North American Orthopaedic surgeons selected as ABC Fellows travelled to Great Britain and in even-numbered years, British surgeons travelled to North America. Since 1985, North American Fellows have visited the southern hemisphere as well as Great Britain.
In 1954, a Fellow was selected from either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa to take part in the program in North America, and this involvement of the Australian Orthopaedic Association has continued to this day. So far, 45 Fellows have travelled from the southern hemisphere countries to North America, 19 of these being Fellows of the Australian Orthopaedic Association.
At first, the southern hemisphere participants shared a single Fellowship and rotated their involvement over a six-year period. In 1965 the number of fellows from the southern hemisphere was increased to two participants in even-numbered years when the program took place in North America. Since 1982, however, each of these three countries may elect to send a Fellow to North America every two years.
The name of the Fellowship derives from the initials of the original three participating countries — America, Britain, Canada. It was coined by the original Fellows who travelled to North America in 1948 at a reunion after their return to Britain in relation to a 'club' formed by and for the Fellows (the ABC Club). The club has its own tie and all participants in the ABC Fellowship scheme automatically become members of the ABC Club.
AUSTRALIAN FELLOWS
1954 H R T Hodgkinson
1960 W G Doig 1966 Sir Dennis Patterson
1968 B J Dooley
1972 E H Bates
1974 S M L Nade
1976 W G Cole
1978 J H Rush
1980 A D’A Sutherland
1982 M D Ryan
1984 D McNicol
1986 S J Ruff
1988 B K Foster
1990 B G Courtenay
1992 D A F Morgan and L A Pinczewski
1994 R D Oakeshott
1996 M J Sandow
1998 R DeSteiger
2000 J Krishnan
2002 D G Little
2004 W J Donnelly
2006 M J Chehade
2008 R P Williams
INFORMATION
Further information on the ABC Travelling Fellowship may be obtained from:
The Chairman
ABC Travelling Fellowship Committee
Australian Orthopaedic Association
Ground Floor
229 Macquarie Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000.
This page was updated on 27 August 2008
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