BJR-BORS International Travelling Fellowship 2020 – Lekha Koria

BJR-BORS International Travelling Fellowship

The BJR-BORS International Travelling Fellowship is designed to promote education and increase research opportunities for early career researchers. I was fortunate enough to have been selected as one of six travelling fellows, comprising two senior clinical Residents and four Engineers. Together we travelled across the US and Canada to visit a series of research institutes and hospitals, with a stop in Phoenix, Arizona for the annual Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) meeting.

Our first visits were in Philadelphia, New York and Ithaca. Highpoints for me included learning about optimising lattice designs for additive manufactured PEEK implants at Drexel University; the robotic gait simulator for foot & ankle research at Hospital for Special Surgery; a fantastic STEM+M outreach project (The Youth Sports Lab) at Columbia University and the autonomous micro-origami machines being developed in the Physics labs at Cornell University.

In Canada we visited Ottawa, Toronto and Western Universities. I particularly enjoyed the osteoarchaeology research taking place in the Anthropology Labs at Western University, which included a sneak peek at the famous mummy, Lady Hudson. It was fascinating to see techniques that I regularly use in my research being applied to archaeological specimens!

At the ORS meeting there was a huge breadth of international research being presented. I personally enjoyed hearing more about the advancements of clinical imaging, particularly from Dr Hollis Potter whom we had briefly met during our time at HSS. The Research Interest Group seminar for computational biomechanics research was also insightful and highlighted the importance of accessibility and reproducibility in research.

Our last stop was Denver, where we observed arthroplasty surgeries assisted by Stryker’s Mako robot, which uses patient-specific geometries to pre-operatively plan and assist bone resections to improve implant positioning and save time during surgery.

Free Time

We were also fortunate enough to have some free time to enjoy some sight-seeing and social activities, including snowball fights by the waterfalls of Ithaca; touring a wintery Niagara Falls and enjoying ice-hockey matches in both Denver and Ottawa.

I am truly grateful for this opportunity and have returned to the UK with new contacts and exciting ideas for my research. I must thank each host, including their colleagues and students, for their hospitality and engagement during our visits. A huge thanks to my supervisors, Claire Brockett and Marlène Mengoni, as well as Anthony Herbert for encouraging and supporting my application; and to the BORS & BJR teams for organising this incredible opportunity.