This past June the Orthopaedic Surgery Department held its first Residency Alumni Reunion. Spear-headed by Dr. Thierry Benaroch, Program Director, and Dr. Greg Berry, Chair of Orthopaedics, the day’s events were attended by staff, current residents and our alumni. We had the great pleasure of welcoming back several of our past graduates, from 1967 up until 2018.
The day’s event started at the Shriner’s Hospital for Children with opening remarks by both Dr. Benaroch and Dr. Berry. The division invited former and current residents, as well as staff, to give a series of brief TEDTalks on a variety of subjects related to Orthopaedics and surgery such as the particular challenges female surgeons face in their surgical field, the McGill Orthopaedics Global Health mission in Haiti, Evidence Based Medicine in Orthopaedics, the current job crisis for graduating residents and various talks on arthroscopic methods. Our invited guest speaker, Dr. Kelly Vince (class of 1985), gave the first inaugural Dr. John Hsu Lecture. The morning’s activities concluded with a networking lunch that gave current residents and past residents the chance to mingle. Dr. Benaroch also took the opportunity to give a tour of the new Shriners Hospital to past residents.
Later on in the evening, we welcomed all attendees for cocktails and dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Our guest of honour, Dr. John Hsu, gave an informative speech on the origins of Orthopaedics at McGill, as he experienced it as an intern at the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1966. This past year also saw the retirement of Dr. Robert Marien (class of 1984), who gave a moving and emotional retrospective on his time as a teacher and surgeon. We were also very proud to welcome Mr. Chris “Knuckles” Nilan to celebrate the evening with us. Mr. Nilan graciously accepted our invitation while recovering from a total knee replacement, and entertained the room with his life anecdotes and words of wisdom. Overall, the feedback we’ve received from our alumni has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with old friends, and Dr. Benaroch and Dr. Berry are so thankful that people took the time away from their practices and families in order to make it such a special event.