Increasing resident engagement is a priority for AAOS, and recruiting more residents into advocacy efforts represents an important step forward in that direction. With that in mind, the AAOS Office of Government Relations (OGR) recently launched a Resident Advocacy Fellowship. The 1-year program, which is directed by Stuart Weinstein, MD, is designed to enable AAOS to work more directly with resident members, and to give residents the opportunity to learn more about the Academy's legislative and regulatory advocacy work in Washington, D.C.

AAOS hopes that by contributing to the advocacy and policy development work of the OGR, residents will become key members of the AAOS advocacy team, as well as lifelong advocates for the profession. AAOS Resident Advocacy Fellows will play an important role in promoting resident involvement by writing articles for resident newsletters and presenting to their peers. The 2018 Fellows will also be tasked with developing ways future Fellows can stay involved and connected with AAOS, both as members and possible future leaders.

The Resident Advocacy Fellowship will provide two residents the opportunity to participate in the legislative and regulatory arena during the 12-month period. For example, Fellows will attend the National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., in late spring, during which they will participate in Capitol Hill visits and advocacy training. They will also spend a week in Washington, D.C. in the fall, working directly with the OGR. During that time, they will attend AAOS functions and may also meet with legislative and executive branch staff members. Each Fellow will also prepare and present a webinar on a health policy issue he or she encountered during the year.

2018 Fellows
Chosen from an impressive list of applicants, the 2018 Resident Advocacy Fellows are Christopher Anthony, MD, and Ryan Eggers, MD.

Dr. Anthony is a graduate of the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, and currently serves as a PGY-4 at the University of Iowa, department of orthopaedics and rehabilitation. During his time at Iowa he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha society, published more than 30 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, and obtained multiple grants. He is also an adjunct professor at the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program where he teaches coursework on software design in healthcare contexts, and serves as the Healthcare Innovation Fellow at the University of Iowa Signal Center for Healthcare Innovation.

Dr. Anthony is currently applying to sports medicine fellowships. Prior to attending medical school, he played six seasons of professional football for the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League. He also served as team representative to the Arena Football League Player's Union and was later selected vice president of the union, a position he served in for over 2 years.

Ryan Eggers, MD, who served in the AAOS Congressional Ambassadors Program, is a graduate of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, where he helped establish the school's joint degree program for MD and MA in Bioethics. Dr. Eggers' master's thesis was on ethical issues in orthopaedic surgery, which he wrote an article about and was published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. More specifically, the article focused on the ethics of talking politics with patients.

While in medical school, Dr. Eggers was heavily involved in organized medicine and served in state and national leadership positions with the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association. When he began his residency training at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center, he transitioned into service for the AAOS. He was selected for the AAOS Ethics Committee and spent 2 years as the delegate to the Resident Assembly for his program, where he also served on the Health Policy committee.

Dr. Eggers authored two articles in AAOS Now on talking politics and advocacy with patients. He currently serves on the AAOS Committee on Ethics and Outside Interests and is a member-at-large for the Executive Committee of the AAOS Resident Assembly. He will be doing a fellowship in orthopaedic traumatology, and plans on continuing his involvement in orthopaedic leadership and advocacy throughout his career.

AAOS looks forward to working with Drs. Anthony and Eggers and the continuation of the Resident Advocacy Fellowship in the years to come. The AAOS OGR's legislative and regulatory advocacy fulfills the Academy's mission to "champion the interests of the orthopaedic profession" and be a "resourceful ally for orthopaedic surgeons and musculoskeletal patients." Dr. Anthony, Dr. Eggers, and future Advocacy Fellows will ensure all AAOS residents are well-represented in those conversations.

Matthew Snider, Esq., is the regulatory advocacy coordinator in the AAOS OGR.

For more information about the Resident Advocacy Fellowship Program, including details on future participation, please contact Julia Williams, senior manager in the AAOS OGR, at jwilliams@aaos.org, or visit www.aaos.org/Advocacy/ResidentFellowship/.