Steven Gitelis, MD, Wins Tipton Award for Transforming Sarcoma Care

Steven Gitelis, MD, FAAOS, of Rush University in Chicago, was named the winner of the 2025 William W. Tipton Jr, MD, Leadership Award. The Tipton Leadership Award recognizes AAOS members who have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities that have benefited the orthopaedic community, patients, and/or the American public. Dr. Gitelis is the Rush Medical College Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Oncology and director of the Rush Musculoskeletal Oncology Program, as well as the chief medical officer of Onkos, a company focused on innovative cancer care. He is chairman of the Twentieth Century Orthopaedic Association and past president of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society.

On winning this award, Dr. Gitelis shared, “It is an enormous honor given to me by my peers. I knew Dr. Tipton. We entered the Twentieth Century Orthopaedic Association together the same year—in 1998—and became friends. He epitomized leadership, so it was particularly gratifying to win this award in his name.”

In addition to his contributions as an orthopaedic surgeon and educator, Dr. Gitelis has been instrumental to his institution’s growth; 2025 marks his 50th year at Rush University, where he completed medical school and residency training. Over the span of his career, he has held many appointments at Rush Medical College, including director of orthopaedic oncology, chief of surgery, and president of the medical staff, as well as trustee of Rush University. He has worked to transform musculoskeletal oncology care across the United States, serving as president of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and founding Rush’s sarcoma program and helping it grow to one of the largest programs in the region, as well as starting the first tissue bank in the state.

Reflecting on the significant milestone of spending five decades at his institution, Dr. Gitelis said, “With this much staying power, I believe it is a sign of commitment and dedication to this institution rarely seen nowadays in an academic setting. Incidentally, I have no immediate plans to retire, because I love what I do, and I believe I’m still good at it.”

Two surgeons who were fundamental to Dr. Gitelis’ approach to leadership are Jorge O. Galante, MD, MDSc, and Franklin Sim, MD, FAAOS. “Dr. Galante hired me at Rush 45 years ago,” Dr. Gitelis shared. “He was the first chairman of our department, and he encouraged me to start a sarcoma program, which did not exist, and he emphasized that I not only be an excellent clinical surgeon but also a scientist and educator. He motivated me to volunteer at multiple levels and take on leadership roles.”

Dr. Gitelis was mentored by Dr. Sim during his orthopaedic oncology fellowship at Mayo Clinic. “During my training, we performed many challenging cancer operations, and he taught me to be the leader in the OR and to be decisive and a problem solver,” he recalled.

His approach to leadership is significantly influenced by his time volunteering in the U.S. Navy during the late 1980s and early 1990s. “I was a full professor at Rush at that time,” he recounted. “I already enjoyed many leadership roles and recognitions, so enlisting was really a way to give back.”

Despite being well into his career already, Dr. Gitelis found his Naval experience to be extremely gratifying and educational. “I learned about the chain of command, which a leader must understand,” he said. “You have to understand when you need to escalate issues and when not to, and I learned that in the Navy. I also learned about honor, discipline, and commitment. I see it in civilian practice as well, but it was most notable when I served in the Navy.”

Dr. Gitelis was activated during the Persian Gulf War, and he served for 7 months. “I left my wife with five children, 8 and under,” with no knowledge of when he would return, he said. “She’s the real hero, like most Navy wives.”

Advancing orthopaedics
Starting Rush’s sarcoma program required Dr. Gitelis to build and helm a large team of specialists from various backgrounds. “At the time when Dr. Galante hired me, there was no sarcoma program at Rush at all,” he recalled. “To have a successful sarcoma program, you have to put together a multidisciplinary team. I successfully recruited four surgeons, one medical oncologist, one pediatric oncologist, one pathologist, three radiologists, one radiation oncologist, one rehab specialist, and many nurses.”

To ensure collaboration, the team meets weekly to discuss new patients and challenging cases. “I moderate and promote discussion by all members,” Dr. Gitelis said. “The purpose of a sarcoma conference is to optimize patient care, so I encourage everyone with their diverse backgrounds to offer an opinion, so that we can achieve that goal.”

One of his most notable achievements is founding the first tissue bank in Illinois. In 1980, he was caring for a high school football player in need of a humerus transplant, but there was no tissue bank in Illinois at that time. As he recounted, “I searched around the country and found a bone that matched. It was delivered to me in a frozen condition and needed to be maintained frozen until the next day. We didn’t have a tissue bank at Rush, so I brought it home. I had my wife empty out our freezer to put the bone in. So I credit my wife for being the first tissue banker in Chicago.”

From there, Dr. Gitelis spearheaded a hospital-based tissue bank at Rush, which soon joined with the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois (now known as the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network) to expand into a regional tissue bank. After decades of continuous growth, the tissue bank is now part of AlloSource and is one of the largest tissue banks in the United States. “We’re the number one supplier of living fresh cartilage in the United States,” Dr. Gitelis said. “It has grown into a nationally recognized operation, which I’m very proud of.”

Creating lasting change
To anyone who is seeking to lead major change in their institutions or communities, Dr. Gitelis shared wisdom that was passed to him from his mentor, Dr. Galante, which are the three A’s for success: ability, affability, and availability.

“Affability means you have to be able to be a good communicator with the people you work with,” he explained. “Ability is obvious, but availability is understated. That means that you can be reached for guidance and advice. In my case, 24/7, the people I work with know that I can be reached.”

He added that leaders should strive to be both inspirational and aspirational. “You need to inspire those that you work with. You need to be aspirational, have bold thoughts, and, in many instances, pursue goals that don’t exist yet. You need to create them for the advantage of the public. Anything really is possible.”

In closing, Dr. Gitelis emphasized his gratitude for the recognition of the Tipton Award.

“I want to thank AAOS for this incredible honor,” he said. “I’ve proudly received numerous other honors over 45 years, but this is really the most gratifying.”

Rebecca Araujo is the managing editor of AAOS Now. She can be reached at raraujo@aaos.org.

Join the Movement Transforming Sarcoma Care

As of April 2025, the AAOS Musculoskeletal Tumor Registry (MsTR) has gathered data from more than 2,000 procedures related to bone and soft-tissue sarcomas across various regions of the body. Visit aaos.org/MSTR to learn more about how to track outcomes, improve treatment pathways, and help shape the future of rare cancer care.