Application period for 2022-2023 fellowship grants is now closed

Applications are now being reviewed. To all applicants: Please respond within the time frame indicated if asked for additional information.

Grants support clinical orthopaedic fellowship programs and may be used for a fellow's salary and benefits. (Programs can request preapproval of other direct education expenses if salary and benefit support is not possible.) 

Click on the fellowship page for more information.


Ascertaining the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the need for fellowship funding

While there continues to be many issues to deal with, most program directors are maintaining the same number of fellows in their program.

As part of OMeGA Medical Grants Association's (OMeGA) mission to support orthopaedic graduate medical education without conflicts of interest or bias, this recent survey tracked the continuing effect of Covid-19. This survey was sent to 555 US orthopaedic teaching programs in July and August 2021, 233 (42%) responded with representation from all 9 orthopaedic subspecialties. 

While most programs indicated quantitively that the educational experience they provide to fellows is comparable to pre-Covid 19 times, the write-in comments acknowledge on-going struggles and issues. 

  • Our hospitals are currently limiting elective cases but being in private practice, I have the ability to take patients to our surgery center. Even with this, I anticipate that our case volume will decrease by about 25% if things stay as they are currently.

  • Has detracted not only from the OR experience, but also from the clinic experience of interacting with patients. 

  • Case volumes dipped slightly, but the fellows were able to do only a slightly lower number. It did affect clinics and clinic education more severely due to the move to telehealth for two significant periods.

  • Continued unpredictable patient flows and hospital administrative interferences along with supply chain compromise continue to create a challenging dynamic scenario.  

  • Lost revenue due to decreased case and clinic volumes will lead to difficulties in fellowship funding.

  • Clinical volume was stable, however less margin/time for academics due to extra workload to get cases ready/optimized. 

  • Main effect was on research. We had planned on a cadaveric study, but due to the Covid crisis, we had no personnel to run our fresh tissue lab and had difficulties obtaining cadaveric specimens for testing. 

  • It may be difficult to keep our private fellowship open. 

  • We were forced to cancel all elective cases from March 2020-July 2020 and then a very slow increase in cases was allowed. Then in December 2020-end of February 2021 there was a complete cancelation of elective cases again with the spike in Covid infections and the number of patients being admitted. 

  • Temporary volume loss. 

  • Travel for education and industry courses were eliminated, and somewhat substituted virtually. 

  • The biggest issue is the skill level of the fellows given the loss of volume in residency. 

  • Our expenses actually decreased due to lack of travel. 

  • Biggest impact has been cases, educational travel and social interaction. 

  • Covid presented institutional challenges where staff was furloughed, and faculty received pay cuts. Thanks to OMeGA's funding, our fellow's salary and benefits were not affected.

Despite these comments, 87% of respondents planned to maintain the same number of fellowship slots for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Thank you to all the program directors who responded to this survey! 


Congratulations to the 2021-2022 fellowship grant recipients

Grants were awarded to 135 meritorious fellowship programs for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Click on the fellowship page for more information.


Subspecialty connections

OMeGA supports fellowship programs in all nine orthopaedic subspecialties. To find information and resources for each subspecialty, hover over the "Fellowship Grants and Subspecialty Pages" button on the left and click links in the drop-down menu.


2022 OMeGA officers

John A. Glaser, MD is OMeGA's President. Robert J. Bielski, MD is OMeGA's Secretary and S. Ashfaq Hasan, MD is OMeGA's Treasurer.

Click here to open the public announcement

Click here to see the list of 2022 OMeGA board members

Click here to see the list of 2022 OMeGA advisory board members

Click here to see the list of 2022 OMeGA review committee members


Orthopaedic community joins forces to rally support for orthopaedic GME

A record 27 orthopaedic societies joined OMeGA to approve and sign the eighth joint letter to industry encouraging support for graduate medical education (GME). Nonconflicted industry support of quality orthopaedic residency and fellowship programs is critical to secure the future of the orthopaedic profession.

This letter was sent to current and potential supporters of OMeGA to demonstrate the crucial need for non conflicted, merit-based funding provided by OMeGA GME grants. The letter outlines a brief history of GME funding, defines the role OMeGA grants play in the orthopaedic GME landscape, and calls on industry to provide support to benefit the orthopaedic educational system and patients.


Corporate support broadens reach of OMeGA grants

OMeGA Medical Grants Association is the only third-party administrator of grants in all orthopaedic subspecialty categories. Since 2008, OMeGA has collaborated with corporate donors to support quality orthopaedic residency programs and fellowship education. OMeGA grants provide an objective, non-conflicted, transparent funding mechanism to assure continued funding of orthopaedic training--education that is critical to maintaining quality orthopaedic patient care. In the last 13 years, OMeGA has received 2,663 applications for residency and fellowship support, and requests from meritorious programs continue to grow.


Join our email list

Click here if you would like to receive email notifications of future OMeGA grant application periods.  Provide your name, title, email address, and institution name. Notifications will be sent for all grant cycles unless "fellowship only" or "residency only" is specified. Your information will be used only as it pertains to OMeGA and will not be shared.


Link to access your account

OMeGA Fellowship GLM (Grant Lifecycle Manager)

Email info@omegamedicalgrants.org with any questions.


Grants are available through the generous support of donors

Thank you to our donors that truly support the orthopaedic profession, funding multiple subspecialty categories.