National PA Week: Allison Lynn and Renee Hunter, RIAO

It's National Physician Assistant Week, and we're celebrating our dedicated physician assistants at LifeBridge Health by having them share their stories .


Working at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics
by Allison Lynn and Renee Hunter, RIAO

Allison Lynn, PA-C, International Center for Limb Lengthening: I've been a PA since 2002, and worked at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics since 2007. There are many aspects of my job at the RIAO that I enjoy. I have the chance to work with so many different people from all over the United States and overseas. We monitor our kids throughout their childhood and have a chance to be a part of their lives and watch them grow up. Because of the unique aspect of deformity correction, the entire family is involved in the process.

Treatment frequently requires a family to move to Baltimore for weeks to months. Patients and their families are away from their own support network of family and friends going through a difficult and painful process. Therefore, we have a rare opportunity to be a part of our patients’ lives not found in other fields of medicine. This week we had a teenager whom after 25-plus surgeries came for one of his final post-operation visits. He now has two feet on the floor with equal limb lengths, walking on his own without assistance, and without a limp. He is off to college this year and wants to be a PA. That's what makes the job rewarding.

Renee Hunter, PA-C, International Center for Limb Lengthening: I've been a PA since 2006, which is when I began working at the RIAO. As my first job out of college, I didn’t really know what to expect. I have seen a lot of conditions and deformities of the bone that, without working here, I would have never heard of, let alone, see. Seeing how well our patients, both pediatric and adult, adapt and deal with these conditions has been an eye-opening experience. I love the fact that I get to work with patients from here and abroad – it makes each day unique and there is never a dull moment. Overall, this job has provided me with a great working environment, staff, a wonderful set of patients and a continuing learning experience.

Are you interested in working with Renee or Allison? Check out our open positions at LifeJobs.

Baltimore Limb Course Celebrates 20 Years

The International Center for Limb Lengthening at Sinai Hospital held its 20th Annual Baltimore Limb Deformity Course over Labor Day weekend. Held at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, it featured 275 participants from 31 countries and 26 states.

I visited to see firsthand how Sinai Hospital doctors John Herzenberg, M.D. (pictured right), Shawn Standard, M.D., Janet Conway, M.D., and Bradley Lamm, D.P.M., have developed a course that trains many of the top orthopedic surgeons from around the world.

At first glance the course appeared to be like a trade show. Seventeen medical device manufactures had elaborate displays highlighting some of the latest orthopedic equipment. But then you enter the labs.

Doctors from around the world spent nine-hour days participating in saw bone labs, cadaver labs and digital planning labs.

At the end of the training physicians were able to earn CME or CEU credits. And it wasn’t just listening to lectures. At the saw bone lab you could see many doctors drilling away, using tools resembling what we may find in our garage, only the drills and screws were constructing elaborate fixators on bone models. In the digital imagining lab, doctors plotted out the proper way to construct different frames. The course reminded me of what you could see at an engineering school in terms of the elaborate frame designs, only these designs are used to correct limb deformities.

The physicians and course attendees also had some fun. A highlight of this year’s course was an event at the Maryland Science Center honoring the Hubble Space Telescope's 20th anniversary. Participants were entertained with a new IMAX film about the telescope and were given a presentation by NASA astronaut and orthopedic surgeon Robert Satcher, M.D., about working in space and how telescopes have found spectacular discoveries.

To learn more about the International Center for Limb Lengthening, click here. -Ryan Nawrocki

Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics Physicians Train Orthopedic Surgeons

In early September, the Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement and the International Center for Limb Lengthening (ICLL) will host two educational events: the Third Annual Hip Joint Preservation and Resurfacing Arthroplasty Course and the 19th Annual Baltimore Limb Deformity Course.

Dr. Michael Mont of the Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement will be co-directing the Third Annual Hip Joint Preservation and Resurfacing Arthroplasty Course along with Dr. Thomas Schmalzried of Los Angeles, Calif. Drs. Mont and Schmalzried are two of the most respected joint replacement surgeons in the United States. In fact, Dr. Mont has performed more than 2,000 hip resurfacing procedures. This year’s course will feature a world-renowned faculty that will be discussing the latest research and treatment options.

The ICLL physicians conduct the Baltimore Limb Deformity Course, which provides a forum for physicians from all over the world to be able to share knowledge, innovative techniques and new treatment options. Drs. John Herzenberg, Janet Conway, Shawn Standard and Bradley Lamm will be conducting hands-on labs and lectures on topics such as external fixation for the foot and ankle, deformity correction techniques, osteomyelitis and segmental bone defects. Last year’s course attracted more than 235 attendees from almost 40 countries and 25 states.

More information about each course is available online at www.hipresurfacingcourse.com and www.deformitycourse.com.

International Center for Limb Lengthening at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore

The International Center for Limb Lengthening (ICLL) is widely recognized as the most experienced center for limb lengthening and reconstruction in the world, committed to providing the most comprehensive and technologically advanced treatments available for children and adults with upper and lower limb length discrepancies, short stature, limb deformities, nonunions, bone defects, bone infections, joint contractures, and arthritis.

In addition, the ICLL has become a major referral center for the Ponseti method of clubfoot treatment and distraction treatment of Perthes disease, two new methods for the treatment of two common pediatric disorders. The ICLL also offers a state-of-the-art gait laboratory for motion and function analysis and other specialized studies. With an international reputation for excellence, the Center's physicians have treated patients from all 50 United States and more than 50 countries from six continents around the world.

The ICLL, part of the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics (RIAO), opened at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore in July 2001 in a brand new six-story facility designed by the Center's co-founders, Dror Paley, M.D., John E. Herzenberg, M.D., and Michael Mont, M.D. Paley and Herzenberg were the first team in the United States to dedicate their practices to limb lengthening and deformity reconstruction. Janet D. Conway, M.D., and Shawn C. Standard, M.D., and a podiatrist, Bradley M. Lamm, DPM, F.A.C.F.A.S., complete the team.

International Patients
Because many of our patients come from overseas, we offer special services. Each year, many patients from more than 40 countries come to the ICLL for special medical treatment. Our patients benefit from proven expertise, state-of-the-art research, and cutting edge treatments offered by the orthopedic specialists at the RIAO.

For more information about the International Center for Limb Lengthening, call 410-601-WELL (9355).