Anticipated Fellowship Participation in Surgical Cases
Arthroscopy 20%
Knee Surgery 20%
Sports Medicine 10%
Trauma 30%
Artrhoplasty 20%
Area(s) of Specialty: Ankle Arthroscopy Knee Arthroplasty Knee Arthroscopy Hip Arthroplasty Hip Arthroscopy Shoulder Arthroplasty Shoulder Arthroscopy
Role of the fellow with respect to Clinical, Surgical, Research, and other opportunities: Clinical. The fellow is attached to one of the orthopaedic subspecialty teams — normally knee or shoulder — and follows its full weekly cycle: outpatient clinics, ward rounds, emergency and trauma admissions, and the team's clinical and complication meetings. Because HT manages the entire episode of care, the fellow follows individual patients from initial injury through surgery, rehabilitation and return-to-work assessment, which is the distinctive clinical exposure of this center.
Surgical. The fellow scrubs in and assists in the operating room with the assigned team, with graduated hands-on participation determined by the supervising surgeon according to experience and, for international fellows, by Chilean medical licensing requirements. Exposure includes elective arthroscopic and reconstructive procedures as well as acute and post-traumatic cases. Hands-on surgical skills training is complemented by the hospital's simulation center and its cadaveric training programme.
Research. The fellow joins an active research project, with access to an in-house methodologist, REDCap, the Scientific Ethics Committee pathway and the scientific library, and contributes to protocol development, data collection and manuscript preparation with authorship on the work contributed. Fellows are encouraged to present at the hospital's scientific meetings during the stay.
Other. The fellow is invited to the hospital's courses, hands-on workshops and visiting professor sessions, and is integrated into a department that hosts international observers on a continuous basis. Working language is Spanish; English-speaking faculty are available, but working Spanish is strongly recommended for clinical activity.
Types of Educational Opportunities: Participate as an observer only, Scrub in for surgery, Assist in clinics under supervision, Receive hands-on training, Assist with research, Didactic sessions, Publishing opportunities
Research projects, research facilities and resources, cadaver labs, publication opportunities, integration of the patient and public involvement, and the role of the fellow: HT has run a formal research programme since 2016, when its Scientific Ethics Committee was established, supported by an in-house methodologist (2020), REDCap (2022) and a dedicated scientific library (2024). The portfolio currently holds more than 180 registered projects, around 160 of them active, across more than 20 clinical teams, and produced 62 indexed publications in 2025 — a more than fourfold increase since 2013. Consolidated research lines include surgical technique and functional outcomes in trauma, rehabilitation, burns and plastic surgery, reconstructive urology and occupational mental health. Methodological training is institutional rather than ad hoc: 32 HT professionals have completed the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research programme of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health since 2023, with a fourth cohort running in 2026. HT operates a simulation center used for hands-on surgical training, and has an established programme of cadaveric surgical training with imported specimens. Visiting fellows are expected to join an active project rather than observe one: the fellow contributes to protocol development, data collection in REDCap and manuscript preparation, with authorship on the work they contribute to, and has access to the methodologist, the ethics committee pathway and the library throughout the stay. Because HT follows its patients from injury to documented return to work, fellows also gain access to longitudinal functional and return-to-work outcome data that is uncommon in sports medicine settings.
Related Conference/Lecture Schedule: HT ran 16 scientific meetings and hands-on courses in 2025, with more than 900 participants in total. The regular teaching schedule includes weekly clinical meetings in each orthopaedic subspecialty team, combining case presentations, complication review and journal club; monthly hospital-wide scientific sessions; and periodic visiting professor sessions with international faculty. Course formats range from didactic scientific meetings to cadaveric and simulation-based hands-on workshops in trauma, arthroscopy and reconstructive surgery. Fellows attend all of these as part of the programme and are expected to present at the subspecialty meetings during their stay.
Athletic Team Coverage: HT does not provide medical coverage for professional or amateur athletic teams. Its sports medicine practice derives from work-related and traumatic injury in a working-age population, where the equivalent of return to sport is documented return to work — the endpoint the hospital measures and follows. Fellows interested in event or team coverage should note that this is not part of the programme.