One of the oldest orthopedic residencies in the nation, Brown’s “fracture” residency began in 1938 and transformed into a five-year program based at Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and the Providence Veterans Affairs Hospital. There are typically six residents in each year of the program. 

The breadth of experience during the residency is vast. Hasbro Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital in the state, and Rhode Island Hospital is the only level 1 trauma center in Rhode Island. Combined, they are the busiest emergency department system in New England. Both provide the vast majority of specialty orthopedic care in the region. The Total Joint Center at The Miriam Hospital annually performs over 1400 joint arthroplasty surgeries, including hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow, and wrist replacements. Furthermore, the Department of Orthopaedics performs more than 17,000 operations and 150,000 office visits per year in Rhode Island. Subspecialty experience in Pediatrics, Tumor, Trauma, Sports Medicine, Hand Surgery, Shoulder and Elbow, Adult Reconstruction, Foot and Ankle and Spine is all obtained at one of our local facilities in Rhode Island. Two months of elective time during the PGY5 year can be used for international rotations.

Opportunities for clinical and basic science research are available, and each resident has four months of protected research time during the residency. The Orthopedic research laboratory at Brown University is one of the top-funded orthopedic labs in the country, with projects ranging from ligament reconstruction, cartilage biomechanics, and biochemistry, molecular biology to mechanical testing of spine constructs and 3D kinematic modeling. Our research division is staffed by a cadre of full-time scientists who assist residents in experimental design, technique, and data analysis.