Tamara Scerpella, MD
AA McBeath Distinguished Professor | Chair, Department of Orthopedics & Rehabilitation | Chief, Division of Sports Medicine
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
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As I reflect on the collective accomplishments of our department over the past year, I am struck by the progress we have made toward our shared vision to build excellence and distinction in clinical outcomes, translatable research, and graduate training programs that result in local, regional and national prominence. I am incredibly proud of our team’s commitment to advancing orthopedic surgery and rehabilitative medicine, and I am excited to share highlights of our department members’ numerous achievements during 2024 – as well as a glimpse of what to look forward to in 2025.

Clinical Excellence

We welcomed nine of the best and brightest physician specialists to our team in 2024. These additions bring our total faculty to 42 orthopedic and 14 rehabilitation medicine specialists, preparing us to meet the ever-growing needs of our patients in Dane County, Wisconsin, and the region as we enter 2025. We will continue to recruit surgeons, non-operative orthopedic specialists, pain medicine proceduralists and inpatient rehabilitation specialists over the coming year.

Our faculty contribute to the excellent patient care provided at a number of locations, including UW Health’s University Hospital, consistently ranked as the #1 hospital in Wisconsin and among the top 50 hospitals in the United States for orthopedic care by U.S. News & World Report. The UW Health Rehabilitation Hospital, where our faculty oversee the care of post-acute accident, stroke, burn, and other injuries, was ranked in the top ten percent of rehabilitation hospitals nationwide by healthcare software company Netsmart Technologies. These accolades reflect both our affiliated hospitals’ exceptional patient care and the skill and dedication of our department’s faculty physicians, advanced practice providers and resident trainees.

Innovative Research Initiatives

Our faculty researchers remain at the forefront of groundbreaking research in stem cell and regenerative medicine, sports-related concussion management, tendon healing, joint biomechanics, and more. With over 9,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research facilities, including the Orthopedic Research Laboratories and Badger Athletic Performance Labs, our researchers are developing innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes.

Key research highlights from 2024 include receiving a five-year NIH RO1 grant awarded to UW orthopedic surgeon Kenneth Noonan, MD, and Chris Brace, PhD, to develop a novel treatment for pediatric limb-length discrepancy (LLD). Their research holds the potential to transform the treatment of LLD in children by providing an exciting alternative to traditional surgical procedures that would improve the lives of young patients with this challenging medical condition.

Our Badger Athletic Performance (BAP) program, led by Bryan Heiderscheit, PT, PhD, continues to enhance the performance, safety and recovery of more than 800 Badger athletes. In addition, BAP has partnered with the NBA to study patellar tendon injury and the NFL to study hamstring injury and sport-related concussion. Applying knowledge gained through over a decade of BAP research, Dr. Heiderscheit’s innovative and effective approach to musculoskeletal injury prevention and recovery has drawn the attention of professional teams from across the globe and in our own backyard – as consultant to the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Bucks. While professional athletes travel to BAP for individual consultation, testing and training protocols developed at BAP are implemented in training centers across the country.

We were thrilled when UW Orthopedics and Rehabilitation scientist Timothy McGuine, PhD – nationally recognized for his contributions to sports medicine research – was named the recipient of the 2024 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research: Independent Investigator. I am grateful for Tim’s decades-long practical and translatable contributions to sports medicine research and can think of no one more deserving of this honor.

We look forward to many research developments in 2025 – among them is the launch of Forward Ortho, an innovative program led by William Murphy, PhD, focused on transforming novel orthopedic technologies into groundbreaking start-up companies that will accelerate healthcare solutions.

Education Highlights

We have a strong reputation for training well-rounded clinicians through comprehensive residency and fellowship programs. With a history spanning over 65 years, the Department has successfully trained numerous physicians who have become leaders in their respective fields. We plan an expansion of both Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine residency training programs this year – bringing the orthopedic surgery complement to seven residents each year and the rehabilitation medicine complement to four residents per year. In addition, we will add a second orthopedic sports medicine fellow in the coming year.

When hand and upper extremity surgeon Neil Salyapongse, MD, joined our faculty in 2024, we gained an outstanding physician and academician – and a Vice Chair for Education. Here are a few of the new programs Dr. Salyapongse is spearheading:

Enhancement to our Simulation Education
A faculty workgroup has been assessing the modules available in our virtual reality platform to determine how best to educate early-year residents in surgical procedures ranging from arthroplasty to sports medicine to trauma. Using a select set of training modules, we hope to demonstrate earlier readiness for autonomy in the OR.

Orthopedics/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation combined Grand Rounds
In keeping with the spirit of the Department as a cohesive whole, we are developing a series of department-wide Grand Rounds on topics that combine interests and expertise across both Orthopedic and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialties. Nathan Rudin, MD, will lead off by sharing his expertise in hypermobility disorders.

Medical Student Education
The orthopedic clinical rotations have long been housed within the Department of Surgery due to our roots as a division of that department. We will formally assume responsibility for the rotations this coming year, allowing us to offer students a more uniform educational experience regardless of their subspecialty assignment.

A Commitment to Global Surgery

Continuing to demonstrate their longstanding commitment to excellent patient care across the global community, members of our orthopedic surgery team traveled to the far reaches of our world, performing surgery and providing training far beyond our borders:

Last year, Dr. Paul Whiting completed his fourth trip to Kenya, accompanied by orthopedic surgery residents Drs. Zachary French and Richard Behlmer. Their work was presented to the Department at a Grand Rounds session, detailing the broad impact of this visit on the education of surgeon colleagues in Kenya and our own participating residents. Dr. Kenneth Noonan returned this month, accompanied by Dr. French, for his (approximately) 15th visit to Honduras. Dr. Neil Salyapongse will return later this month for his fourth trip to Nepal, where he works alongside Orthopedic faculty at the only Hand Fellowship program in the country. He has had the pleasure of working with the fellowship since its inception and remains in frequent contact throughout the year with the graduates and faculty in the program. Our goal is to have a resident accompany him next cycle.

Advancing Gender Diversity in Orthopedic Surgery

The Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at UW–Madison continues to address the long-standing gender imbalance in orthopedic surgery. Recognizing that women are historically underrepresented in the field, the Department has actively fostered an inclusive culture by mentoring female residents, faculty, and staff and prioritizing diversity in recruitment and leadership development.

In recent years, the Department has increased the proportion of female residents and faculty members, creating a more representative and supportive environment for women in orthopedics. We currently boast an orthopedic surgery faculty that is 25% female and an orthopedic residency cohort that is 30% female. Programs such as mentorship initiatives and professional development workshops have empowered our female clinicians and researchers to thrive in a traditionally male-dominated specialty. Additionally, the Department has partnered with organizations such as the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society and Perry Initiative, which aim to inspire and support women pursuing careers in orthopedics.

By championing gender diversity, the Department is shaping a more equitable future for the field while enhancing the quality of care through diverse perspectives and experiences.

Philanthropy’s Impact on our Mission

Last fall, the Department reached a significant milestone when we successfully established the first-ever sports medicine endowed professorship, in honor of Dr. Bill Clancy, who founded our sports medicine program in the 1970s. This achievement, spurred by a matching opportunity from the Shapiro Foundation, demonstrates our unwavering commitment to advancing sports medicine education and research. Further, it is a testament to the support and passion of the many individuals who helped make this professorship a reality.

In 2025, we will continue to prioritize our mission. Led by Brandi Funk, our Advancement Manager, we intend to strengthen our Annual Fund for Orthopedic Innovation, which provides our Department with flexible and nimble funds needed for time-sensitive efforts and strategic and innovative collaborations. We’ll build upon our strong dedication to Education, with the fresh vision and leadership of our inaugural Vice Chair for Education, Dr. Neil Salyapongse. Finally, we intend to shine a bright light on Badger Athletic Performance Labs under the guidance of Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit. He and his team continue to thrive and connect with athletes, industry partners, researchers, and innovators here at home, nationally and internationally.

If you have any questions or thoughts about how you’d like to join us in these important development efforts with a philanthropic gift, please reach out directly to our Advancement Manager, Brandi Funk, funk@ortho.wisc.edu.

As we move into 2025, the momentum built over the past year positions us for even greater success. Our department continues to push the boundaries of clinical excellence, research innovation, education, and global impact. With the addition of talented faculty and groundbreaking research initiatives, we are well-equipped to meet the challenges ahead and to enhance patient care both locally and globally. Thank you to our dedicated faculty, staff, residents, and partners for your hard work and unwavering support – together, we will build on our legacy of excellence. I am excited for our future!

With help from the UW Health Kids pediatric orthopedic surgery team, James, 5, is nearing completion of treatment for his condition. He’s also the kind of kid who doesn’t let anything hold him back from playing sports and loving life.

“If you tell James he can’t do something, he will prove to you that he can,” says his mother, Heather Warpinski. “James taught himself how to swim when he was 3. He just didn’t like swimming lessons. He also played soccer last summer and is starting to get interested in football.”

The UW Health Kids pediatric orthopedic team treated James’ clubfoot with a widely accepted, essentially painless approach called the Ponseti Method, which involves five to eight weekly cast applications that gradually realign the tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, and bones in a child’s foot. Following the casting, the child wears a special set of boots and a brace until total correction is achieved.
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Two UW Health physicians learned casting method from Dr. Ponseti

Few pediatric orthopedic teams throughout the nation can claim, as UW Health Kids can, that one or more of its doctors learned how to perform the Ponseti Method directly from its creator, the late Dr. Ignacio Ponseti.

Dr. Ken Noonan, a UW Health Kids orthopedic surgeon, trained with Dr. Ponseti in the early 1990s at the University of Iowa. Meanwhile, Dr. Blaise Nemeth, a UW Health Kids non-surgical orthopedic specialist, visited Dr. Ponseti on several instances to enhance his own mastery of the technique.

Before most orthopedic surgeons embraced the use of the Ponseti method, most children with clubfoot were treated with a more invasive surgery that essentially took the foot apart and put it back together – a procedure that frequently led to scarring and lifelong arthritis.

“Dr. Ponseti was essentially ignored by most orthopedic surgeons for decades,” Noonan says. “As word of the Ponseti Method began to spread online, families would come to Iowa City from all over the world to have their kids treated. Over the last 25 to 30 years, the Ponseti Method thankfully emerged as the standard form of treatment. Today, our entire team is trained [on] how to perform the Ponseti Method.”

About one in four children treated with the Ponseti Method require a “tune-up” surgery to help balance the muscles in the foot. James was one of these kids, and he has been doing well since Dr. Noonan performed the surgery in September 2024.

“We have been really happy with everything UW Health has done for James,” says Heather. “We got incredibly lucky that he found his way to us. He is an incredible kid and the light of our lives.”
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This story originally appeared on uwhealth.org.

Thanks to the generous support of more than 110 donors, the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation has successfully created the first sports medicine endowed professorship at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The Dr. William G. Clancy Jr. Professorship in Sports Medicine will honor the achievements of a true pioneer and innovator, perpetuate his spirit of inclusion, and advance our mission to educate future leaders in the field.

Together with the $500,000 matching gift from the Herman and Gwen Shapiro Foundation, our total raised to date is over $1,254,000! This endowed professorship will provide annual research funding in perpetuity to the physician-educator-researcher who will hold the Clancy Award.

We have reached our goal through the incredible generosity of Dr. Clancy’s former trainees, mentees, colleagues, and friends. What a testament to his impact on the field of sports medicine! As Chair of the Department and a former Clancy resident, please accept my sincerest gratitude for your generous support.

You have made this professorship a reality.

Tamara Scerpella, MD
Chair, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
Chief, Division of Sports Medicine
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Clancy is humbled, grateful, and excited. We cannot wait to celebrate this well-deserved honor for him and an important milestone for our institution at a donor appreciation event in spring 2025. If you would like to add your support for this groundbreaking professorship, we invite you to make a gift here.

On Wisconsin!

In his 69 years, Tom Nickel has fought more than his share of health battles.

He was diagnosed with kidney disease before turning 30, had both hips replaced and underwent neck fusion surgery to give him more stability in his spine.

In early 2024, Tom embarked on yet another medical journey. His mobility had been declining and the pain in his back was getting worse. One Sunday morning, however, Tom woke up with no feeling whatsoever in his legs.

“It was totally gone,” he says.

Initially, Tom was taken to the community hospital in his hometown of Waupun, Wisconsin, but it became clear that he needed to be treated at a larger hospital with specialists in spine surgery and kidney disease.

As soon as he could be transferred to Madison, Tom went straight to the operating room, where Dr. Miranda Bice, a UW Health orthopedic spine surgeon, would perform a decompression and stabilization operation to relieve pressure on Tom’s spinal cord that was caused by a narrowing of his spinal canal between his shoulder blades.

“When I was taken to the operating room,” Tom says, “I remember Dr. Bice and the nurses telling me they will do the best they can for me. They couldn’t promise anything, including whether I would ever again walk or regain sensation in my legs.”

After a few days of recovery, Tom was transferred to the UW Health Rehabilitation Hospital on Madison’s far east side. Fueled in part by an unstoppable desire to get better, Tom outperformed expectations with his progress. Rehabilitation can be a grind some days, but Tom’s drive to get better left an everlasting impression on his care team.

Incredibly determined to get better

“Tom was incredibly determined from the first time I met him,” says Dr. Jacob Halvorsen, a UW Health rehabilitation medicine physician. “He said he would walk out of the rehab hospital with a walker, and I honestly didn’t believe him.”

David Grieve, a UW Health physical therapist who spent countless hours working with Tom, says that initially, Tom not only lacked coordination but also proprioception, which is the body’s ability to sense where its parts are in space.

“People without coordination and proprioception are typically confined to a wheelchair,” Grieve says. “They simply don’t have enough control of their muscles to walk safely because they can’t get their arms and legs to move where they want them to. When Tom first got here, his legs would move uncontrollably both side to side and back and forth.”

Rehab Hospital patients receive three hours of therapy each weekday. It’s an aggressive regimen that can overwhelm some patients, but Tom jumped into the routine.

“Tom and I spent a lot of time trying to build up his heart rate using a body weight support system that protects him from falling in case his legs give out,” Grieve says.

“After just a few days at the Rehab Hospital,” adds Dr. Halvorsen, “I knew he would have a good stay. He progressed much more than I anticipated.”

His surgeon, Dr. Bice, says it’s still too soon to know how much more progress Tom can make, but what he has achieved so far is remarkable nonetheless. 

“Many people with Tom’s injury go home wheelchair bound,” says Dr. Bice. “Tom had a great rehab team and his attitude certainly helps too. He’s clearly getting some neurological function back that appeared to be permanently lost.”

Aside from his wife Linda, his two grown children and three grandchildren, Tom’s biggest passion is playing golf, which he was doing three times a week until Thanksgiving 2023.

“I told Dr. Bice that I would be back on the golf course by July (2024) and she said you might want to back off on that a bit,” Tom says.

While he is already practicing his swing in the backyard, only time will tell if he’ll be able to play on a course again.

“Mental attitude is such a big part of the ballgame,” Tom says. “You have to want it more than anybody else.”

Meanwhile, cancer strikes Tom’s wife

Tom is not the only fighter in the Nickel household. Around the time he started kidney dialysis, Tom’s wife Linda was diagnosed with cancer. Despite a very uncertain prognosis, she is doing well following an intensive course of chemotherapy.

“Linda went through so much more than I did,” Tom says. I didn’t want to burden her with the stress of caring for me when she was dealing with a life-threatening illness. I either had to be self-sufficient or go somewhere else.”

Tom acknowledges that his stubbornness sometimes works to his own detriment, but the gratitude he expresses for the care he received from UW Health is nothing short of infinite.

“Everyone at the Rehab Hospital was caring, kind and compassionate,” he says. “I didn’t meet one person who was not always trying to do what was best for me. Everybody radiated positivity, and I could not have made this much progress without them.”

About two days before he was scheduled to go home, Tom told one of his nurses that when it came time to leave, he’d be walking to his car with a walker.

“I’m sorry, Tom,” replied the nurse. “We always take patients to their vehicle or medical transportation van in a wheelchair.”

You can probably guess how that story ended. Hint — it did not involve a wheelchair.

This story originally appeared on uwhealth.org.

For more than two decades, Nathan Petesch has put on a staggering amount of mileage — not only on his cars but his body. The Orthopedic Surgery team at UW Health couldn’t do much to reverse the mileage on Nathan’s vehicles, but they did a masterful job restoring his left hip.

Before landing his current position as assistant men’s and women’s track/cross country coach at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, Nathan coached runners at a half dozen colleges around the country. Part of coaching duties include plenty of running himself, usually as the “pacer” who leads the pack of student athletes at a certain speed that varies according to the distance of the race for which the team is preparing.

After years of running 70 to 90 miles a week, however, Nathan’s hip started to show its wear and tear not long after he turned 33.

“The pain started in the spring of 2021 and I just kept running through it for a while,” he says. “Unfortunately, my hip just kept getting worse as the year went along. By late fall, I was pretty hampered and missing a few days of training.”

A sports medicine doctor in La Crosse diagnosed Nathan with a tear in his left labrum, which is the cartilage that lines the hip socket. Soon, Nathan found his way to the UW Health Sports Medicine Clinic, where he met with Dr. Andrea Spiker, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hip preservation surgery.

“Nathan described increasing hip pain as well as loss of range and motion,” says Dr. Spiker. “He also was hearing snaps and pops as he moved around. When we looked at his imaging, we found that in addition to the labrum tear, Nathan was experiencing hip impingement, which occurs when the ball at the top of the femur, or thigh bone, is not as round as it should be. This prevents the hip joint from moving smoothly and was the trigger for his symptoms. He tried physical therapy and anti-inflammatories, but things did not improve over several months.”

Knowing that a well-functioning hip was essential not only for running but a better quality of life, Nathan realized that surgery would be necessary to achieve his goals.

“It was a little scary facing surgery at 33 thinking that my quality of life could be severely impacted, given what I do for a living,” Nathan says. “When I met with Dr. Spiker, I felt very comfortable and confident that I would be in good hands. Her experience and positive patient reviews only enhanced my comfort level.”

Quite the finish to Nathan’s day of surgery

As the big day approached, surgery was not the only thing on Nathan’s mind.

“Our men’s team had a track and field meet in La Crosse that evening, and I was thinking about one of our athletes who was racing to qualify for the NCAA Championships. I felt bad that my surgery was the same day.”

The operation itself could not have gone more smoothly.

“I performed a hip arthroscopy, which is a minimally invasive outpatient surgery to restore a more normal shape to the bone, repair the torn labrum and restore smooth function to the joint,” says Dr. Spiker. “It not only allows the patient to enjoy a pain-free lifestyle and return to high levels of activity,” she adds, “We also believe that improving the mechanics of the hip will prevent future hip arthritis.”

Nathan was out of surgery late that afternoon. It wasn’t long before his girlfriend pulled the car up to the front of the hospital and the two were heading back to La Crosse.

After a round trip from La Crosse to Madison with a hip surgery thrown in for good measure, most people would call it a day and hop straight into bed. Nathan, however, couldn’t help himself. He showed up at the track that evening to see his runner compete in the 10,000 meters.

“He not only won the race but broke the school’s 42-year-old record and has since won three national titles. There are only so many moments of magic in an athlete’s career and I was grateful to be there for one.”

After finally making it home, Nathan took it easy for a few days. He began weaning himself off crutches after a few weeks. Home exercises assigned by his physical therapist allowed Nathan to start building up his strength and range of motion. 

Within three months after surgery, he started light running. By late fall, he was feeling 100 percent with no pain and no restrictions. For the past year or so, he is back to a weekly pace of 70 to 90 miles, which is at least as far as he was running before the surgery.

“I have nothing but positive things to say about the whole experience,” Nathan says. “We’re lucky to have some of the best medical professionals here in the state. I would certainly recommend the UW Health team to anyone who is dealing with injuries that have hampered their ability to stay active.”

This story originally appeared on uwhealth.org.