Welcome

Program Overview/Philosophy 

The William Beaumont Army Medical Center Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program integrates the unique aspects of military orthopaedic surgery with the academic requires of the Residency Review Committee of the Accrediting Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The training program provides a well-rounded experience in the many specialties within the realm of Orthopaedic surgery. The program’s unique asset is that it is the only true military-civilian combined program in the United States. Due to the partnership with Texas Tech University, residents are afforded the opportunity to train at a busy, Level I trauma center with a large regional and international patient population. University Medical Center, the Level I trauma center, receives approximately 3,500 trauma admissions per year. This training in complex warm trauma, along with the broad orthopaedic training at WBAMC, produces orthopaedic surgeons capable of providing excellent patient care, whether in a large, modern Army Medical Center or in the austere conditions of a small, mobile Forward Surgical Team.

Welcome Letter from Current Program Director:

The residency program at William Beaumont Army Medical Center is one of the largest in the Department of Defense. It is also the only combined military and civilian orthopaedic surgery residency program. The residents have opportunities to take advantage of the clinical resources of both civilian and military facilities. These resources include William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center-El Paso/University Medical Center. Both facilities are trauma centers and as a consequence the residents in this program see all of the region’s major orthopaedic trauma.

This five-year program begins at the PGY/1 level. The residents are selected at the Joint Services Selection Board. The current classes have four military residents and a fifth civilian resident per year. The program is fully accredited by ACGME and the Orthopaedic Residency Review Committee.

The variety of clinical case material between military and civilian facilities allows the residents to train in all aspects of orthopaedic surgery. We include rotations in Spine, Ortho Oncology, Sports Medicine, Trauma, Pediatric Orthopaedics, Hand, Foot and Ankle, and Total Joints. We have special rotations at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Rush-Chicago to augment our Pediatric and Total Joint Reconstructive exposure.

The residents of the William Beaumont/Texas Tech program graduate with a broad exposure to the entire spectrum of musculoskeletal diseases. A close affiliation with military units and active duty soldiers provides experience necessary should one be deployed later in their career. There are plenty of opportunities for both clinical and laboratory research which is a requirement for completion of the training program.

Current Program Director

Elizabeth Polfer, MD, Program Director
Richard Purcell, MD, Associate Program Director
Adam H Adler, MD, Associate Program Director

Current Program Administrator with Contact Information

Saconda Parks
Program Administrator, WBAMC
[email protected]
915-742-0342

Karla Villa
Program Administrator, TTUHSC
[email protected]
915-383-7603

Visiting Student Info

The program welcomes bright, highly motivated medical students and physicians interested in orthopaedic surgery to come, visit the program, see our facilities and try out for the team! Visiting medical students will be afforded the opportunity to rotate with our clinical teams at both WBAMC and TTUHSC. Of note, WBAMC offers rooms for rotating medical students.