Innovative Development Program for Underrepresented Medical Students and Residents Launches

By AOFAS | October 14, 2024

“When your feet hurt, you hurt all over,” goes the saying. In order to improve outcomes for more people diagnosed with foot and/or ankle arthritis, the Arthritis Foundation is partnering with the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society^® (AOFAS) on a program to provide medical students and residents from underrepresented groups with valuable training and mentoring opportunities across the country.

The new three-year partnership, called the Foot and Ankle Arthritis Development Program, aims to improve patient care for individuals with arthritis of the foot and ankle by increasing the diversity of providers to match patient populations. Over the three years, the Arthritis Foundation and AOFAS will select four to six medical students and/or residents annually to participate in the program. Selected participants will visit different academic medical centers to tour facilities and labs, learn about advancements in ankle arthritis care, and meet physicians in the field.

Applications for the inaugural Foot and Ankle Arthritis Development Program will open in November 2024. Participants will be selected in mid-2025 and begin travel in September 2025.

This program marks the second partnership between the two organizations. Last year, the Foundation and AOFAS announced the recipients of the first-ever AF/AOFAS Ankle Arthritis Think Tank Research Grants. These grants provided nearly $600,000 in funding to support innovative clinical research that advances knowledge toward treatments to stop or slow ankle osteoarthritis. 

For more information about the program, visit aofas.org/arthritis.