Education Advisory Board (EAB)

Milton Lee (Chip) Routt, Jr., M.D. is the Dr. Andrew R. Burgess Endowed Chair and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at The University of Texas McGovern Medical School at Houston, The Texas Trauma Institute, and Memorial Hermann Hospital – Texas Medical Center. He currently serves as the President of the Surgeon’s Council and Chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee, and on the Medical Executive Committee at Memorial Hermann Hospital – Texas Medical Center. Dr. Routt is a native of Chappell Hill, Texas, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Texas A&M University. Following medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he completed a Surgical Internship and Orthopaedic Residency at Vanderbilt University. His Orthopaedic Traumatology fellowship was at the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center. He remained there as faculty from 1989 through 2012. Dr. Routt has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and other educational contributions including book chapters. He is best known as a tireless and devoted physician-surgeon, and passionate teacher. Dr. Routt has received a variety of awards including the 2024 AONA Educator of the Year, 2019 Leonard Tow Award for Humanism and Education, the 2019 James Red Duke Physician Leadership Award, 2018 MHH Physician of the Year, Orthopedic Resident Teaching awards at UT Houston and the University of Washington, and the Jack McDaniels Traveling Fellowship. Dr. Routt is an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus of UTMB and a Distinguished Alumnus of Brenham High School. He has directly mentored, educated, and hosted hundreds of Orthopaedic Traumatologists from the United States and Canada, and from across the globe. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his work with pelvic and acetabular injuries. Dr. Routt is an AO North America past President. He is a member of the Orthopedic Trauma Association, the AO Alumni Association and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, among others. Dr. Routt is board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons.

Dr. Michelle Clarke is Professor of Neurologic Surgery and Orthopedics at Mayo Clinic where she also serves as program director for the neurosurgery enfolded spine fellowship. She has been on staff at Mayo since 2009. Her undergraduate degree is in Aerospace Engineering from the Princeton University, her medical degree is from Georgetown University, and she completed residency in neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic. She completed a complex spine fellowship focusing on spinal oncology at Johns Hopkins University before returning to Mayo. Dr. Clarke also has a master’s degree in bioethics from Loyola University of Chicago and has completed a Master’s of Education from the University of Cincinnati. She is currently an active member of the AANS, NSA, and the SNS. Dr. Clarke’s involvement in AO Spine NA began as an AOSpine fellow in 2009. She joined the teaching faculty and served on the education committee before joining the board as an ad hoc member. Her current practice focuses on intradural and vertebral column malignancies, although a significant component includes complex spine trauma and degenerative disease.

Dr. Rizzo obtained his medical degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and his hand/microvascular surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. After being on staff at Duke University from 2002-5, he joined the faculty at Mayo, where he has since remained. He is a professor of orthopedic surgery and has served as chair of the hand surgery division from 2015 to 2024. He is also Director of the Program for Professionalism and Values and Chair of the Mayo Clinic Values Council for the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Rizzo is on the AONA hand education committee and currently serves as chair. He has previously served on the AONA ethics, validation and content subcommittee (ECVSC). He has also completed the Faculty Education Program (FEP), the Chair Education Program (CEP) and the Leadership Education Program (LEP).

A passionate learning strategist, educator who brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise in all areas of education including traditional and online learning, curriculum design and development, measurement and evaluation methods, instructional design, course design and delivery, needs assessments development, process improvement planning, the use of technology in design and delivery of education. She is an Educational Technology expert who has been involved in implementing online learning systems, learning object repositories, integrating technology solutions in learning, leading the design and implementation of tools related to social learning and mobile learning. A nationally and internationally recognized leader and consultant in continuing medical education, she has a deep interest in knowledge management and its effective translation to healthcare practice, with several committee and advisory board appointments, and awards. Dr. Subramaniam has worked in several capacities in education and training in academic, corporate, government, publishing, and not-for-profit organizations.
Before joining AO North America, she served as Principal, Learning and Change within the Premier Research Services group at Premier Inc., where she led the development and implementation of an education, quality improvement, training and Implementation research strategy aligned with the needs of over 3000 hospitals within the Premier network, including business development and marketing. She also served as the Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the Duke School of Medicine and was the Assistant Director for the Center for Educational Excellence at the DCRI managing over 450 CPD programs including several systems level quality improvement initiatives. In her leadership role within the Duke Center for Educational Excellence, Chitra lead several educational implementation projects and all of the PI/QI efforts working in collaboration with the Health system, the different Duke Departments, research networks and community organizations. She has worked also with the American Society for Clinical Pathology as the Director of Educational Design and Technology, a master designer for IBM, AT & T, CMS and several academic, corporate, government and non-for profit organizations. Her interests include creation and management of knowledge systems for the delivery of outcomes-based education, E-learning, educational research and quality improvement CE.