Fellowships
Discover the unique opportunity to advance in your training and deepen your expertise
AO Trauma Fellowship—your next step
The AO Trauma Fellowship Program offers a unique educational experience to the most promising young surgeons in the entire field of orthopedic surgery. With this program, AO Trauma provides a gateway to our worldwide network and fosters cross-pollination and networking opportunities across our global community.
Fellows will have the opportunity to learn from leading AO Trauma experts in the carefully selected and renowned centers, covering the entire scope of orthopedic surgical procedures performed around the world. The duration of the AO Trauma fellowship program is from 6 to 12 weeks.
The list of our AO Trauma Fellowship Host Centers can be found here.
AO Trauma Fellowship applicants must be AO Trauma members. Learn more about AO Trauma membership here.
AO Trauma offers several fellowship programs
AO Trauma Short Term International Fellowship Program
The call for application for the 2024 AO Trauma program is now closed.
Please check in with us in a few months if you want to apply for the 2025 program.
Visit-the-Expert Fellowship Program
Are you an already proficient AO Trauma surgeon and aiming to undertake and international AO Trauma Visit-the-Expert fellowship?
The call for application for the 2024 Visit-the-Expert Fellowship Program is now closed.
Please check in with us in a few months if you want to apply for the 2025 program.
How an AO Trauma fellowship changes your life
“I am always grateful to my attending surgeon and the great team in Bama. This fellowship was a game changer for me.”
Igor Escalante, Venezuela
Selection criteria
We aim to identify the most promising young surgeons who dedicate the main part of their practice to orthopedic trauma care and support them in deepening their understanding of fracture care and further developing their skills.
Selection criteria for AO Trauma Fellows
AO Trauma Fellowships are in high demand, and we receive more applications each year than we can accommodate.
The goal of our fellowships is to identify surgeons who are dedicating the main part of their practice to orthopedic trauma care. We want to help these surgeons to deepen their understanding of fracture care and further develop their skills. In the end, we want each fellow to become a part of the worldwide AO Trauma community.
Selection criteria for AO Trauma Fellows
- Previous participation in the AO Trauma Basic Principles and AO Trauma Advanced Principles courses
- Orthopedic Trauma is the main part of practice
- Active AO Trauma membership
- Younger than 45 old years in the year of application
- Employment by a teaching hospital is recommended
Who selects AO Trauma fellows?
Fellows are selected in several steps, involving the AO Trauma Councils and the AO Trauma Regional Boards in each region.
- First, each application is reviewed and evaluated by members of the national council of the applicant’s country of employment.
- Next, the application goes to the regional fellowship coordinator (RFC). In each of the five AO Trauma regions, the regional board has appointed one senior surgeon as the RFC. The RFC makes the final decision and places the fellows with host centers.
- If a fellow goes to a different region for his or her fellowship, the RFC of the host region confirms that the placement is suitable.
Application process
The application requires the upload of supporting documentation. Please have these files ready for upload before you begin to fill in your application. (Accepted file formats are PDF, JPG, PNG, and GIF.)
You will need the following documents:
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Copy of the AO Trauma Basic Principles and AO Trauma Advanced Principles course/activity certificate(s)
- Copy of your medical school diploma
- Copy of your passport
- Submission of a photograph and/or evidence of vaccinations and your English language proficiency is optional.
Only complete applications will be considered. Make sure you have an active AO Trauma membership.
Stipends
During your fellowship, you will receive a small stipend fund to contribute to your accommodation and living costs.
Please note that the stipend is a contribution to the costs for travel, accommodation and meals and may not necessarily cover all the costs. AO Trauma is not able to arrange accommodation in the host country. Travel as well as insurance costs must be funded entirely by the fellow.
The AO Trauma Fellowship stipends are calculated using a benchmark of USD 550 for 1 week's fellowship in the United States. The stipends for all other countries are adjusted for the local price level. To calculate the adjustment, the price level ratio of purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor to market exchange rate provided by the World Bank is used. The World Bank data can be accessed here. The stipends are paid in Swiss francs equivalents.
AO Trauma Fellowship Host Centers
Explore our experienced network of Fellowship Host Centers.
Visit-the-Expert Fellowships
For experienced surgeons, AO Trauma offers a different kind of fellowship, the Visit-the-Expert Fellowships.
Clinical Research Fellowships
Apply for our three-month, hands-on coaching program for surgeons who want in-depth training in clinical research.