On Friday, June 3rd, 2022, UNC Orthopaedics hosted its 51st Annual R. Beverly Raney Visiting Professorship and Orthopaedic Conference, marking a welcome return to in-person for a longstanding educational event that benefits current and alumnus UNC Orthopaedics Surgery faculty and residents. Each year, this event provides orthopaedic surgeons updates on the latest research innovations, advances in surgical techniques, and changes in the orthopaedic practice environment.
In 1971, the Annual R. Beverly Raney Visiting Professorship and Orthopaedic Conference was established to honor the late Dr. R. Beverly Raney Sr. (1906-1991), who was named the first Chief of UNC School of Medicine’s new orthopaedic service after North Carolina Memorial Hospital was completed in 1952. While leading this service over 15 years, Dr. Raney became the first faculty member of the UNC Department of Orthopaedics. Dr. Raney was renowned for growing orthopaedic patient care across North Carolina. He was instrumental to development of the state’s Crippled Children’s Clinics and Programs, was a charter member of the North Carolina Orthopaedic Association, established the orthopaedic service at Watts Hospital, and expanded orthopaedic services at Duke Hospital after becoming Duke University’s first orthopaedic surgery resident. In 1972, UNC School of Medicine faculty and alumni honored Dr. Raney with the Distinguished Service Award.
Each year, Annual R. Beverly Raney Visiting Professorship and Orthopaedic Conference is a forum for graduating 5th-year UNC Orthopaedic residents to present scholarly work that demonstrates their competence in leading an investigative project that advances orthopaedic science. In 2022, five graduating UNC Orthopaedics residents – Drs. Colleen Balkam, Ryan Barnes, Karly Lorbeer, Chinmay Paranjape, and Joshua Shapiro – gave presentations of their research projects. At the resident graduation banquet following the Raney Lecture, Dr. Ryan Barnes received the Resident Research Award for most well-developed and best-presented research project.
The Department’s Vice Chair of Research and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Kinesiology Dr. Joe Hart moderated this year’s R. Beverly Raney Lecture. Dr. Hart noted of the five presented scholarly projects:
“The presentations at the Department’s 2022 [Raney] Lecture were each truly remarkable and represent the impressive potential of our residents to become physician scientists. The scholarly works presented are testaments to the capacity of Orthopaedists in training to ask clinically relevant questions and leverage their knowledge and determination to advance orthopaedic science. These projects were each outstanding interdisciplinary collaborations and reflect a true commitment to team science and innovation leading to advancements in patient care.”
The highlight of the Annual R. Beverly Raney Visiting Professorship is the R. Beverly Raney Lecture. This year, University of California at San Diego School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Chair Dr. Susan Bukata, served as the 2022 R Beverly Raney Lecture Keynote Speaker. Dr. Bukata is notably the fourth female chair appointed to lead an academic orthopaedic department nationwide. In her field, she holds multiple leadership positions in orthopaedic education and research, among them: 1) Orthopaedic Research Society Executive Board of Directors; 2) American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Written Examination Field Task Force; and 3) Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Education Committee. Dr. Bukata has been named a “Top Doctor” by multiple major media outlets including Castle Connolly America, Los Angeles Magazine and Hollywood Reporter, and she has been recognized with several Patients’ Choice Awards.
In her Raney Lecture presentation — Teams Are How the Magic Happens – Dr. Bukata described the clinical and procedural continuum of patient care inherent to orthopaedic practice as critically reliant upon a whole team that draws its strength from the contributions of individual providers. 
Dr. Bukata noted: “In orthopaedics, we are often caring for patients who expect their aging body and the skeleton within it to remain the same over a lifetime. It’s critical within our specialty to have good partners who make good teams so that we can lead patients to a point of natural healing beyond the patient-centered clinical and surgical care an orthopaedic team provides.
To deliver quality care within clinical and OR settings across all subspecialties within our discipline, reliable teams and the members within them are vital to orthopaedics.”
UNC Orthopaedics Chair and Frank C. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Dr. James Sanders concluded: “The [Annual R. Beverly Raney Lecture] and presentations are a great venue for our residents and faculty to interact with leading orthopaedists and this year’s visit with Susan Bukata was truly outstanding. Dr. Bukata provided great teaching, and our senior residents presented their incredibly high-quality research. Everyone should be proud of such a stimulating and successful event.”