The Wake Forest School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery welcomes all fourth-year medical students to rotate as acting interns in our department. Medical students currently enrolled in U.S. allopathic medical schools should apply through VSAS.  Options for international medical students are below.

Our top priorities during your rotation are to:

• Advance your orthopaedic knowledge base.
• Help initiate the transition from medical student to resident.
• Provide extensive hands-on experience.
• Expose you to a wide variety of Orthopaedic surgical conditions and clinical styles.
• Develop friendships and connections with other members of our Orthopaedic family

We accept up to eight students to rotate during each academic block.

Curriculum

The cornerstone of our program is extensive operative experience with our fellowship-trained academic orthopaedic faculty, many of whom are considered world experts in their respective orthopaedic subspecialties.

Clerkship curriculum will also include:

• Orthopaedic clinic and call experience to learn about the peri-operative, non-operative, and acute management of orthopaedic issues, with teaching and participation in Emergency Department procedures such as casting, splinting, joint injections, joint aspirations, revision amputations, etc. 
• Take part in departmental educational conferences, grand rounds, cadaveric and saw-bone operative surgical skills labs, and journal clubs.
• Attend didactic lectures designed specifically for fourth-year medical students.
• Receive guidance from a senior resident mentor.
• Experience life in Winston-Salem and consider what it would be like to complete your residency here.

How to Apply

Applications for an acting internship rotation in the orthopaedic surgery are accepted through the Visiting Student Application System (VSAS).

Applications will be accepted according to the dates in VSAS. Applications must be submitted 60 days prior to the requested rotation, and per university policy, all visiting students must rotate on the School of Medicine’s block dates.

International Applicants

For international medical students interested in completing an educational opportunity at WFBMC, an application must be completed and submitted to the Office of Global Health at least 90 days prior to the beginning date of the desired rotation.  Those applications completed in entirety will be reviewed each academic year. No more than 5 final year medical students in good standing at their home medical school will be selected to complete 1 four week rotation.

International students interested in a rotation at Wake Forest Baptist Health should contact Lynn Snyder in our Global Health office lsnyder@wakehealth.edu

Scholarship and Grants

The Scholarship Clerkship Program for Visiting Medical Students is administered by the School of Medicine’s Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity. This program is designed to promote diversity in the residency programs at Wake Forest School of Medicine and annually offers scholarship assistance to visiting fourth-year medical students rotating in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, family and community medicine, general surgery, plastic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, neurosurgery, dermatology, neurology, otolaryngology, psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, urology, nephrology or radiology.