Each CU Orthopaedics faculty member practices in a specialty field in orthopaedic surgery, i.e., hand surgery, hip surgery, and sports nedicine. These full time academic surgeons explore and search for answers to improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of orthopaedic injury, disease, and deformity. Orthopaedics Residents also are an integral part of the research efforts.

Facilities
CU Orthopaedics is home to several state of the art laboratories in biomechanics, bioengineering, computer simulation, and molecular biology. Additionally, faculty in the department have access to many ultramodern medical, biomedical, and basic science laboratories belonging to other departments at the University of Colorado.

Research Process
Research projects are comprised of a) basic science projects whereby research is conducted in a laboratory, b) medical records documentation looking for scientific evidence in past treatment modalities. c) clinical trials that request actual patients to participate in different treatment options. For this last type of research, the study can only be performed with full consent from patients. The Faculty of Medicine has a Review Board that oversees each research project involving patients. Any such proposed project must comply with national ethical standards and, it must be justifiable and scientifically sound. Patient participation is optional and patient confidentiality is strictly enforced.

Research Project Examples