Foot and Ankle Surgical Residency

A foot and ankle surgical resident examines the foot of a black male patient.


Program Director:
Alan Catanzariti, DPM
Accreditation: CPME
Program Length: 3 years (PGY3)
Residents per year: 4

About the program

Our Foot and Ankle Surgical Residency Training Program has been actively preparing the next generation of foot and ankle surgeons since 1996. Our residents follow busy clinical, surgical, and research schedules and benefit from excellent training facilities and one-on-one mentoring with our faculty.

The mission of our program is to foster understanding and creativity with respect to all aspects of foot and ankle surgery. This is provided through provocative interaction with faculty and peers and is supported with a full-service educationally conducive environment in the clinics, at the bedside, in the operating room, and with research.

Our surgical, clinical and research programs are coordinated to provide a personalized training experience. Our primary goal is to create competent, capable, caring, and compassionate physicians who are passionate about their profession.

Our residents are highly sought after and pursued for fellowship training and employment. They are invariably presented with a variety of practice and teaching opportunities. Graduates from our program serve as directors, faculty members, and chiefs of clinical foot and ankle programs and research departments. They are involved in residency training and serve as faculty at the various podiatric medical colleges, including department chairmanships.

Goals

The mission of our Foot and Ankle Surgical Residency Training Program is to promote, support, augment, develop, and encourage comprehensive investigative knowledge of the medical and surgical care of the foot, ankle, and lower leg.

The primary goal of our Program is to provide a sound academic and clinical educational foundation for all of our residents. Our Program has been developed with special emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach to lower extremity disorders.

The second goal of the Program is to provide practitioners who have a dedicated interest in foot and ankle disorders with exposure to new knowledge, skills, and techniques to help optimize patient care. Our Program strives to serve as an educational resource, not only to residents but also to practitioners, including physicians, allied health professionals, and ancillary medical personnel. We meet this goal through continuing medical education seminars, abstract presentations, radiology reviews, weekly grand rounds, and various types of educational exhibits.

Clinical exposure

Our Program embraces total care of the foot and ankle. We manage a broad variety of diseases and deformities of the adult and adolescent forefoot, hindfoot, and ankle with respect to diabetes, trauma, sports, arthritis, and various areas of reconstructive procedures.

The residents benefit from working in our patient clinic with one-on-one teaching. We also maintain a state-of-the-art wet lab within West Penn Hospital. We have a dedicated residency coordinator, research coordinator, and administrative team to support the resident’s endeavors.

The residents participate in over 1200 foot and ankle surgical cases annually, including virtually every aspect of foot and ankle reconstruction.

Our residents can expect to have an extensive surgical and clinical exposure to a wide range of conditions reflecting the entire spectrum of foot and ankle problems, including congenital, traumatic, and general disorders. Our Foot and Ankle Institute serves as a tertiary referral center for complex foot and ankle pathology. This includes a large number of revision cases referred from the tri-state region. Our referrals come primarily from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and New York. However, we also get referrals from eastern seaboard states. Standard and complex reconstructions for first ray problems, forefoot / midfoot / hindfoot and ankle deformities, arthritis, sports conditions, acute/chronic trauma, Charcot-related disorders, nerve injuries, and tendinopathy are commonly treated.

About Graduate Medical Education

The Foot and Ankle Surgical Residency program is part of the Graduate Medical Education (GME) opportunities offered by the AHN Medical Education Consortium. Learn more about Graduate Medical Education.

Contact us

For more information or questions about our Foot and Ankle Residency Program, please contact:

Debbie Hoffman 

or

Alan Catanzariti, DPM

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