2009 COUR International Educational Scholarship

2009 COUR International Educational Scholarship: The Children's Orthopedics in Underserved Regions committee would like to call for nominations for our Visiting Scholars Program. POSNA has allotted $10,000 per year for scholars to attend the annual meeting. We also hope that the recipients will be able to spend an additional period of time at local/regional institutions to supplement their educational experience.

Nominees should be from a resource challenged environment, have a need for financial support, have the majority of their practice in pediatric orthopedics, and ideally be a leader in his or her community.

• Read about COUR Visiting Scholars Program
• 2009 Visiting Scholars Application[doc]

As a sponsor, you will be responsible for coordinating the recipient's trip to the United States, and hosting them at the annual meeting. Responsibilities include:

• Assisting with travel arrangements and VISA applications
• Writing a letter of recommendation
• Helping the recipient navigate thru the POSNA meeting (i.e. pick up at the airport, attend events, etc)

We also hope that the sponsor will consider helping to coordinate (along with COUR subcommittee) a visit to a local or regional center for observing clinic and surgeries. The local or regional host will be selected from a pool of volunteers, maintained by COUR specifically for this purpose. The COUR committee will be available to assist and advise you.

Any POSNA member could also participate by:

• Donating air-miles to help finance scholars (contact Teri Stech: stech@aaos.org)
• Hosting a recipient at your home institution, including room and board, and travel expenses, for several days or a week, pre or post POSNA meeting for educational exchange. The COUR committee will keep a database of volunteers, and will send an email out to those in the database as the meeting approaches. (Send email to Sanjeev Sabharwal or Rick Schwend).

Please email your nominations with contact info to Teri Stech (stech@aaos.org). Please direct any questions to Sanjeev Sabharwal (sabharsa@umdnj.edu) or Rick Schwend (rmschwend@cmh.edu). Our deadline for receiving completed applications will be November 1st.