The AOA-JOA 2014 exchange traveling fellowship: Banzai and beyond

The American Orthopaedic Association-Japanese Orthopaedic Association (AOA-JOA) traveling fellowship was established in 1992 as a method for creating collaboration between the American and Japanese orthopaedic communities and providing a friendly exchange of current practices and scientific endeavors. The fellowship is designed to allow early-career orthopaedic surgeons the opportunity to participate in international travel and scholarship. This year's traveling fellows (Hassan Mir, Wakenda Tyler, Leo Kroonen, and Dan Zlotolow) all hail from different parts of the United States and have a variety of practice subspecialties. During the fellowship, the fellows were able to visit five academic centers that spanned the entire country of Japan as well as the JOA meeting in Kobe. The experience is one that contributed to the growth and development of each fellow's practices and depth of understanding of orthopaedic surgery.