• The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Today, we commemorate the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was an exemplar of courageous, nonviolent activism. In addition to his speaking out against violent acts of racism, he also spoke out about quiet, less overt forms of racism. Overt or otherwise, all forms have links to poverty, health disparities, higher rates of incarceration, and other societal injustices that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. 

• Happy New Year! Ben discussed evidence-based New Year’s resolutions: The AMA has such advice based on resolutions that are more likely to be successful, and these include: (1) Make time for self-care, (2) set smart goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time based), (3)  focus on what you can control, (4) find ways to remain connected, and (5) make small changes.

Shyni Varghese, PhD, Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, will be the new vice chair of research in Duke's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

I am thrilled to announce the Duke Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Program received notice this week that it has received full accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association.

• Congratulations to Brett Rocos, MD! He received the 2024 Luiz Vialle AO Spine Knowledge Forum Award.
   
• The Duke Hybrid Ortho PT Program is a unique program that combines the health system and our department in a training program, part online and part in person.  This model could be extended more broadly, and I am proud of this pioneering program.

• The holidays are approaching – many things can be considered during this time, including building community,  which was also identified from the department’s Culture Pulse survey results.
   
• Many studies show the importance of community to overall well-being, and some of these conclusions were shared. These offer optimal sizes for a community for different purposes, and our department and divisions are ideal sizes for various facets of a community.

This week marks Perioperative Nurses Week, an annual celebration of the nurses who help our patients through operations and their commitment to safe patient care. 

The date, November 11, 1918, marked the end of the First World War (within the 11th hour of the day of the 11th month). The day was initially celebrated as  Armistice Day and became Veterans Day in the 1950s when it was expanded to honor veterans of all wars. We continue to celebrate Veterans Day every November 11, paying tribute to the selfless service of the men and women of our armed forces.

• Anna Miller, MD, gave a grand rounds presentation about birds and the natural world - and its relationship to what we encounter as physicians in multiple aspects of our lives. In a related occurrence, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) recently announced that English birds would be renamed to remove negative conniptions around some of the names. Dr. Miller and I discussed using analogies from this to reconsider the terminology we use for things in orthopaedics.