A Report on Metcalf 2011
This year the Metcalf event was a huge success. According to Sue Duncan, seminar coordinator, “We had the highest registration in about 6 years at Snowbird this year. The skiing was fantastic….It was the Greatest Snow on Earth! We had 62 international attendees, 14 countries represented, 45/50 states represented.” Sue gave me a little history on this event.
Who was Robert W. Metcalf, MD?
Bob Metcalf was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1962. He began private practice as an orthopaedic surgeon in Provo, Utah and also acted as team doctor for Brigham Young University for six years. It was during these years that Dr. Metcalf began reading about a new technique called “arthroscopy,” or surgery in a joint using an arthroscope. Dr. Metcalf began toying with the possibility of using this new technique with meniscal tears in the knee. Because the instruments routinely used today were still in the experimental stage and not yet on the market, he began by using urological instruments. As this new technique began appearing in the sports medicine literature, orthopaedic companies in the industry began developing arthroscopic-specific instruments. These were inserted through two small portals in the knee joint, together with a third portal to accommodate a fiber optic light. This new and innovative system of triangulation was viewed on by the surgeon as he operated on a TV screen that would show him what he could not normally view, as in an open procedure. The use of three very small incisions allowed a much quicker recovery for the patient, without compromising the efficacy of the operation. Patients could be up and walking practically the same day as the surgery. For sports patients, this was a huge advantage, not to mention every other patient with painful knee problems.
Bob and Joyce Metcalf had a large family of nine children. Bob’s family was important to him and because his yearly meetings were still in the early stages, he would involve his family in a myriad of responsibilities. They helped with registration, running errands, activities, and even driving faculty back and forth from the airport.
In 1986, Dr. Metcalf’s arthritis had progressed to the point that he was no longer able to operate and so the arthroscopy seminars became his life. One of his ideas was to alternate each year a ski meeting with a golf meeting in a warm location. Ski meetings were held at Snowbird, Utah and the golf meetings were held in Scottsdale, Arizona.
In 1991 the meeting in Scottsdale was the largest to date with 705 registrants along with spouses, and vendors, for a total of 1500 people. However, the stress of the meeting was taking its toll on Dr. Metcalf and his disease was worsening. In late spring of 1991, he suffered a heart attack. He underwent surgery, but tragically suffered a pulmonary embolus in the recovery room and died despite all efforts to save his life.
Dr. Metcalf left a lasting legacy, not only of his excellent meetings, but as an example of an ethical and exemplary orthopaedic surgeon. In 1993 the name of the meeting was changed to Arthroscopic Surgery, The Robert W. Metcalf, MD Memorial.
The faculty members of the University of Utah Department of Orthopaedics decided they were anxious to continue these seminars and to have them sponsored by the department. Sports physician faculty member Dr. Robert T. Burks was named as the seminar director. It was decided that proceeds from the meeting now would be used toward funding a university presidential chair in Dr. Metcalf’s name.
The Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Utah is to be commended for their continued support of this meeting. In 2008, Sue Duncan was named the new seminar coordinator after Karon Sorensen announced her retirement from the UUOC. Through the supreme efforts of Drs. Metcalf, Dunn, Goble, Caspari, Snyder and Burks, along with the financial officer Craig Herget and all those who volunteer every year, this meeting has succeeded beyond all expectation. Under the direction of Dr. Burks, this meeting continues to thrive and to fulfill its educational purposes of training new generations of arthroscopic surgeons in the United States and around the world. We congratulate the Robert W. Metcalf Arthroscopy Seminars.
……taken from the “History of the Robert W. Metcalf Seminars” by Marilyn Smolka.
