The Part Nobody Can Teach You (2026 Traveling Fellows - Ep 2)

Send us Fan Mail Three 2026 AHF Traveling Fellows on what two weeks in the operating rooms of the highest-volume anterior hip surgeons in the US taught them that no video could. For early-career hip surgeons weighing the fellowship, and for anyone trying to turn anterior approach technique into surgical judgment. This is the second of three conversations with the 2026 AHF Traveling Fellows. Host Joe Schwab sits down with Jadye Kee, a joint replacement surgeon in community practice in Bryan-College Station, Texas; Pat Maher, a hip and knee surgeon at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Washington; and Leo Zalikha, a Stanford-trained reconstruction surgeon now practicing in Long Beach, California. Three very different practices, two weeks on the road from Hoag in Irvine to Anderson Clinic, the Southern Joint Institute in Nashville, and Louisville, and one shared question: what actually changed when they got home? The answer starts in the OR but does not stay there. The fellows describe the small things nobody voices on video, from capsule tagging and retractor timing to a calcar release that depends on how the femur drops, and what it meant to be able to ask the surgeon why. They work through judgment versus technique, how to know when the femur is released enough, when a long femoral revision still belongs posterior, the on-table versus off-table question, and how to bring high-volume habits back to a community hospital with a different patient population. Along the way: BMI cutoffs and widening indications, value-based care, and why the OR is always an N of one. What stayed with them most was not a maneuver. It was watching how surgeons at the top of their field run a room, empower a team, and give their time to the people coming up behind them, and the kind of mentors they now want to be. They close with the case for why their group beat the first one, and a one-sentence answer to what the fellowship gave them that no technique could. Thinking about applying for the 2027 AHF Traveling Fellowship? Applications run through the Anterior Hip Foundation, linked below. ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 Meet the 2026 AHF Traveling Fellows 01:21 What three early-career surgeons wanted from the fellowship 05:48 Itinerary: Hoag, Anderson Clinic, Nashville, Louisville 09:53 Watching experts up close: why every step has a reason 15:24 Judgment vs technique in anterior hip replacement 19:40 Bringing high-volume lessons back to a community hospital 22:12 Good vs great surgeons, and finding your own technique 26:42 Patient selection, value-based care, evidence vs experience 31:54 Long femoral revisions and on-table vs off-table 34:24 OR culture and flow: fluoro setup, walkie-talkies, two rooms 38:35 The kind of mentor they want to become 42:55 What the fellowship really offers beyond technique 46:20 Day one again, and where they hope to be in five years 52:03 Which 2026 fellows group was better? 54:00 The takeaway that wasn't a technique, and applying for 2027 Listen to the AHF Podcast on your preferred platform: Buzzsprout: https://ahfpodcast.buzzsprout.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahf-podcast/id1749521487 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CrGJyvRiQFTCU3FFFVvHc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ahf-podcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@anteriorhipfoundation Homepage: https://anteriorhipfoundation.com This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only. The content discussed does not constitute medical advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional judgment. Clinicians should rely on their own training, experience, and clinical decision-making when applying information from this discussion. #AnteriorHipFoundation #AHFPodcast #TravelingFellowship #AnteriorApproach #AnteriorHip #TotalHipArthroplasty #HipReplacement #RevisionTHA #OrthopedicSurgery #SurgicalMentorship #ValueBasedCare #JadyeKee #PatMaher #LeoZalikha