Smith Day and Jupiter Forum Bring Surgeons from Around the World to Boston

The 32nd Annual Richard J. Smith Memorial Lectureship and the 9th Annual Jesse Jupiter International Forum brought surgeons from around the world to Boston for presentations, roundtable conversations and networking events at the Wyndham Hotel on May 17-18, 2024.

Smith Day is a long-standing tradition of the Hand and Arm Service at Massachusetts General Hospital honoring the late Richard Smith, MD, a pioneer in hand surgery, as well as Chief of the Hand Service. The Jupiter Forum is a recent addition to this Harvard Medical School Continuing Medical Education course, complementing Smith Day with research and clinical discussions to honor Jesse Jupiter, MD. Dr. Jupiter worked as a hand surgeon under Dr. Smith in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at MGH and also sevied as the Chief of the Hand Service for nearly 15 years. He retired in the fall of 2020. Both doctors emphasized the importance of research, innovation and education in the field of hand surgery during their tenures. This combined event is a chance to highlight these values and honor the legacy of both surgeons.

As in year's past, this year’s event was hosted by Chaitanya Mudgal, MD, MS(Orth), MCh(Orth) and fellow faculty members of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. The event consisted of a diverse range of research presentations accompanied by panel discussions. The central theme for this year's colloquium was "Innovations and Challenges in Hand Surgery."

Smith Day began with research presentations moderated by Dr. Mudgal, featuring papers such as “The Rate and Utility of Follow-Up Radiographs for Non-Operatively Treated Isolated Radial Head Fractures,” “Factors Associated with the Choice of Treatment for Coronoid Fractures,” and “Sociodemographic Impact on Proximal Ulna ORIF Recovery.” With presenters from the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Mass General Brigham and other globally renowned institutions, presentations also discussed the use of intramedullary nails for proximal phalanx fractures, targeted muscle reinnervation for pain mitigation and the role of machine learning in surgical decision-making.

After much deliberation by our judges, Drs. Hoyen, Jupiter and Zhang, two prizes were awarded to the two best papers presented with translational / clinical impact. Anna Luan, MD (one of our current fellows) along with her co-authors won the Jesse Jupiter award for her paper on the "Mangled digit severity score," and Koya Osada (from Boston Children’s Hospital) along with his co-authors won the Richard Smith award for his paper on "Earlier Advanced Imaging with CT or MRI in Pediatric Patients with Suspected Scaphoid Fractures Reduces Time to Diagnosis, Radiation exposure and cost." Both papers were truly spectacular and should positively influence our practice of medicine.

Dafang Zhang, MD, delivered the Young Surgeons Forum Oration on "Early Detection of Amyloidosis: The Role of the Hand Surgeon," sparking engaging discussion among attendees. Dr. Jupiter awarded Dr. Zhang with this year’s Orator's Memorial Lectureship Award.

Smith Day concluded with an oration from this year’s Smith Lectureship recipient, Harry Hoyen, MD. Dr. Jupiter recognized Dr. Hoyen with this year’s award after Dr. Hoyen’s presentation titled, "Trials and Tribulations in Developing Implanted Devices for Paralyzed Individuals.”

Jupiter Forum, held the following day, was "Case based and evidence based debates in hand surgery." Attending surgeons were assigned a treatment for a given injury and asked to defend their position with supporting evidence. Discussions were held afterwards for each group of surgeons to debate the most effective treatment. Topics ranged from thumb amputations, bony joint injuries, flexor tendon lacerations, nerve disorders and scaphoid fractures. The nature of this theme created for robust but collegial discussions among several extremely accomplished visiting hand surgeons such as Drs. Jesse Jupiter, Harry Hoyen, Jin Bo Tang, Thomas Hunt, Asif Ilyas, Sonu Jain. This discussion was further augmented with contributions from local Boston surgeons including Drs. Arriyan Dowlatshahi, Hevey Kimball, Charles Cassidy, Tamara Rozental, Philip Blazar and Brandon Earp. Our local faculty providing equally thoughtful and thought-provoking presentations included Drs. Chaitanya Mudgal, Rohit Garg, Abhiram Bhashyam and Kyle Eberlin. It was truly an academic think tank at its very best.

The event also included the Honored Sage Oration by Jesse B. Jupiter, MD, on "Creative Solutions to Complex Traumatic and Reconstructive Problems," providing a retrospective summary of his illustrious career and innovative approaches in hand surgery. The Jupiter Orator, Harry Hoyen, MD, concluded the forum with a captivating presentation and discussion on "Combined Injuries, Including Ballistic Problems."

The 2024 Smith Day and Jupiter Forum underscored the importance of research, innovation and education in hand surgery, honoring the legacies of Richard Smith, MD, and Jesse Jupiter, MD, while fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among the global hand surgery community.

This combined event is held annually. A date, topic and registration link for the 2025 event will be announced in the coming months.