JBJS is pleased to highlight our Elite Reviewers. The Elite Reviewers Program recognizes our best reviewers for their outstanding efforts. All JBJS reviewers help us maintain the highest standards for quality orthopaedic publishing.
Name: Robert Cumming Schenck, Jr., M My friends call me “Bob” or “Bobby”.
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Years in practice: 29. I have had 2 jobs in Orthopaedic Surgery. My first decade of orthopaedic practice was in San Antonio at UTHSCSA (my thanks to Jim Heckman, MD) and my past 20 years have been in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico (my thanks to Moheb Moneim, MD). I became chair of Orthopaedics at UNM in 2006 and along with a fun sports medicine/trauma practice, continue as a leader servant to this day.
How did you begin reviewing for other journals and for JBJS in particular?
Simply by invitation and being an academic orthopaedic surgeon. I found it a good way to give back to the profession.
What is your top piece of advice for those reviewers who aspire to reach Elite status?
My advice is to be timely with reviews, candid but professional with opinions, and to focus on your area of expertise. It is especially useful to review topics of interest as you will find the review a positive learning experience through which you can give back to our wonderful profession of orthopaedic surgery. As an aside, when I accept a review, I create a folder with that title, export the specific manuscript PDF and create a blank review format with the identifying title of the manuscript. This folder goes into my “to do” folder on my Mac Book Air and once completed is moved to my finished reviews. Doing this step of downloading the manuscript PDF and starting my review format at the time of each invitation sets me up for success, not missing the deadline, and putting the project into a proper queue for thoughtful completion. Lastly, when I fly, or watch sports, I clear out my “to do” folder!
Aside from orthopaedic manuscripts, what have you been reading lately?
Like most of us, I read a lot. I was fortunate as an adolescent on the Western Slope of Colorado to have minimal television exposure and have always read. Gratefully, my wife Trish and I have instilled this habit in our children and I have an unofficial adult Schenck Kid Book Club; most recently we read Howard Stern’s Comes Again, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and in preparation for Quentin Tarantino’s recent movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we read Vincent Bugliosi’s account of the Manson Family in Helter Skelter. Outside of that club, I recently began reading James Fennimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales and read Last of the Mohicans.
Reading and writing go hand in hand. I especially enjoy writing and editing my own fiction and non-fiction. As a result of this passion, I was asked to be editor of the University of New Mexico Medical Muse a few years back and I read/re-read all art submissions of poetry, fiction and non-fiction with my co-editor, Laura Hall. I recently published on Amazon/Kindle Juárez, an action novella starring a fictional FBI agent, Shandy Randall, working in the Southwest. The second installment of the Shandy Randall series, Snow Mass, is in preparation. Self-publishing on Kindle was a blast and allowed me to learn a new avenue for publication. I highly recommend that process and adventure to all.
Learn more about the JBJS Elite Reviewers program.