JBJS is pleased once again 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:
Nick Kusnezov, MD
Affiliation:
Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Ft Campbell, KY
Years in practice:
Going on 10 years
How did you begin reviewing for other journals and for JBJS in particular?
I have always had a strong passion for academia. I sought out involvement in reviewing for journals out of an interest in improving the standard of care and optimizing patient outcomes through evidence-based medicine.
What has been the highlight of your career (so far)?
Orthopedics is really an amazing and fulfilling field. It’s hard to pick out one specific experience when each case leaves such a lasting impact on me and my patients‘ lives. Whether it is performing a limb salvage operation in a trauma patient or replacing a deformed arthritic joint, procedures are enormously life-changing. One memorable highlight of my career was a limb salvage case in an 8-year-old boy who had his foot run over by a lawnmower. He came in around midnight as a transfer on level 1 trauma call. I had just finished 7 cases and caught him in the ED on arrival. The lawnmower blade had split his foot like a log between the first and second toes, and the foot was splayed in half all the way up to the hindfoot. I thoroughly cleaned and pieced his foot back together, performing bony and soft tissue repair, staged a definitive closure, and 3 months later he walked into clinic, soft tissue and bone completely healed, normal gait, asking to get back to basketball. Kids are amazing. It’s cases like these that remind us why we do why we do.
Aside from orthopaedic manuscripts, what have you been reading lately?
I keep up to date with the latest practices not only through peer reviewed journals but through other sources including AAOS Now, Doximity and UpToDate. I also add breadth to my experience through the Wall Street Journal and other pertinent reads such as the White Coat Investor.
Learn more about the JBJS Elite Reviewers program.
