 One of the co-chairs of the third annual Vail Scientific Summit is Dr. Peter Millett of the Steadman Clinic. U.S. News & World Report says that he is one of the top 1% of orthopedic surgeons in the world. Why? Because he stays on top of everything that's happening by attending events just like this. Well I think that the Scientific Summit is really a great forum for bringing together clinicians who are treating patients every day with scientists who are discovering the next treatments for our patients. And day to day we don't get to interact and this summit really creates a forum and a venue where we can come together. I can share with the basic scientists the challenges that I face with my patients what the unsolved problems are and then hopefully they will use that and try and develop solutions. And I can also learn from them where there might be innovations and things that we can translate to clinical medicine now. Yeah this evening I'm talking about the topic of rotator cuff tears which is something that I'm really passionate about. I've spent the last 15 years trying to develop better ways to fix the rotator cuff. It's a common injury that happens to the shoulder and athletes and everyday people as we get older. And we've really come a long way over the last 15 years we've developed new techniques to fix the rotator cuff allowing faster recoveries, more predictable outcomes for our patients allowing our patients to get back to the activities that they enjoy. But we still have areas that we could improve upon and I'm hoping that some of our basic science colleagues that are here will be able to come up with innovations to allow the the tears to heal more quickly to allow accelerated recoveries for our patients and also to find solutions for difficult types of tears where maybe we can't repair them or it's in a reputable situation and we have to come up with new innovative surgical techniques and biologic treatments to allow the the tendons to regenerate and heal. Yeah I always remember when Dr. Stebbin was recruiting me he said Vale is the best place to practice orthopedic surgery and I was a scientist I did research during my training at the University of Cambridge in England and so I consider myself a clinician scientist so I was when I came to Vale I was hopeful that we could expand upon that and now SPRI has blossomed into one of the leading centers for orthopedic research in the country. I think it is the leading center for sports medicine research and we're perceived by our peers as one of the the pinnacles and one of the great centers. The fellows that we get the common train with us really help to add this energy bringing in Dr. Hewer, Dr. Taschman, this team of researchers is just elevating us really to the to the highest levels and that's what we aspire to be is to be the the best orthopedic and sports medicine research facility really in the world. I think regenerative medicine is really the holy grail I think being able to have people heal more quickly, more fully with less scarring, more predictably being able to get back to the lifestyles that they enjoy, the activities that they enjoy, the sports that they enjoy, you know maybe as simple as being able to hug your child or your grandchild or hold your new grandchild or maybe getting back to golf or it may be able to be jumping off a cliff if you're an extreme skier so there's really a whole spectrum of what regenerative medicine can offer and it can be treating acute injuries, it can be preventing the onset of chronic illnesses or chronic diseases like degenerative arthritis or it can be reversing those changes once they've occurred and I really think that regenerative medicine really you know has a lot to offer and we're just really at the tip of the iceberg right now. I think the promise is great and Spry is really poised to become the leader for the future. In the Stebbin Clinic we have a world-class group of surgeons so we have extremely motivated active patients who want to get better that buy into this whole concept of studying our outcomes so that we can improve upon them. Now we have this team of clinical research or basic science researchers that can help us to innovate and I'm hopeful that in the future as we grow we can really become the Silicon Valley of orthopedic surgery in vail so that there can be all kinds of spin-off opportunities that occur here, biotech companies, different types of prosthetic companies, innovative companies with new technologies that will allow our patients to lead more fulfilling and better quality lives.