Dr. S. Elizabeth Ames is professor and program director in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, at the University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine (COM) and the UVM Medical Center (UVMMC) in Burlington, Vermont. She began her career in 2002 after completing an orthopaedic spine fellowship in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was appointed to her current roles program director in 2009 and professor in 2017. Dr. Ames served as attending spine surgeon, chair of the Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (CORD) from 2015-2018. She currently serves on the ACGME Review Committee for Orthopaedic Surgery, since 2018; she was elected as chair of that committee in 2021.

Dr. Ames is physician lead for the orthopaedic inpatient unit at UVMMC (appointed in 2017), a diplomate of the UVMMC Executive Leadership Series (since 2010), and member of UVM’s Professional Standards Committee from 2014-2017. She then proceeded to the role of Dean’s Appointee for the UVM COM Faculty Standards Committee in 2019. Nationally, Dr. Ames is active on several committees within the ACGME, as an Elected Fellow of the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), as a founding board member of CORD’s Council of Orthopaedic Educational Research Group, and for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery/AOA Combined Resident Assessment Project.

Dr. Ames’ education and training include St. Paul’s School (1984), Dartmouth College BA (1988), UVM College of Medicine (1996), and internship and residency at the UVMMC (previously Medical Center Hospital of Vermont; 1996-2001). Between 1988 and 1996, she worked in operations management for Blizzard NA, a subsidiary of Blizzard GesMbh based in Mittersill, Austria. Dr. Ames is currently pursuing a Master of Health Professions Education degree at the University of Illinois Chicago Division of Medical Education in Chicago, Illinois.