Dr. S. Elizabeth Ames is professor and vice chair of education in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Vermont College of Medicine (UVM 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 as professor in 2017 and program director in 2009. Dr. Ames served as attending spine surgeon, chair of the Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (CORD) from 2015-2018. She served on the ACGME Review Committee for Orthopaedic Surgery from 2018 to 2024, assuming the role of chair of the committee for the last three years of her term.

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 was a 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 with 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.