Graduate Orthodontic Residents Program^®

7:00 am – 4:00 PM

Registration/Check-in for GORP

North Quad, 105 S. State Street, Ann Arbor

All residents must stop by at registration and get their name badge and tickets before attending any GORP events. 

7:30 am – 9:00 AM

Continental breakfast

Location TBA

8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

GORP Golf Outing

Spend the morning on the greens of the legendary University of Michigan golf course, designed by Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National. Whether you are Happy Gilmore or Tiger Woods, there is nothing that beats a low-key round. Carts and lunch are included. 

Registration is limited.

Please note, you must bring (or source) your own clubs.

If you wish to rent clubs, you may do so at: https://www.clublender.com/select-a-set/?location=Ann%20Arbor%2C%20MI%2C%20USA&range=Jun%209th,%202026%20-%20Jun%2010th,%202026&zipcode=48104&placename=Ann%20Arbor&street_number=&route=&locality=Ann%20Arbor&state=Michigan&swoof=1&pa_type-of-article=full-sets (This link will be updated with the correct dates)

Note: This is a ticketed event. You must choose this event when you register online to attend GORP and bring your ticket and name badge to participate.

Golfers will receive an email with their tee times the week of GORP.

Bus schedule: TBA

10:00 AM or 2:00 PM

 Kayak down the Huron River

Grab a friend and enjoy a trip down Ann Arbor’s famous Huron River. With thrilling rapids (easy enough for beginners), breathtaking views, and plenty of water, you can either enjoy a leisurely float down the Huron‘s gentle currents or challenge yourself and race a friend down the four-mile course.

Warning: you (and any electronics you bring with you) WILL get wet, so plan accordingly!

Note: This is a ticketed event. You must choose this event when you register online to attend GORP and bring your ticket and name badge to participate.

Bus schedule: TBA

10:30 AM or 12:00 PM

Pedal Pub through downtown Ann Arbor

Take a ride around the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus and downtown with food, fun, and of course, some good libations. Drinks can be purchased before and during the ride. Lunch will be served at Ann Arbor’s own Pizza House, so come hungry! We will try to accommodate parties; however, space is limited, and we want you to meet new people!

Note: This is a ticketed event. You must choose this event when you register online to attend GORP and bring your ticket and name badge to participate.

Schedule:

Group A will meet at 150 W. Ann Street (next to the Ann Ashley Parking Structure), a 15-20-minute walk from the residence halls, at 10:30 AM and will finish with lunch at Pizza House (618 Church Street), a 10-minute walk from the dorms, around 12:30 PM.

Group B. Meet at the Pizza House (618 Church Street), a 10-minute walk from the residence halls, at 12:00 for lunch, Pedal Pub starts at 1:30 PM, and finishes around 3:00 PM at 201 N. Main Street, a 15-20-minute walk from the dorms.

Please arrive on time! 

Times TBA

Ice Cream Walking Tour of Ann Arbor

12:00 PM

Lunch 

If you do not have lunch included in your Friday activity (i.e., if you are not playing golf or on the pedal pub tour), you will be on your own for lunch in Ann Arbor. You will receive a courtesy $15 Uber Eats voucher sent via text message or to the email address you registered with. Please look for this voucher on Tuesday morning, July 28, around 10:30 EDT! If you don’t see it on the 28th, check your Spam folder. In the meantime, make sure you have an Uber account on your phone. The vouchers will be good from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM for use within a 5-mile radius of Ann Arbor.

There are hundreds of restaurants within a 5-mile radius that accept Uber Eats. Have fun choosing!

2:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Vendor check-in and set-up at The Michigan League

Vendors may check in, get their name badges, and set up their tables on the second floor of The Michigan League. (911 N. University Ave.)

5:30 PM – 5:45 PM

Board buses for the GORP Banquet

Buses will leave from the North Quad dorm.

6:30 PM – 10:30 PM

GORP Banquet at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation 

20900 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn, MI 48124

Friday night’s GORP banquet is a highlight of the GORP experience and will be held in the historic Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

A vibrant exploration of genius in all its forms, the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation allows you to experience the strides of America’s greatest minds while fully immersing yourself in their stories. Step inside the bus where Rosa Parks took a stand by taking a seat. Play pilot as you explore flight innovations, starting with the Wright brothers’ achievements, or make yourself at home inside Buckminster Fuller’s circular Dymaxion House. Put yourself in the place of the movers and shakers who blazed the trail to where we stand today. 

Appropriate attire: jacket and tie for the gentlemen, dresses for the ladies. Please note: You must bring a valid government-issued ID to enter.

6:30 – 7:00 Cocktails

7:00 – 9:00 Dinner

Note: This is a ticketed event. Residents must choose this event when they register and bring their ticket and name badge to enter.

8:45 PM – 10:30 PM

Buses leave for North Quad

Buses will leave from the Henry Ford Museum and return to the North Quad dorm.

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Registration/Check-in for GORP at The Michigan League

Registration on Saturday morning will be on the second floor of The Michigan League.

For a campus map, see https://campusvisitorguides.com/umich/campus-map/

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Continental Breakfast/Vendor Fair

 Breakfast in the Michigan Room on the second floor of the Michigan League. Exhibits in several rooms on the second floor.

8:30 AM – 8:40 AM

Welcome to GORP – Drs. Nicole Anderson and Max Shin, University of Michigan, co-chairs for GORP 2026 

Mendelssohn Theater, second floor of the Michigan League 

Remember the school T-shirt contest! The school with the cleverest orthodontic-related t-shirt design will be declared the winner and receive $300 toward a school pizza party! (Note: T-shirt designs, front and back, must be submitted to GORP2026@gmail.com by July 24 to be eligible.) 

8:40 AM – 9:25 AM

Drs. Will Bates and Lauren Sytek

From Residency to Reality: Our Perspectives from Early Practice

William R. Bates, DMD, MS: Dr. Bates is an ABO-Board Certified orthodontist who completed his undergraduate and dental school training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and went on to receive his MS and orthodontics certificate from the University of Michigan.  After graduation, he opened a start-up practice in Birmingham, AL, and later acquired an office with an additional location in Jasper, AL.  He has taught part-time as adjunct faculty at UAB since 2020 and became the Clinic Director at the University of Tennessee in 2024.  Dr. Bates also serves as the Assistant Course Director for the Tweed Study Course in Tucson, AZ.  Additionally, he has served as an ABO Ambassador, works on the ADA New Dentist Committee, and is President of the Alabama Association of Orthodontists.

Lauren E. Sytek, DDS, MS: Lauren Sytek completed both her general dentistry training and orthodontic residency at the University of Michigan. Immediately upon graduation in 2020, she pursued opening a start-up office in her hometown of Alpena, MI, where she has been practicing for the last five years. Despite having completed exactly one passive self-ligating case in residency, Dr. Sytek has fully embraced the Damon bracket system in private practice while still using the foundational treatment planning principles ingrained in her during her time at the University of Michigan. Dr. Sytek prides herself on always keeping an open mind in trying new systems and technology to help better the lives of her patients and staff. At home, she enjoys a quiet country life with her husband and (soon to be!) three children on their first-generation family farm.  

9:25 AM – 9:35 AM

TBA

9:35 AM – 10:15 AM

Vendor Fair/Break

In various rooms on the second floor of The Michigan League

10:15 PM – 11:45 PM

Dr. Chris Chang

Tough cases made easy with TADs

Dr. Chris Chang is the founder of Beethoven Orthodontic Center and Newton’s A Dental in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He earned his PhD in Bone Physiology and Certificate in Orthodontics from Indiana University, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics as well as an active member of the Angle Society–Midwest.

Dr. Chang is the publisher of the Journal of Digital Orthodontics and the author or co-author of numerous orthodontic books, including Orthodontics Vols. 1–6, Words of Wisdom, Jobsology, and Trumpology.

He received the 2019 AJO-DO Case of the Year Award and the 2025 John Valentine Mershon Award from the American Association of Orthodontists.

He is also the inventor of the OrthoBoneScrew (OBS^®).

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM

2025 GORP Group Photo

An annual GORP tradition! The photo will be taken outside in front of the Michigan League, by the fountain of Poseidon and his children, with everyone looking back at the League.

12:00 PM- 1:15 PM

Lunch and Vendor Fair

1:15 PM – 1:25 PM

TBA

1:25 PM – 2:10 PM

Dr. Kaitrin Kramer

The Inner Work of Building High‑Trust Teams

Kaitrin Kramer is a craniofacial orthodontist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) and assistant clinical professor of orthodontics at the Ohio State University. She completed her BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology at The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and received her PhD in Oral Sciences from The University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her DDS from The University of Michigan and then completed a research post-doctoral training and was an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry before heading to The Ohio State University for her M.S. and Certificate in Orthodontics. After residency she completed a certificate in craniofacial and special care orthodontics at the University of Michigan. After graduation she joined the faculty at NCH where she teaches pediatric dental residents and OSU where she teaches orthodontic residents and dental students. 

2:10 PM – 2:20 PM

TBA

2:20 PM – 2:40 PM

First Raffle Drawing!

Collect at least 20 stamps from the exhibitors at the vendor fair and submit your bingo card to enter into the raffle. You must be present to win one of the awesome prizes donated by our sponsors!

Note: You must attend the lectures to participate in the raffles. There will be no re-entry into the lecture hall before the raffle.

2:40 PM – 3:00 PM

Vendor Fair/Break

In various rooms on the second floor of the Michigan League.

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Speaker: #4

Topic TBA

3:45 PM – 3:55 PM

TBA

3:55 PM – 4:25 PM

Final Raffle Drawing!

Collect at least 20 stamps from the exhibitors at the vendor fair and submit your bingo card to enter into the raffle. You must be present to win one of the awesome prizes donated by our sponsors!

Note: You must attend the lectures to participate in the raffles. There will be no re-entry into the lecture hall before the raffle.

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

GORP Picnic at “The Big House”

Michigan Stadium, 1201 S. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3722

Michigan Stadium, aka “The Big House”, is the largest stadium in the United States and the third largest in the world. Home of the 2024 National Champion Michigan Wolverines! Tour the locker room. Attempt a field goal. Score a touchdown! This will be an unforgettable event you will not want to miss.

6:00 – 7:00 Dinner will be served in the Stadium Club suites.

6:30 – 10:00 Games and Dancing on the field

Bus Schedule: TBA

9:00 AM

Check out of rooms and travel safely! 

• Check out is 9:00 AM (you, your belongings, trash, and any other unwanted materials should all be out of your rooms. University staff will be rounding to check that you are out by this time)

Please remember, all University of Michigan room key cards must be returned at checkout, or there will be a $25 charge per card by the university.