Birth of a Specialty

A comprehensive history of the specialty focused on US contributions and including the orthopaedic surgeons at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and its major teaching hospitals. Volume 1 addresses the early surgical landscape, the development of the specialization of orthopaedics, and the history of orthopaedics at HMS, including the creation of the orthopaedic department, curriculum, and residency program, the emergence of sports medicine, and the infamous murder of Dr. George Parkman at the school in 1849. Volumes 2, 3 and 4, present the history of orthopaedics, and profiles of individual surgeons, at each of Harvard’s teaching hospitals; Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and Boston City Hospital. It ends with a discussion of the role of Harvard orthopaedic surgeons in the world wars. In Volume 5 includes the bibliography. A multi-volume index provides for easy reference.

James H. Herndon, MD, MBA, is the William H. & Johanna A. Harris Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital; and chairman emeritus of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Partners Healthcare System (Mass General Brigham), Boston. He has long been a leader in orthopaedics, chairing departments of orthopaedic surgery at Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and Medical Center (UPMC). He also served as vice president of medical services at UPMC and as associate senior vice chancellor for the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He has influenced the direction of orthopaedics through leadership positions with national organizations such as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the American Orthopaedic Association, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and the Academic Orthopaedic Society. As residency program director of three well-respected orthopaedic residency programs, Dr. Herndon has trained hundreds of students and residents. As president of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and chairman of the Orthopaedic Residency Review Committee, he has helped residency programs across the country develop effective teaching programs. He greatly values his role as an educator, and he hopes that Birth of a Specialty continues the legacy he has established through his years of teaching and his myriad presentations, publications, and studies.