Department History
The Beginning - Dr. William Stewart
The first orthopaedic surgeon in central Missouri was Dr. William James Stewart. Dr. Stewart was born on Dec. 27, 1900, in Buffalo, N.Y., and grew up in Kansas City, graduating from Westport High School. He received a BS from Kenyon College in Grambier, Ohio and his MD from University of Pennsylvania in 1927. He did post-graduate work in Cleveland, Akron, Philadelphia and Chicago, and in 1932 came to Columbia, where he continued to work until his death in 1974. He established teaching programs for both students and residents as part of the Crippled Children's Clinic he instituted, and these programs became the foundation of orthopaedic training at the University of Missouri. Dr. Stewart was appointed a clinical professor in 1953, the first year of the Department of Surgery, and because of the abundance of crippled children's cases, many residents from around the Midwest came and spent six months or a year of time to sub-specialize in pediatric orthopaedics.
Dr. Stewart maintained offices in the Professional Building at 909 University Avenue and worked at Boone County Hospital as well as the University, where he ran his crippled children's clinic once a week. Prior to completion of the present University Hospital in 1956, surgery was performed in the old hospital in Parker Building on campus. Dr. Stewart traveled around central Missouri, providing orthopaedic services to a variety of communities; Fulton, Moberly, Macon, Marshall and Fayette. Sylvia Petro, RN, worked in Dr. Stewart's office during the early 1970s and recalls driving around with him to all the little hospitals to do orthopaedic cases, carrying surgical instruments in the trunk. Postoperative care was provided mostly by the local doctors. Dr. Stewart travelled to Russia to learn about the Savash total hip system in the early days of arthroplasty, and to Texas to learn about Harrington rod technique soon after Dr. Harrington developed it, and he brought those surgical methods back to Missouri.
He brought Dr. Glenn McElroy and Dr. John Payne into his practice, and they assisted with teaching of students and residents. McElroy and Payne together later formed the Columbia Orthopaedic Group. The split was apparently not entirely amicable, and so began a "town - gown" rivalry that has often characterized orthopaedics in Columbia. Although he was still involved in full time practice, Dr. Stewart was forced to give up his academic appointment to the University in 1972, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 72. According to Ms. Petro, this didn't sit too well with Dr. Stewart. Dr. Stewart died from heart disease in August of 1974 in his home at 1005 Queen Anne Drive in Columbia. He is remembered by many as a tireless worker, with few interests outside orthopaedics. He was very independent and formed strong opinions about people, both positive and negative.
The Section of Orthopaedic Surgery
The University of Missouri Medical Center and School of Medicine was opened as a four-year school in September 1955 with Dr. Roscoe Pollen as Dean. Dr. Hugh Stephenson was the first full-time surgical faculty member. The first Chairman of the Department of Surgery was Dr. Walter J. Burdette, who served for one year, when Dr. Stephenson took over until 1960. Dr. Stewart was a clinical professor at that time, having been appointed in 1953. The Section on Orthopaedic Surgery began in 1957 under the direction of Dr. John L. Holmes, who was recruited from Indianapolis by Dr. Stephenson. On December 23, 1958, approval for the residency training program for adult and children's orthopaedics and fractures was granted by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association. At the time of approval this residency program was the smallest in the country to obtain such approval in all three categories of training. A loose alliance was obtained with Dr. Oscar P. Hampton's program in St. Louis, and residents from his program rotated through the University of Missouri program for periods of six to 12 months to obtain pediatric orthopaedic training.
Outpatients visits for the first fiscal year totaled 3,415, and admissions were 399. In 1961 Dr. Holmes resigned, and Dr. James A. Gwaltney ran the Division until 1963, when Dr. George Austin assumed responsibilities as chief of the section. Dr. Austin was recruited from Vanderbilt by Dr. Modlin, who was then Chief of Surgery. Dr. Austin had received his undergraduate degree from University of Oklahoma in 1940, did one year of post-graduate research, then entered the US Army Air Corps for World War II. After the war, he completed medical school at Oklahoma, Internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Orthopaedic Residency at Johns Hopkins. He served as chief of Orthopaedics in the U.S. Air Force Hospital in Japan, and at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, before resigning the Air Force to got to work at Vanderbilt. Dr. Jerry Hunt came to Missouri from Vanderbilt with Dr. Austin as an assistant professor. Dr. Austin ran a strong teaching program for both residents and students. He recalls that a high percentage of students from those days went into orthopaedics.
In 1962 the orthopaedic residency program was again approved for complete training. Dr. Garth Russell began his residency at this time, and he became the first resident to complete the program in 1966. After graduation, Dr. Russell joined the Columbia Orthopaedic Group (eventually becoming senior partner after Dr. McElroy's retirement), founded the Columbia Spine Center, and served as President of the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF), as well as secretary of the AAOS Board of Governors.
In June 1964, Dr. George Austin and Dr. Jerry Hunt resigned their positions in orthopaedics at the University went to the University of Maryland, where Dr. Austin became chief of Orthopaedics. Dr. Austin was at Maryland until 1969, when he went into private practice in Wyoming. From 1973 to 1983, he was associate medical director and orthopaedic consultant for the Oldsmobile division of General Motors.
Dr. Austin provided this picture of the program in 1965. From left to right, it shows: Dr. Hollocher, who was a second year resident who went with Dr. Austin to Maryland and finished the program there; Dr. Lehman who was their affiliate with the Veterans Program in St. Louis; Dr. Hunt, Dr. Stewart, Dr. Austin and Dr. Russell.
The Litton Years
 Onl July 1, 1965, Dr. Lynn Litton became the chief of orthopaedics. Dr. Litton, a native Kansan who had received his training at the University of Kansas, left the KU faculty to move his family of five children to Columbia and run the orthopaedics program. Shortly after his arrival on Sept. 1, 1965, Dr. Thomas Cully arrived as additional staff. Dr. Cully sub-specialized in pediatric orthopaedics. In 1968 Dr. Cully resigned as assistant professor of surgery to become assistant director of the Medical Center. In 1969 Dr. David Scherr joined the orthopaedic staff as assistant professor with a joint appointment in the microbiology department and in the Department of Surgery. In the early 1970s, Dr. Litton spent a year on sabbatical in Davos, Switzerland at the AO's Hospital for Experimental Surgery.
In February of 1974, Dr. Litton resigned to enter private practice with several of his former residents at the Columbia Orthopaedic Group. He practiced there until 1987, when he was forced to give up operative orthopaedics because of recurrent heart trouble (he had undergone bypass surgery while working at the University and this probably contributed to his decision to leave academic practice). Because his youngest daughter, Lindsey, had finished college, he and Mary Katherine returned to Kansas City, where he practiced office orthopaedics with a multispecialty group in Overland Park. In 1975, Dr. David Scherr resigned to enter private practice in Jefferson City. Dr. Thomas Cully was appointed acting chief of the section in the spring of 1975 in addition to his duties as chief of staff at the Veterans' Administration Hospital, but soon had to resign to devote time to administrative activities.
The Allen Era
At this time, Dr. Donald Silver arrived from Duke to chair the Department of Surgery, having been recruited by Dr. Joe White, Provost for Health Affairs. When Dr. Silver arrived, there were 23 faculty members in the department, but not as much specialization as there is today. The division structure was not as well developed, and all the divisions met together for conferences. Dr. Silver discussed with Dr. Garth Russell the possibility of Dr. Russell becoming Chief of Orthopaedics, but that did not occur. A nationwide search for an Orthopaedic Chief was initiated, and in December of 1976 Dr. William C. Allen began his tenure as Chief of the section of Orthopaedic Surgery.
 Dr. Allen, a native of Ohio, went to medical school in Chicago, interned in Philadelphia, and did his residency at Stanford. He was on the faculty at the University of Florida in Gainesville at the time he was recruited to take the job at Missouri. Dr. Allen's interests include sports medicine, total joint arthroplasty, orthopaedic oncology, and biomechanics.
Beginning in 1977, Dr. Allen began to put together a clinical faculty to join him at the University. After running the division of orthopaedics for approximately a year by himself, Allen recruited a general orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Cal Harper. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Robert Gaines, a specialist in pediatric orthopaedics and spine surgery from Duke, joined the faculty as an assistant professor. Two years later, Dr. Barry Gainor, who had been a resident with Dr. Allen in Florida, joined the faculty, making four full-time faculty members. Dr. Gainor's specialty is hand surgery. After approximately eight years, Dr. Harper left the University to return to his home state of Tennessee and join the faculty at Vanderbilt. Dr. Gainor remains on the faculty today along with Dr. Allen, and together these two have formed the core of modern orthopaedics at Missouri. Dr. Gainor has served as the guiding hand behind the Missouri Orthopaedic Alumni Association.
Dr. Arthur Pearl joined the faculty in 1988, and he was followed shortly thereafter by Dr. James Ellsasser from St. Louis. Both Dr. Pearl and Dr. Ellsasser were senior surgeons and were here for only a short time. Dr. Ellsasser left in 1991 and Dr. Pearl in 1992.
Dr. Jeffrey Anglen joined the faculty in 1992 as an orthopaedic trauma specialist, having completed a trauma fellowship at Tampa General Hospital. Dr. Anglen completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri in 1979, earned his medical degree and orthopaedic training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and then practiced for a time in Kansas City with Dr. Litton. At the University of Missouri, Dr. Anglen initiated the Orthopaedic Trauma Service. A year later, in 1993, Dr. Jon Gehrke joined our faculty as a foot specialist, having completed his residency here and then going to the Mayo Clinic for a year of post-residency fellowship training in foot surgery. Dr. Anglen and Dr. Gehrke, both Columbia natives, graduated from Rock Bridge High School in Columbia in 1975. Dr.Mike Vessely, a former Missouri resident, finished his fellowship in Boston and then returned on the faculty for a period of six months before he went into practice in Oregon. Dr. Gehrke resigned as an assistant professor and went into private practice in Des Moines in 1995. In 1993 Dr. Leonard Davis, after many years of private practice in Mexico, Missouri, joined our faculty as an outpatient physician and workmens' comp specialist.
A New Department
During Dr. Allen's long and successful tenure, the residency thrived, increasing from two to three approved slots per year, adding a Research Resident optional year, and adding rotations with the Columbia Orthopaedic Group. In 1994, after 18 years of outstanding and dedicated service as chief, Dr. Allen resigned his administrative duties and remains on the faculty as a full professor of orthopaedic surgery. Following Dr. Allen's resignation as Chief of Orthopaedics, Dr. Anglen served as interim Chief of the Division for 18 months. During this period, University of Missouri Hospital was deemed to have one of the best orthopaedic departments in the country (#33 -1995, #32 -1996) in the annual rankings of US News & World Report. A nationwide search process for a new Chairman was undertaken. It became evident that in order to attract top-quality candidates, the status of Orthopaedics would have to be upgraded from a Division of Surgery to an independent Department, a move that was supported by Dr. Silver and Dr. Lester Bryant, the Dean of the Medical School. Walter Greene, a pediatric orthopaedist from North Carolina, accepted the newly endowed chair and became the first J. Vernon Luck Professor and Chairman of the new Orthopaedics Department on January 1, 1996. Dr. Luck, one of the pioneers of orthopaedics, was a native of Hannibal, Mo., and an alumnus of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Class of 1929.
New Directions
In January 2004, Jason Calhoun, M.D., assumed the title of Chairman and J. Vernon Luck Distinguished Professor. Calhoun previously served as chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, where he built a small surgical division into a full medical school department. Under Dr. Calhoun's leadership, the number of full-time faculty physicians has tripled, with additional surgeons in spine, pediatrics, total joint, sports medicine, and hand. The residency program has been granted full accreditation and authorization to expand its numbers.
Residents
Prior to the Allen era, some of the residents who completed their training at the University of Missouri were:
- 1966 Dr. Garth Russell
- 1968 Dr. K. Clair Anderson
- 1970 Dr. Monte Ellison, Dr. David Fardon
- 1971 Dr. Kenneth Lambert
- 1972 Dr. John Hickox
- 1973 Dr. W. Buckingham, Jr.
- 1974 Dr. Herb Craig
- 1975 Dr. Robert Curnow, Dr. Richard Klein
- 1976 Dr. Robert Logel, Dr. Robert Ray Cunningham
Residents who rotated through the program from the St. Louis affiliated programs are as follows:
Dr. Joseph Ankenbrankt, Dr. Phillip Lehman, Dr. Michael Morrero, Dr. Tipkins Hood, Dr. Luis diaz, Dr. Ed Carter and Dr. Ralph Bender. The above lists are not complete and we would appreciate any additions or corrections.
The following residents have been trained at Missouri since 1977 by Dr. Allen:
- 1978 Robert Hass, Prasit Gonggetyai
- 1979 Roger Pocze, Anthony Dustman
- 1980 Dennis Abernathie, James Maddox
- 1981 Gregory Munson, Mike Ralston
- 1982 Robert Breedlove, John Havey
- 1983 Thomas Ford, Cornelius Britt
- 1984 Gregory Hummel, Peter Buchert
- 1985 James Schaberg, Robert Hagen
- 1986 David Huibregtse
- 1987 Craig Satterlee, Eugene Hansbrough
- 1988 Jan Henstorf, Scot Frost
- 1989 William Humphreys, Rosalind Epstein
- 1990 Thomas Jacobson, Joel Jeffries
- 1991 Gordon Groh, Steven Olson
- 1992 Jon Gehrke, Michael Vessely
- 1993 Thomas Schott, Benjamin Holt
- 1994 Steve Apostoles, Jeffrey Parker
- 1995 James Banovetz, Stephen Miller, Christopher Bagby
- 1996 Mark Blue, K. David Moore, Michael Corcoran
Orthopaedic Chiefs at Missouri
- 1953-1957 Dr. William J. Stewart
- 1957-1961 Dr. John L. Holmes
- 1961-1963 Dr. James A. Gwaltney
- 1963-1964 Dr. George Austin
- 1965-1974 Dr. Lynn Litton
- 1975 Dr. Thomas Cully
- 1976-1994 Dr. William C. Allen
- 1994-1996 Dr. Jeffrey O. Anglen
- 1996-2002 Dr. Walter Greene
- 2002-2004 Dr. William C. Allen
- 2004-present Dr. Jason H. Calhoun
Special thanks to Drs. Bill Allen, Don Silver, Hugh Stephenson, George Austin, Garth Russell and Sylvia Petro, RN, for help with this history. |
