Joseph Zuckerman, MD, is the President Pro tem of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and Chair and Walter A.L. Thompson Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. We recently spoke with Dr. Zuckerman about his career and some of the issues facing orthopedic surgeons.
Where are you from?
I was born in the Bronx and grew up in Long Island.
Where did you go to college?
I attended Cornell University and majored in Biology with a concentration in anatomy and physiology.
When in your training did you decide to be an orthopedic surgeon?
I have wanted to be a doctor since I was about ten years old. I used to watch Ben Casey on television and that show convinced me to become a physician.
I always liked bones and joints. I had an interest in that type of anatomy. When I was young I had a cast and I thought that it would be fun to be able to put casts on people. I admit this was not very sophisticated reasonong to determine a career choice.
What was the worst moment of your residency?
I made a (non-fatal but serious) mistake when I was an intern on the medical service at the VA hospital. It had a profound effect on me of never wanting to be in that type of situation again. It drove home to me that what we do is incredibly powerful and we need to think about everything we do.
What one person has been the most influential on your career as an orthopedic surgeon?
There are primarily two individuals I would name. The first is Victor Frankel. He was the chairman of orthopedics during my residency at the University of Washington for my first three years.
He then left to become the chairman of orthopedics at the Hospital for Joint Diseases. He ultimately recruited me to join his department. He has always been incredibly supportive of my career and has given me opportunities that I would not have had otherwise.
The other is Clement Sledge who was chairman of orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital when I did my fellowship. He also subsequently became president of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. I have had a career long relationship with him as a mentor, advisor and friend.
What are the two most important specific attributes needed to be a good orthopedic surgeon?
To be a top-flight orthopedic and to excel you have to love what you do. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t have the passion needed to succeed. It is the passion that allows you to devote the time and effort and to do all the things that are necessary to excel, whether it be in the operating room or in teaching or in academic pursuits.
You are a shoulder specialist. What is the most exciting advance on the horizon in shoulder surgery?
I think there are two things. First, the continuing progression of miminally invasive techniques, arthroscopic techniques. And, second the continued development of shoulder arthroplasty to treat a wider range of conditions about the shoulder. It should give many more patients a better quality of life as a result.
One of the stated goals for your term leading the AAOS is to improve practice management. What do you mean by that?
Taking care of patients in the office, emergency room, or operating room is of critical importance. And the reality is that the vast majority of orthopedic surgeons in this country have to operate a small business. Sometimes it is a large business, depending on how many people are in the group. Having the skills to do that successfully are not necessarily learned anywhere along the way.
So, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has a very robust practice management initiative because we want to be able to provide these tools for our members and help them succeed. This becomes more important each year as our practices face more and more challenges.
You have stated that increasing diversity is also one of the goals of your presidency. How will you achieve that?
Diversity comes in many ways. It’s gender diversity, racial diversity and ethnic diversity. The AAOS is committed to promoting diversity in all of our programs. We have a Diversity Advisory Board that looks at every new project and program to determine whether diversity issues are being addressed. For committee appointments , we obviously want the most highly skilled and knowledgeable people, but we also consider diversity in our selections.
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