History of the Stony Brook University Orthopedic Residency Program
In July of 1976, the newly founded medical school at Stony Brook appointed Dr. Roger Dee, a Wales born orthopaedic surgeon with a PhD in anatomical sciences, as the Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Since Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) was still four years away from completion a temporary home for the Department was founded at Nassau County Medical Center (NCMC) or Meadowbrook Hospital as it was known at the time. At that time, NCMC had its own independent residency program, as did Nassau Hospital (later to become Winthrop University Hospital). Both hospitals shared the same problem, in that education requirements were changing rapidly and exposure to busy, competent, voluntary faculty was no longer sufficient to meet mounting accreditation requirements. They needed university support for the academic mission.
This is not to imply there was no research or teaching happening at our partnering institutions. For instance, Dr. Leonard Weiss, established and respected spine surgeon within the community and Scoliosis Research Society, was the backbone of clinical education for a whole generation of Orthopaedic surgeons. Ahead of his time, he was a champion of physician education at Meadowbrook Hospital from 1966. Dr. Weiss advised Roger on how to navigate the New York landscape and they quickly made a deal with Dr. Adrian Coren, who headed the busiest private practice group at NCMC. They pledged to continue to give their support to residency education, while Dr. Dee would provide the academic credentials to administrate a “modern” training program. Dr. Dee was perfectly suited for such an undertaking, as he had an impressive resume, University experience, and the energy to keep the place together. Clinically, since he had worked closely in England with one of the early pioneers of joint replacement surgery, Dr. Kenneth McKee, he was able to bring his extensive experience in hip, knee and elbow replacements to legitimize the Stony Brook surgical experience.
The initial arrangement had the Stony Brook and Nassau Hospital programs co-existing independently at NCMC which was a logistic challenge. Stony Brook’s program had the advantage of being “pre-accredited” as part of the University’s charter application. Nassau Hospital’s program had already been in the accreditation “crosshairs,” so the reviewing body (today’s ACGME and Orthopaedic RRC) was not in support of a two-program design. Ultimately, it was decided to unite into one centrally administrated offering, provisionally housed at NCMC, but to be administrated from SBUH once the doors opened.
The Stony Brook University Orthopaedic Residency Program was reconceived as an entirely new offering. Resident rotations at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, Huntington Hospital, and St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson were added. The VA experience enhanced the hand and adult traumatic deformity experience, Huntington was already respected for adult reconstruction and the emerging field of sports medicine, and St. Charles had a long-standing history of excellence in pediatric orthopaedics.
In 1980, Stony Brook University Hospital finally opened its doors to patients. Dr. Dee and the full-time Stony Brook faculty (including Drs. Lawrence Hurst, Jack Handelsman, and Phil Mayer) relocated to SBUH. Teaching conferences and weekly grand rounds now took place at SBUH and residents from the participating hospitals were released from duty at participating hospitals for one-half day weekly so they could attend SBUH located departmental events, a tradition that still stands today. With education being central to the mission, a microsurgical lab, gait lab, and multiple CME events were established as departmental offerings. Dr. Hurst, who had joined the faculty as Chief of the Hand Service in 1979, did the very first Orthopaedic hand surgery at SBUH in January of 1980.
While blossoming clinical services within the program were a focus, basic sciences were not to be neglected. A cellular biology, tissue culture, and electron microscopy lab was established under the leadership of Marie Badalamente, PhD. Dr. Badalamente quickly collaborated with Dr. John ‘Jack’ Handelsman. She also worked extensively with Dr. Hurst on neuron regeneration and with Dr. Steven Sampson on tendon repair from the mid 80s. The tissue work with Dr. Hurst lead them to the myofibroblast, which rolled into a very productive career researching Dupuytren’s Disease. The collaboration ultimately expanded the clinical applications of collagenase as the successful Dupuytren’s treatment, Xiaflex, was approved by the FDA in 2009. Their collaboration, along with Dr. Edward Wang, won them the prestigious AAOS Clinical Research Award (Deltal Kappa) in 2009. Expanding the application further, Dr. Badalamente partnered with Dr. Alex B Dagum and our Plastic Surgeons to bring the product Qwo to market as a treatment for cellulite.
Musculoskeletal Bioengineering facilities were established in the early 80s under the leadership of Michael Manley, PhD. Dr. Manley later left for a position at the Cleveland Clinic and ultimately became the Chief Scientific Advisor for Stryker Orthopaedics. Clinton Rubin, PhD was hired as his replacement and quickly rose to the forefront as a major national figure in the field of bone and connective tissue biology. Dr. Rubin eventually outgrew his facilities in the HSC Tower and moved operations to the main campus as Professor and Chair of the newly designed Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) which remains in the top 15% BME programs in the country.
The investment in basic science research continued, and in 2011 we were able to recruit David Komatsu, PhD to collaborate with clinical faculty projects, supervise our resident research curriculum, and pursue his own projects. He has a vibrant and diverse research portfolio securing millions in grant funding for the University. In 2023 we embarked on a successful joint recruitment with the department of Mechanical Engineering to bring on Dr. Paul Arauz whose area of expertise is in biomechanics, 3D modeling, and kinematics.
Having education and research in our DNA opens the door for cross specialty partnerships, which has long been a tradition here. Dr. Lauren Ackerman, world-renowned pathologist, creator of the Air Force Institute of Pathology database and prolific author, was a mentor, research partner, and good friend to department clinicians and basic science faculty from his arrival in 1973 up until his death in 1993. The annual Lauren Ackerman Lecture remains a testament to education and collaboration within the University to this day with a distinguished list of guest lecturers selected for their ability to unify clinical and basic scientists. We are proud to say the 29th annual Lauren Ackerman Lecture was held in May, 2025.
In 1994, Dr. Dee accepted a position at Winthrop University Hospital as Chair of Orthopaedics. Dr. Hurst then assumed the role of Chair of Orthopaedics to add to his three other major roles that included guiding Collagenase FDA trials, Chief of the Hand Service and Residency/Fellowship Program Director duties. The sands of the medical landscape shift constantly as have our resident rotation sites. Huntington and St. Charles rotations ended in the mid 90’s and Nassau University Medical Center (formerly NCMC) ended ten years later. Today our residents rotate through several new sites, starting with Stony Brook Medicine at Southampton Hospital, centered in one of the nicest vacation hamlets in the world, where Dr. Seth Korbin is the site director. Most recent addition is with our alumnus Dr. Mike Sileo and his partners at Orthopaedic Associates of Long Island based in Setauket. Elective rotations are offered at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC and The Shriners Hospital in Spokane, Washington under the direction of Dr. Bryan Tompkins, also one of our alumni.
Dr. Hurst’s hand fellowship (established in 1987) has expanded to two fellows annually, and now, under the capable stewardship of Dr. Samantha Muhlrad is in its 38th year. Continuing his traditions of firsts for our department Dr. Hurst did the very first orthopaedic case in the newly constructed Ambulatory Surgery Center on March 4, 2002.
In alignment with growing national trends, Dr. Hurst split the program director responsibilities from the Chair position and internally appointed Drs. Steven Sampson and Susan Haralabatos as our first Co-Program Directors in 1996. Dr. James Penna took over the transitional PD role in 2002 and was officially appointed as Residency Program Director in 2005. Dr. Hurst stepped down as chair after 25 years in 2021 and Dr. Penna was approved by Dean Igarashi to lead the department. Dr. Jim Nicholson took over as Program Director in 2021 and shortly thereafter added Dr. Megan Paulus as Associate PD. They presided over their first interview season in December of 2021 and with Kelly Walsh as our Program Coordinator the residency program has never been in better hands.
In July of 2024 the Department consolidated its Setauket outpatient space into the University’s physician practice plan Lake Grove multispecialty site at the Smith Haven Mall. The 170,000sf space houses outpatient offices for nearly every clinical department with room to expand. Our space at the Commack Advanced specialty care facility will double in size by the end of 2025 and an ambulatory surgery center will open there in 2027.
