In July of 1976, the newly founded medical school at Stony Brook appointed Dr. Roger Dee as their Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) was still four years away from completion. Therefore, a temporary home for the Department was founded at Nassau County Medical Center (NCMC).
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. They needed to appoint full-time faculty and program directors, as their accreditations were at risk if major institutional changes were not implemented in a timely fashion.
Dr. Leonard Weiss, an established and respected spine surgeon, and a few others were the backbone of clinical education for a whole generation of Orthopaedic surgeons throughout Long Island and beyond. Suddenly, clinical experience alone was insufficient, so Dr. Adrian Coren, who headed the busiest private practice group at NCMC, brokered a deal with newcomer Dr. Roger Dee. 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 enhance the Stony Brook surgical experience.
The initial proposal had the Stony Brook and Nassau Hospital programs co-existing independently at NCMC. This 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, therefore, 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. From a programmatic point of view, the VA experience enhanced the hand and adult traumatic deformity experience, while 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 and 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 enterprises within the program were all-the-buzz, 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 collabo- rated with Dr. John 'Jack' Handelsman . She also worked extensively with Dr. Hurst on neuron regeneration and with Dr. Steven Sampson on tendon repair early in her career. More recently, she and Dr. Hurst pioneered clinical applications of collagenase as the successful Dupuytren’s treatment, Xiaflex. Their collaboration, along with Dr. Edward Wang, won them the prestigious AAOS Clinical Research Award in 2009.
Musculoskeletal Bioengineering facilities were established 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 and independent Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME).
The investment in basic science research continues, 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 recently captured a $1.5 million NIH grant on the potential effects of ADHD medication on bone growth.
Education and research open the doors for collaboration, which has long been a tradition here. Dr. Lauren Ackerman, world-renowned pathologist and 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, and we are proud to say the 25th annual Lauren Ackerman Lecture was held in April, 2018.
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 and resumed his Program Director duties. As accreditation requirements change, so 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, in addition to home base, rotate through several sites, which include Southampton Hospital, centered in one of the nicest towns in the U.S., where Seth Korbin is the site director. They also spend time with our alumnus Mike Sileo and his partners at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. Elective rotations are offered at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC and The Shriners Hospital in Spokane, Washington under the direction of Bryan Tompkins, also one of our alumni. Last, but not least, at the time of this writing we are finalizing an elective sports rotation with Mohaned Al-Humadi (yes, an alum), team physician for St. Bonaventure and based at Olean General Hospital outside of Buffalo.
Stony Brook’s Department of Orthopaedics has grown and matured over the years. When Dr. Martin Gruber was faculty he ran a successful pediatric fellowship and Dr. Hurst’s hand fellowship (established in 1987) has expanded to 2 fellows annually, and now, under the more than capable stewardship of Dr. Samantha Muhlrad is in its 36th year. Clinically, Dr. Hurst did the very first Orthopaedic case in the newly constructed Ambulatory Surgery Center on March 4, 2002, continuing his traditions of firsts for our department and this University.
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 was officially appointed as Residency Program Director in 2005. Dr. Hurst stepped down as chair last year and Jim was approved by the Dean to lead the department. Jim Nicholson has taken over as Program Director and Megan Paulus the Associate PD. They presided over the first interview season in December of 2021 and in 2022 we had one of the most successful matches in our history.
