Joint Venture

When U.S. News and World Report ranked the UT Memphis orthopaedics program among the top 10 in the nation, the faculty at Campbell Clinic deserved a good deal of the credit.

The clinic has been an important part of the Memphis medical scene since Willis Cohoon Campbell opened its doors 86 years ago. For more than 70 years, the clinic and UT shared an informal affiliation. Five years ago, they made it official.

The joint UT-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is the envy of other universities, says Dr. Allen Edmonson, professor and chair of the department. The arrangement makes good sense academically as well as good business sense.

"With the current economic pressures on academic medicine, we are finding that departments in other teaching institutions want to duplicate a healthy relationship like ours," Edmonson says. "We have a healthy relationship because both institutions are interested in making it work."

Himself an alumnus of UT Knoxville and of the College of Medicine ('53), Edmonson became chairman of the UT-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in June 1994, after four months as acting chairman. Edmonson did his orthopaedic surgery residency at Campbell Clinic. Now that he's in charge of the program, he's determined to make it even better. One way he intends to do that is to strengthen the basic research program to complement the top quality patient care, teaching, and clinical research for which the clinic is known.

"I want to bring residents, medical students, and faculty closer to the orthopaedic research program. Clinical research has always been heavily emphasized -- an example is the long-term follow-up studies conducted by UT orthopaedic surgeons -- and widely recognized. Basic research needs similar emphasis."

Much of the basis for Campbell Clinic's reputation rests with Willis Cohoon Campbell, who continues to be recognized in Memphis as the city's most famous orthopaedic surgeon and one of the most famous in the United States.

A 1904 medical school graduate of the University of Virginia, Campbell studied orthopaedics in London and Vienna before returning to Memphis in 1909. Campbell was one of five founders of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and its first elected president (Three Campbell Clinic staff members -- also faculty of UT Memphis -- and one alumnus have followed him as president).

Campbell's pioneer work on orthopaedic reconstruction surgery and on bone grafting brought patients from throughout the world to his clinic. His knee ligament repairs earned him international acclaim among sports medicine specialists.

Another reason for the clinic's national reputation is the concept of sub-specializing within the group, something that Campbell and his associates accomplished early in their careers, Edmonson says. Surgeons specialized, for example, in joint reconstruction, trauma, or pediatric orthopaedics. This allowed the most experienced and knowledgeable sub-specialty surgeons to selectively care for patients with specific problems.

Campbell also made his mark with his internationally renowned textbook, Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. First published in 1939 as a single volume, the book has been printed in five foreign languages. The ninth edition, which fills five volumes, is due out next year.

Edmonson says it's a reference book rather than a text.

"It's a 'how-to' book that gained instant success because of its quality and the clarity with which it was written."

Beginning with Campbell, "we have always had activists on our faculty," Edmonson says. "We have leaders who are willing not only to produce and deliver medical educational presentations but also to work with community organizations and participate in all aspects of the community." Another of the clinic's strengths is its residency program. About 400 applications are received each year for eight residency positions. There are 32 residents currently.

"One of our strengths is the diversity of experience residents are provided while working at such rotations as the Trauma Center at the Regional Medical Center, LeBonheur Children's Hospital, Veterans Administration Hospital, and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, including its out-patient clinics," says Kay Daugherty, supervisor of the Campbell Foundation. The foundation is the part of the organization that helps to support resident education.

"Our residents are qualified to enter orthopaedic surgery practice anywhere," Edmonson says. "They usually score well on the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination, a national exam that is mandatory for all orthopaedic surgery residents in the country." Numerous graduates of the UT department are in leadership positions at other major universities, he says.

But no matter where the alumni spend their professional lives, Kay Daugherty says they always feel like the Campbell Clinic is home.

"The program is the home base for our residents. We can graduate them and retire them, but," she laughs, "we can never get rid of them."

Members of the Campbell Clinic and the Campbell Club, an alumni group of former residents, have raised $500,000 toward the $1 million professorship.

Dr. Robert Tooms, professor and co-chair of the Boyd Professorship campaign, and Dr. G. Dean MacEwen, an alumnus from Wilmington, Delaware, anticipate $1 million in commitments within the next year. Tooms says UT Memphis and Campbell Clinic always have had a good relationship, but the formal agreements have forged "a bond between us."

Michele O'Connor is a free lance writer in Memphis.