ROBERT A. ROBINSON, former director of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, was an authority on total hip joint replacement and one of the developers of an operation that alleviated much of the pain associated with the removal of cervical discs. He came to Hopkins in 1953 and was the first member of the orthopaedics faculty to be named a distinguished service professor. Dr. Robinson, who died in 1990, has been praised by his colleagues as a “scientific surgeon” who trained a generation of physicians who became leaders in orthopaedic surgery. Dr. Robinson said that his greatest satisfaction was in “seeing somebody able to do something he could not do before, as, for instance, to walk without pain.” The professorship is held by the chairman of the department.
Held by Colonel James Ficke
Colonel JAMES FICKE, MD, is the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine director of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is also orthopaedist-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is nationally renowned as an expert on the treatment of complex foot and ankle patients, lower extremity trauma patients and amputees.
Dr. Ficke received his MD from Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in 1987. He completed a transitional internship at Madigan Army Medical Center, and finished his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Tripler Army Medical Center. He also completed an AO fellowship in Trauma in Munich Germany, and a foot and ankle fellowship in Dallas, Texas.
Prior to his current position, Dr. Ficke was chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. He also served the U.S. Army Surgeon General as the senior advisor on policy and personnel for orthopaedics and extremity injuries for seven years.
During his deployment as deputy commander of clinical services at the 228th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, he was the senior orthopedic surgeon, treating more than 600 U.S. soldiers and Iraqi patients for war injuries.
Dr. Ficke has received numerous awards for his skills as a surgeon and educator, as well as two dozen military decorations and awards including the Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medals. His service earned him the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons’ prestigious 2010 Colonel Brian Allgood Memorial Leadership Award, and The Surgeon General’s 2010 Major General Lewis Aspey Mologne Award.
He has served as the co-chair of the Extremity War Injury Symposium sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons since 2005.