Early Days
What is today the UArizona Department of Orthopaedic Surgery was first established as "the Section of Orthopaedic Surgery" on July 1, 1971, two months before the Sept. 1 opening of University Medical Center Hospital on the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center Campus.
The first Section Chief was Leonard F. Peltier, MD, PhD , who had come from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City where he had headed the Section of Orthopaedic Surgery at that institution since January 1, 1957.
He was accompanied by Donald Speer, MD , an orthopaedic resident at Kansas who required one additional year of residency. Together they founded the orthopaedic service at the University Medical Center Hospital, integrating with the orthopaedic service of the Tucson Veterans Hospital run by Dr. Stanley Tanz and Dr. Jacob Redekop.
By June of 1972, the Residency Review Committee had approved the residency program, allowing one resident in each of a four year rotation. This was made possible by an agreement with the Arizona Crippled Children's Hospital in Phoenix to provide a rotation for training in children's orthopedics.
On June 21, 1973 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education granted full approval for the residency program, which consisted of rotations at the University of Arizona Hospital, Tucson Veterans Administration Hospital and the Arizona Crippled Children's Hospital. Several years later, a rotation was begun at Kino Community Hospital. This was discontinued after a few years.
Continued Growth & Expansion
The continued growth and expansion of the program necessitated continuous recruitment. The second person to join the full time faculty was Dr. Speer, who, having finished his residency, spent an additional year of training in pediatric orthopaedics at the Children's Hospital in Chicago.
Robert G. Volz, MD, a former resident of Dr. Peltier's at the University of Kansas, was recruited to begin a program in total joint surgery. Robert B. Dzioba, MD came from Toronto to lend his support to the area of spine surgery.
The Veterans Administration Hospital staff was augmented by the recruitment of Frederick W. Greenwood, MD of Montreal and the transfer of Warren Eddy, MD from Kino Community Hospital. James B. Benjamin, MD stayed on after completing his residency to help Dr. Volz with the total joint program. This group composed the core of the faculty of the Section of Orthopedic Surgery at the time of Dr. Peltier's retirement as Section Chief in June 1985.
Locations Added
From 1989 – 1993, the section expanded its outpatient capabilities to a satellite clinic, which greatly improved the quality of care for patients.
The department focused on specialized training in joint replacement surgery and trauma by the 1993 - 94 fiscal year, the section was performing 1562 operative cases and had 16,844 outpatient visits. During 1994 - 95 outpatients again equaled 16,800.
The clinic was housed in UMC, until it was relocated to Alvernon Way during the fall of 1999 which greatly improved issues of limited space and patient access.
That same year, the Arizona board of Regents created a new Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and a national search was performed for a Professor and Head. During the interim Dr. John Ruth, the Residency Program Director, served as Head of the Department.
In May 2000 Dr. William A. Grana came from the University of Oklahoma and a private practice background to join the department and attempt to create a comprehensive Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
In 2022, Dr. John Elfar was recruited from The Pennsylvania State University to head a large expansion in orthopaedic care. Under his leadership, the clinical footprint has quadroupled in size, and the faculty has doubled in size. Three fellowships have been added, and a residency expansion is underway. These are exciting times in Orthopaedics.
