Orthopaedic Surgery Department Faculty
Richard W. Nicholas, M.D.
Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery
Professor of Orthopaedics and Pathology
Director of Education ACRC
Appointment: 1989
Dr. Nicholas has developed the state's only program dedicated to the study of orthopaedic tumors. He has gained wide recognition as a specialist in limb salvage surgery in the treatment of bone and soft tissue cancers.
He serves clinical duties at both the UAMS Medical Center and the Arkansas Children's Hospital, treating adults and children afflicted with malignant and benign orthopaedic tumors. Dr. Nicholas is presently involved in developing biologic techniques to study the cells of bone and soft tissue cancers. His research interests include benign vascular malformations.
Dr. Nicholas is a member of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Children's Oncology Group, the International Society of Limb Salvage, and the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association.
James Aronson, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics
Pediatrics Section
Appointment: 1984
In 1985, Dr. Aronson performed the first leg lengthening procedure in North America using the Ilizarov method. Today, he is recognized worldwide as the leading researcher in this distraction osteogenesis technique of bone lengthening which was first developed in Russia.
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Aronson has used the Ilizarov method for more than 200 patients to salvage limbs (arms and legs) that were shortened from congenital deformity or trauma and to reconstruct complex angular deformities, osteomyelitis and nonunions in patients as young as 22 months and older than 50 who would otherwise face amputation or life-long handicaps.
As the 1995 recipient of the Arthur H. Huene Memorial Award presented by the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society, Dr. Aronson was only the fifth person ever honored by his colleagues in North America for making significant research contributions to the field of pediatric orthopaedics.
Dr. Aronson has considerable expertise and interest in the area of pediatric and young adult hip problems, as well as, clubfoot and other pediatric foot deformities. His ongoing research in distraction osteogenesis concentrates on nutritional, hormonal and growth factors that affect bone growth.
John L. Vander Schilden, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics
Sports Medicine Section
Appointment: 1985
John Vander Schilden, M.D., a former football player and wrestler, is the department's chief sports medicine specialist. His clinical work focuses on sports injuries and trauma, and his research activities include studying meniscal repair, biomechanics of ligaments and biomechanics of fixation devices.
Dr. Vander Schilden grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from DePauw University in 1973 with a degree in Zoology. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1977 and completed Orthopaedic Surgery residency training programs at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida before taking a fellowship to study Trauma and Sports Medicine in Munich, Germany, in 1985.
He is a team physician for the University of Arkansas athletic departments in Fayetteville and Little Rock and a consultant to the National Football league. Dr. Vander Schilden has served as a team physician for the NCAA wrestling championships, the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team, and at the Olympic Training Center in 1991 at Lake Placid, New York.
R. Dale Blasier, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics
Residency Program Director
Pediatrics Section
Appointment: 1989
Dr. Blasier specializes in treating children's sports injuries and spine deformities. He serves as vice chief of the Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery and director of Pediatric Orthopaedic Traumatology at Arkansas Children's Hospital.
While his primary area of research has been in the area of orthopaedic trauma, Dr. Blasier has recently focused his energies on studying absorbable implants in fracture fixation. His professional interests also include orthopaedic management of spinal deformities and neuromuscular diseases.
Johannes M. Gruenwald, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics
Trauma Section
Appointment: 1989
Dr. Gruenwald, a native of Vienna, Austria, joined the UAMS faculty in 1989. He specializes in the treatment of pelvic and complex acetabulum fractures and dislocations. He provides orthopaedic care for patients with severe upper and lower extremity injuries. Patients who suffer from severe complications after skeletal injury, such as malunion, nonunion and osteomyelitis are an important part of his clinical practice.
Dr. Gruenwald lectures nationally and internationally. He truly loves his teaching responsibilities and has won the Dr. Selakovich Teaching Award twice. He believes that the challenging interaction with younger surgeons from different academic medical centers is important. “It is these interactions that keep us senior surgeons on the cutting edge of orthopaedic development”, Gruenwald says.
Dr. Gruenwald, who has been published in the field of orthopedic trauma, is senior adviser to several European and American scientific journals. He has gained the prestigious “Best Doctors in America” recognition twice. In 2006 he was nominated Chairman of the Governors Council on Trauma in Arkansas.
Ruth L. Thomas, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics
Director of the Center for Foot and Ankle Surgery
Appointment: 1989
Dr. Thomas is a fellowship trained foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon and the Director of the Center for Foot and Ankle Surgery at UAMS.
A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas in 1978, Dr. Thomas served as a physical therapist at Arkansas Children's Hospital from 1979 to 1980, working with spina bifida patients. She then returned to school to earn a medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1984. Her transitional internship and orthopaedic surgery residency training were also completed at UAMS. Dr. Greer Richardson directed her foot and ankle fellowship training at the Campbell Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee in 1992.
Her clinical practice provides complete foot and ankle care encompassing all aspects of patient care from treating corns and calluses to performing complicated foot reconstructions. Her research interests include biomechanical alterations related to various hind foot fusions and reconstructive procedures.
Dr. Thomas is a member of the American Medical Association and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She is certified in both Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Advanced Trauma Life Support.
Richard Evans, M.D.
Associate Professor of Orthopaedics
Chief of Adult Reconstruction
Director of the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery
Appointment: 2006
Richard Evans, M.D., a hip and knee replacement specialist, is taking over the clinical practice of Carl Nelson, M.D. and will be the director of the Center for Hip and Knee Surgery and the Chief of Adult reconstruction.
In addition to performing surgery, Evans will be an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Previously, he was professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center. Before that, he had been in private practice in Denver where he was president and CEO of Cherry Creek Orthopedic Specialists from 1989-2005 and was assistant clinical professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Evans completed his residency at UAMS under Nelson, the late chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Nelson was one of the country’s premier specialists in hip and knee replacement until his death in January 2005. Evans continued to collaborate with Nelson on research projects for many years after Evans moved to Denver following his residency. He is a co-founder of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society along with Dr. Nelson.
Evans is a 1982 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, and served a 1983-1984 transitional surgery internship at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver. His time at UAMS included a research fellowship under Dr. Nelson at the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in 1984-1985. He completed his residency at UAMS in 1989, and was winner of the “Outstanding Orthopedic Resident-Teacher Award.” He was named “Orthopedic Surgeon of the Year 2001” by the editorial staff of Consumer Business Review in Denver, and has been a five-time winner of the Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center Rehabilitation “Top Doc” award.
S. Ashfaq Hasan, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics
Director of the Center for Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
Appointment: 2003
Dr. Hasan heads up the department's Shoulder and Elbow section. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. He went on to complete his orthopaedic surgery residency at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He subsequently completed a Sports Medicine fellowship in Washington, D.C. after which he was in private practice for four years. He went on to complete a Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. Hasan specializes in reconstructive surgery of the shoulder and elbow including minimally invasive procedures such as arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and arthroscopic stabilization procedures for the recurrent dislocating shoulder. He has further areas of expertise in shoulder replacement surgery including revision surgery, as well as elbow replacement surgery. Other areas of clinical expertise include elbow arthroscopy, fracture fixation of the shoulder and elbow and nerve decompression. His research interests include computer-aided navigation for shoulder replacement surgery, rotator cuff repair techniques and basic science research on rotator cuff healing.
David T. Sward, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics
Hip and Knee Section
Appointment: 2000
Dr. Sward is a native Arkansan, born in Stuttgart. After attending Arkansas State University, he graduated from UAMS with a B.S. in Medical Technology in 1965 and an M.D. in 1969. Following an internship at St. John’s Hospital, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Sward served three years as a flight surgeon in the Air Force. He was stationed primarily at Luke AFB, Arizona and later as a flight surgeon for the USAF Aerial Demonstration team, the Thunderbirds.
He began his residency in orthopaedics at UAMS under Dr. Don Kettelkamp in 1973 and finished under Dr. Carl Nelson in 1976. He was appointed as a Clinical Instructor in 1977 and in 1978 became an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics. Dr. Sward subsequently entered solo private practice in Mountain Home, Arkansas where, in addition to general orthopaedics, he concentrated on joint replacements.
In 2000, Dr. Sward joined the UAMS Orthopaedic Department and became Chief of the Orthopaedic Section at Central Arkansas Veteran’s Health Care System.
He is a fellow of AAOS, a member of AAHKS (American Association of Hip & Knee Surgeons), President-elect of the Arkansas Orthopaedic Society, a member of AMA and the Arkansas Medical Society.
Pramod Nelluri, M.D.
Instructor of Orthopaedics
Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery
Appointment: 2005
Dr. Pramod Nelluri is Chief of the Hand Surgery section at Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System. Dr. Nelluri did his residency training in Plastic Surgery at Osmania University, India. Later following his internship at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, he served a fellowship in Hand & Microsurgery at Christine M Kleinert Institute, Louisville, KY. Dr Nelluri is a trained Micro-surgeon having completed a year training at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. Recently he completed a Hand/Upper extremity fellowship here a UAMS under Dr. Randy Bindra.
Dr. Nelluri specializes and treats all disorders of hand and elbow. Presently he is also a teaching faculty at UAMS as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. His research interests include, peripheral nerve regeneration, stability of fracture fixation in hands and tendon healing.
Larry J. Suva, Ph.D.
Professor of Orthopaedics and Physiology and Biophysics.
Director of the Center for Orthopaedic Research
Appointment: 2000
Larry Suva is director of
The Center for Orthopaedic Research at UAMS. He is well-known internationally for his research work and has a broad scientific background gathered from years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry (Genentech Inc., Merck, GlaxoSmithKline ) as well as 5 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Suva grew up in Melbourne, Australia (playing cricket), and graduated from Swinburne Institute of Technology in 1981. He subsequently completed his Ph.D. in Medicine at the
University of Melbourne in 1989.
He relocated to the US in 1989, and is now a permanent resident.
His research interests include the anabolic stimulation of bone formation,
mechanical regulation on bone and cartilage function and the pathogenesis of
breast cancer metastasis to bone. He is currently serves as chair of the
Science Policy Committee of the
American Society for Bone and Mineral
Research (ASBMR)
Meet our John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital Orthopaedics group. From Left to right:
Ashley Ross, MD, Karen Seale, MD, David Sward, MD, Laurie Hughes, MD, Pramod Nelluri, MD
Updated 08/1/2006