Dr. Richard Evans Trades Brushes for Scalpel

As a medical student in Denver, Dr. Richard Evans’ talent with a paintbrush was his ticket through school.

But after joining UAMS’ orthopaedics residency program in 1985, a scalpel replaced his paintbrush, and knee and hip joints became his canvas.

Evans, who returned to UAMS in January after working primarily in private practice the last 17 years, said he no longer uses the acrylics, ink and oils.

“The only art work I do now is in the operating room,” said Evans, who leads UAMS’ Center for Hip and Knee Surgery.

As a disciple of the late Dr. Carl Nelson, a pioneer in orthopaedics at UAMS, Evans’ reappearance has created some excitement on campus. His first week on the job was spent hugging colleagues he knew from 20 years ago, he said.

Evans was still a medical student and knew nothing about UAMS when he began searching for the best orthopaedics residency programs. He visited a number of prestigious schools, but their faculty had no equivalent to Nelson, a surgeon, researcher and revered teacher whose reputation helped put UAMS on the map. “I came here because of Carl Nelson, and he became my mentor,” he said.

Led by Nelson, the department has been recognized by U.S.News & World Report. The department’s published papers on musculoskeletal infection were nationally acclaimed and its findings have been used in medical textbooks. Evans and Nelson published research in scientific journals and co-authored chapters in orthopaedic surgery textbooks.

After completing his residency in 1989, Evans moved back to Denver and became president and CEO of Cherry Creek Orthopedic Specialists. 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.

Through the years, he also continued to collaborate with Nelson on research projects, but private practice limited his research opportunities.

In January 2005, Evans returned to academia at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center in Columbia, Mo. That same month, Nelson, chairman of the UAMS Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, died of a massive stroke.  

Evans was a natural choice to take over Nelson’s clinical duties, and UAMS pursued him. In mid-
January 2006 he moved – for the second time in a year – his wife Sandi and their five children. 

“I’ve got big shoes to fill,” he said. “I can see that orthopaedic surgery has been done right at UAMS for a long time. I just walked into the OR here, and I felt right at home.”