February 9, 2010

American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Elects Vail as Director

Thomas Vail

Thomas Parker Vail, MD, professor and chair of UCSF’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, has been elected director of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS).

ABOS is one of 24 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties and a partner with the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgery. The board strives to serve the best interest of the public and the medical profession by establishing educational standards for orthopaedic residents and by evaluating the initial and continuing qualifications and knowledge of orthopaedic surgeons.

Vail is one of the nation’s top orthopaedic surgeons, yet also is a clinical scientist with research focused on hip and knee joint biomechanics, biomaterials, articular cartilage injury and repair, and clinical outcomes after joint replacement. His clinical interests include conservative joint reconstruction options for younger patients, hip and knee joint replacement, hip resurfacing, less invasive approaches, management of bone loss, and treatment of avascular necrosis.

After graduating cum laude from the Duke School of Engineering with a degree in mechanical engineering and materials science in 1981, Vail attended the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago, where he earned a medical degree in 1985. He did his internship, residency and fellowships in orthopaedic surgery at Duke and joined the faculty of Duke University Medical Center in 1992 before accepting the chairmanship of the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2007.

In addition to his extensive work at Duke, Vail has been a national leader in orthopaedics, serving on numerous professional committees and has been inducted into various scholarly societies, including the Knee Society, the Hip Society, the Association of Arthritic Hip and Knee Surgeons, the American Orthopaedic Association, and the Interurban Orthopaedic Society.

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