World renown orthopedic surgeon C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., has taken office as the 30th president of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS). Due to the cancellation of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the transition was held during the AAHKS Board of Directors meeting held on a video conference platform.
After outgoing president Dr. Michael Bolognesi expressed his thanks for the honor to serve the organization, Dr. Barnes expressed the sentiments of the entire organization when he said, “We all want to thank you for what you’ve done for the organization. We have tough issues to face this year and we’ll do our best to carry on. This presidential line really leads together, and we’ll be calling on everyone to stay involved.”
Dr. Barnes serves as chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and holds the Carl L. Nelson, MD, Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery. He graduated with honors from the UAMS College of Medicine (1986) and then completed an internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at UAMS. Dr. Barnes then completed a fellowship in adult reconstruction surgery and arthritis surgery at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Barnes was a founding managing partner of Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics in 1998. He is past president of the Arkansas Orthopaedic Society, the Southern Orthopaedic Association, and the Society for Arthritic Joint Surgery. He was named the Distinguished Southern Orthopaedist by the Southern Orthopaedic Association in 2014.
Dr. Barnes, who has served as AAHKS Treasurer and as treasurer for the Foundation for Arthroplasty Research and Education, holds four patents for orthopaedic surgery devices and has designed numerous hip and knee implants.
Providing a bit of background, Dr. Barnes told OTW, “I have been in practice for almost 30 years, having started in a small private practice group, subsequently forming a large subspecialty merged group with all of our common ancillaries, and now as Chair at an academic center where I also direct our service line in our system based compensation model. Because of these varied roles, I understand most of the challenges of our members.”
Looking ahead as AAHKS navigates the difficult environment for orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Barnes told OTW, “We don’t change themes based upon the President. We serve our members in education, research, advocacy, and philanthropy. Obviously, we respond to challenges. With the constantly changing models of care in CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] programs for hip and knee replacements, we have committed lots of recent energy to advocacy in this area. During our current pandemic crisis, our members are very much impacted because most of our surgeries are elective surgeries. We want to advocate for our members at the national level but also help educate them on options during these turbulent times.”
Dr. Barnes, as he has demonstrated repeatedly in his career, is a born leader. “My standard leadership style is that I lead from within and that I do not micro-manage. Because of the function of our strong Presidential Line, Board of Directors, Committees, and the best organizational staff in healthcare, this will be easy. That being said, I do hope to be available personally to any member who needs my help.”
