SPECIAL TO THE PRESS
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA — A doctor with Taylor ties was honored for his career contributions.
Stephen Burkhart, M.D., a clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Baylor College of Medicine in San Antonio, has received the 2023 Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award.
The award was established in 1981 by the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees to acknowledge and show appreciation for exceptional contributions to medicine by Mayo Clinic alumni, a press release from Mayo Clinic said.
Burkhart is an educator, researcher, innovator and clinician who has transformed orthopedic surgery, the press release said. He advanced arthroscopic shoulder surgery by developing techniques, instrumentation and devices that also have been adapted to the hip, knee and smaller joints.
Burkhart spent his career in private practice. During 25 years as a clinical faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Baylor College of Medicine, he taught dozens of residents, fellows and practicing surgeons.
He additionally established a nonprofit foundation, the Burkhart Research Institute in Orthopaedics, to provide handson education in technique and skills. He retired from clinical practice in 2020.
Burkhart developed 700 instruments and mechanical fixation products, the press release said. He has 72 U.S. patents and 20 applications under consideration.
He has authored or coauthored 219 publications that have described or reported on mechanical or pathologic concepts and procedures to treat them. He also has written three shoulder arthroscopy textbooks: “The Cowboy’s Guide to Advanced Shoulder Arthroscopy,” “The Cowboy’s Companion” and “The Cowboy’s Conundrum.”
Burkhart received an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University in Houston. He completed medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, an internship at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas and an orthopedic surgery residency at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education in Rochester, Minnesota.
He also completed a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Oregon and Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic of Eugene, Oregon.
Also receiving 2023 Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Awards are Mary Burritt, Ph.D., Gerald Gleich, M.D., Morey Haymond, M.D., Celestia Higano, M.D. and Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D.
