James Harold Dobyns, MD

Abstract

It is with sadness that we report the passing of James Harold Dobyns, on July 14, 2011. Jim Dobyns was born Oct 31, 1924, in Hazard, Kentucky. He matured in a coal mining valley in eastern Kentucky. He was an outstanding high school student, particularly in elocution, and, not surprisingly, he won the state title in speech-declamation. He attended the University of Kentucky for 1 war-shortened year and quickly found it expedient to volunteer for service in WWII. After enlisting in the U.S. Army, he was sent to the STAR center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, an officer training facility. From there he was directed back to college, first at the University of Maine and then at the University of Pittsburgh. He then attended the University of Indiana Medical School, graduated in 1948, and was subsequently assigned by the Army to Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, where he completed internship and residency in orthopedic surgery. There he landed the greatest and “principal prize” of his life, his wife Betty, and continued a 20+ year career in the US Army. Jim and Betty had 3 sons, David, Bill, and Rick. Jim developed a special interest in hand surgery while in the Army and was the third hand fellow in the Anne C. Kane Fellowship in Hand Surgery at New York Orthopedic Hospital, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, under the direction of Robert E. Carroll, MD. Following that training, he started the first military-based hand surgery service at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Jim joined forces with George Omer, MD, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to develop an outstanding teaching program of hand surgery. It was indeed fortunate for all that after Army retirement (1968), with a special interest in the wrist, he joined Ronald Linscheid, MD, at the Mayo Clinic in the Division of Hand Surgery, spending twenty years (1970–1990) as a consultant in orthopedic surgery and hand surgery. This interest and collaboration produced the classic article, “Traumatic instability of the wrist: diagnosis, classification and pathomechanics,” that defined and fostered an early understanding of carpal instability.1Linschied R.L. Dobyns J.H. Beabout J. Bryan R. Traumatic instability of the wrist Diagnosis, classification, and pathomechanics.J Bone Joint Surg. 1972; 54A: 1612-1632Google Scholar Despite a somewhat late start in academic medicine, his curriculum vitae includes 200 articles and book chapters covering central themes of his hand surgery career and including congenital hand anomalies, wrist pain and instability, chronic upper limb pain disorders, and sports injuries of the upper limb. Dr. Dobyns, along with William Cooney, MD, and Louis Gilula, MD, was instrumental in the formation of the International Wrist Investigators group (1980), which was associated with the first triennial Mayo Wrist Course. Dr. Dobyns was a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic and then for a further 10 years at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, where he taught in the office of David Green, MD, and associates. Honors and achievements of Dr. Dobyns include member of council (1980–87) and president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (1984–85), supporting member of the International Congenital Hand Study Group, recognition as a Pioneer in Hand Surgery (1998) by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand, and honorary member in 12 international hand societies. Dr. Dobyns was founder and first editor of the Yearbook of Hand Surgery and tri-editor of the Mayo wrist book, The Wrist, Diagnosis and Operative Treatment (1998, 2009). Throughout his years, Dr. Dobyns was a true student of the hand and wrist and participated in the weekly hand rounds at Mayo Clinic and later at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where he was designated by his fellows as “Jedi Master, Yoda Doc, the information broker,” after the Star Wars character. The latter led to his enduring involvement with the American Society for Surgery of the Hand membership listserv, an online educational service to which he was named honorary chairman and by which he remains fondly remembered. “Twenty years in the military, twenty years at Rochester Mayo, fifteen years teaching in San Antonio, and continuing teaching back in Rochester have given [Dr Dobyns] his greatest thrill, that of stimulating and helping maintain careers of zest and fulfillment among many current hand surgeons of all surgical persuasions.”2Dobyns J.H. Memoirs of James Harold Dobyns. June 2011Google Scholar