Bernard F. Hearon

Dr. Hearon’s 40-year career as a physician and surgeon has been devoted to defining and solving musculoskeletal problems. Early in his career, at the Aeromedical Research Laboratory in Dayton, OH, he designed and conducted experiments to measure human response to impact acceleration conditions. His work helped to improve the screening and safety of the volunteer test subjects who participated in these studies. Research results were used to modify pilot restraint systems to decrease the probability of musculoskeletal injury during crash situations. Dr. Hearon’s orthopaedic training took place in San Antonio, Texas, where he was mentored by world-renowned shoulder specialist Charles Rockwood, Jr., MD and internationally-recognized hand specialists David Green, MD and James Dobyns, MD. As a Baylor College of Medicine fellow in hand and upper extremity reconstructive surgery in Houston, Texas, Dr. Hearon was mentored by the highly-respected surgeons of the Fondren Orthopaedic Group, including shoulder specialist Gary Gartsman, MD and hand specialist James Bennett, MD Throughout his career, Dr. Hearon has been a physician-mentor to many health care professionals including athletic trainers, physical therapists, physician assistants, medical students, family practice and orthopaedic surgery residents. He has held adjunct faculty teaching positions at the University of Arizona in Tucson, the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD and the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, KS. In August 2019, Dr. Hearon retired from private practice having completed nearly 10,000 upper extremity cases in 25 years with Advanced Orthopaedic Associates in Wichita, KS. He is now the Associate Orthopaedic Residency Program Director for Research at the University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita. His research areas of interest include ulnar compressive neuropathy, distal radioulnar joint instability, wide-awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) technique for hand surgery, and the influence of cognitive bias in hand surgery.