{"id":15357,"date":"2021-09-27T10:14:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T14:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=15357"},"modified":"2021-09-27T13:45:52","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T17:45:52","slug":"freddie-h-fu-d-74-med-75-innovative-orthopaedic-surgeon-and-former-member-of-the-geisel-school-of-medicine-board-of-advisors-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2021\/freddie-h-fu-d-74-med-75-innovative-orthopaedic-surgeon-and-former-member-of-the-geisel-school-of-medicine-board-of-advisors-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie H. Fu D \u201974, MED \u201975, Innovative Orthopaedic Surgeon and Former Member of the Geisel School of Medicine Board of Advisors, Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freddie H. Fu D \u201974, MED \u201975, founder and medical director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center\u2019s (UPMC) Center for Sports Medicine, the David Silver Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, head team physician for the University of Pittsburgh, and an adjunct professor for the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, died Sept. 24. He was 70 (Also read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s obituary<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fu was a member of the Geisel Board of Advisors (then called the Board of Overseers) from 2005 \u2013 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all so sad to hear of Freddie\u2019s passing. He brought a thoughtful, considered voice and excellent judgement to our most important discussions as a board of advisors. He cared deeply about the institution and the people\u2014particularly the students\u2014and he contributed the same insight, expertise, and energy that drove him to such an extraordinary level of success professionally to the board room. We will miss his engagement, his original insights and his sense of humor. Our deepest condolences to Freddie\u2019s family\u2014we will all miss him very much,\u201d wrote Todd Sisitsky, MBA (D \u201993) on behalf of the Board of Advisors.<\/p>\n

A leader in medical education, research, and patient care\u2014the amiable and energetic surgeon had been known to perform as many as 12 surgeries per day\u2014Fu was renowned for his pioneering knee surgical innovations, specifically in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and his work to keep athletes and dancers healthy and performing, including five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain.<\/p>\n

An athlete himself, Fu was an all-star point guard on his Hong Kong high school championship basketball team\u2014a sport he continued at Geisel after asking the school to install a hoop.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween morning and afternoon classes, Freddie organized pick-up basketball games. He was short, but remarkably quick. On the court, and throughout his life, those of us who knew him always wanted to play on his team. He made you a better player, a better surgeon, a better person,\u201d recalled Oglesby H. Young III MED \u201975, a friend and fellow Board of Advisors member.<\/p>\n

An avid cyclist as well, it wasn\u2019t unusual for Fu to ride 100 miles a week, he sponsored a professional team\u2014the Freddie Fu Cycling Team of the Allegheny Cycling Association. According to Young, Fu was to deliver a talk on stem cell therapy in orthopedic medicine at their class reunion ten years ago, but \u201cthe week before our reunion, he suffered severe injuries in a bicycle accident\u2014a badly fractured leg, and ironically, torn ACL and MCL ligaments. Remarkably, he gave his lecture to our class via video from his hospital bed!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an innovator in the field of orthopaedic sports medicine, performing ground-breaking research that helped to improve the treatment and recovery of both elite professional athletes as well as the weekend warriors among us,\u201d said David Jevsevar, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at Geisel and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). \u201cFu is an icon in the field of orthopaedic surgery with so many firsts attributed to him it would take too many pages to recount.\u201d<\/p>\n

World-renowned for his approach to repairing the ACL, a career-ending injury for any athlete a generation ago, Young said, \u201cAs a physician who intensely loved sports (especially Pittsburgh teams), it is not hard to imagine the joy he experienced watching athletes return to the field or court having recovered from this injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his career Fu continued making substantial contributions to the field, receiving more than 300 professional awards and honors. A prolific writer, he authored more than 675 peer-reviewed articles, co-authored more than 173 book chapters, and edited more than 30 major orthopaedic textbooks\u2014with nearly 36,000 citations he was among the top of all orthopaedic researchers. In 2019, the University of Pittsburgh was named the number one university in the world for ACL publications over a 40-year period with Fu the most published author.<\/p>\n

He received the Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for his career contribution to ACL reconstruction and advances in patient care, an accolade considered to be the Nobel Prize of orthopaedic research and bestowed by the Kappa Delta Sorority along with the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (previously, he was co-recipient of the prestigious Kappa Delta Award for his shoulder research). And was later inducted into the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Hall of Fame where he had been a past president and served on its board. He also served on the board of the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation.<\/p>\n

Numerous professional organizations have also honored Fu, among them, the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy in its Hall of Fame and as a Lifetime Honorary Member. And the Japanese Orthopaedic Society of Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine named him with the Masaki Watanabe Award for international achievement in arthroscopic surgery\u2014an honor rarely bestowed on Westerners.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreddie gave much credit to the success of his career to another former medical school graduate, Albert Ferguson D \u201941, MED \u201942. Dr. Ferguson formed the orthopedic department at Pittsburgh in 1953 and was chair until 1986,\u201d said Young, a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Geisel. \u201cAccording to Freddie, Dr. Ferguson took him under his wing and \u2018let him fly.\u2019 Freddie was beloved by his medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty. Mentoring was at the heart of what he did. He once said, \u2018I am just trying to maintain the family culture Dr. Ferguson established in our department.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh native James D. Strickler D\u201950, MED\u201951, dean emeritus of Geisel School of Medicine, recognized Fu\u2019s potential and encouraged him to go to Pittsburgh to work with Ferguson. \u201cMy contact with Freddie over the years has been infrequent, but he clearly has done an outstanding job building the orthopedic department with an intensive special focus on sports medicine. In addition to professional athletes, he also cared for high school athletes and was well-known throughout Western Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

At UPMC, Fu oversaw more than 200 orthopaedic surgeons as chair of the department, and an ethnically and gender diverse residency training program, receiving the 2011 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Diversity Award for his efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he assumed the role of chair in 1997, Dr. Fu transformed the orthopaedic residency training program into one of the country\u2019s most diverse, as well as one of its best, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder to say that I studied under him,\u201d said Douglas Hampers MED \u201998, who was one of Fu\u2019s first residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have accomplished all he has in his professional career, most people would assume he sacrificed other aspects of his life\u2014but he sacrificed nothing,\u201d Hampers added. \u201cHe was a loving husband, a devoted father of two successful Dartmouth graduates, and one of the most caring physicians I have had the privilege of knowing. He savored those moments with family and friends. I have lost a mentor and a good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fu was also chiefly responsible for the conception and oversight of both the design and construction of the $80 million UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, a leading sports medicine facility offering a multidisciplinary approach to sports injuries and performance\u2014the first facility in the country to combine an academic and clinical system with professional and collegiate sports programs\u2014that opened in 2000.<\/p>\n

His love of Pittsburgh\u2014the city, its team sports, and its people\u2014ran deep. In 2013, the Pittsburgh City Council declared September 13 \u201cDr. Freddie Fu Day.\u201d And for his pioneering work in orthopaedic sports medicine and his contributions to UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh, the UPMC Sports Medicine Center, following a multi-million-dollar renovation, was re-opened in 2018 as the UPMC Freddie Fu Sports Medicine Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first met Freddie as a medical student rotating through orthopaedics at UPMC. He was the most energetic and animated surgeon I had encountered, and he took time to make sure that I, along with all of the other students, were doing well,\u201d Jevsevar recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t do my residency there, but he took the time to write me a note telling me he thought it was UPMC\u2019s loss and wished me well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jevsevar and Fu saw each other occasionally at meetings and conferences over the years, and Fu always made sure to inquire whether Jevsevar was doing well. \u201cWhen I led the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon\u2019s Evidence Based Quality and Value Committee, Freddie again took the time to let me know I was doing important and often controversial work, then reassured me I was the right surgeon for the job. When I relocated to the Upper Valley and joined DHMC, having no experience in academic medicine, he sensed my angst and again reinforced that I was the right choice,\u201d Jevsevar said. \u201cFreddie was my friend and mentor\u2014he didn\u2019t have to be either, but he chose to be both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fu loved Dartmouth and Geisel and was committed to the success of both. He endowed the Freddie H. Fu, MD, D\u201974, DMS\u201975 Outstanding Medical Student Award in Orthopaedics given annually to a graduating medical student possessing the qualities of academic excellence, ethics, and energy toward the study and practice of orthopaedics\u2014qualities that Fu exemplified during his medical school years at Dartmouth.<\/p>\n