This spring, three Duke Orthopaedic Surgery faculty members in the Duke University School of Medicine have been awarded distinguished professorships.
Appointment to a distinguished professorship is the highest honor the university can bestow upon a faculty member, recognizing faculty who are well-established members of the Duke academic community and who have also achieved distinction as creative scholars in their field or in their ability to transcend disciplines.
The 2023 Distinguished Professorships recipients from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery are:
Virginia Flowers Baker Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Michael Bolognesi, MD, is a professor of orthopaedic surgery. As chief of the adult reconstruction service, he has used his academic and organizational leadership to significantly impact orthopaedics and joint reconstruction in adults. His research is focused on improving clinical outcomes, implant survivorship, the biology of hip and knee arthritis, and cost-effectiveness. He leads the adult reconstruction fellowship program, and in 2019, he served as the 29th president of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.
Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Louis DeFrate, ScD, is a professor of orthopaedic surgery and biomedical engineering. He studies anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) mechanics and has used advanced radiographic and MR imaging to investigate soft tissue structure, composition, and function and improve ACL repair outcomes. DeFrate is vice chair for biomechanics, movement, and imaging research and the director of the K-lab. He employs innovative methods using motion capture, MRI, and biplanar radiography to study the knee. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons awarded DeFrate its Kappa Delta Young Investigator Award.
Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Shyni Varghese, PhD, is a professor of orthopaedic surgery and a professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. She is a biomedical engineer whose research addresses musculoskeletal tissue repair, disease biophysics, and organ-on-a-chip technologies. Her lab seeks to understand the effect of physicochemical cues of the microenvironment on cellular behaviors leading to stem cell commitment, tissue repair and homeostasis, or disease progression. Her research has provided deep insights into how extracellular matrix interactions govern tissue regeneration in musculoskeletal systems and disease progression in the context of fibrosis.