Distinguished Achievement Award
Larry S. Matthews, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of Michigan Medical School
Larry S. Matthews received his B.A. degree with honors from Harvard College in 1959 and continued at Harvard Medical School where he received the M.D. degree in 1963. After a surgical internship at the University of Michigan he served in the U.S. Army, first in South Carolina and then in Vietnam. He returned to the University of Michigan Medical School to complete his orthopaedic residency in 1970. Upon completion of residency Dr. Matthews was awarded a National Institutes of Health Special Research Fellowship to study biomechanics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1971 he returned to the surgical faculty where he progressed from instructor to professor and head of the section of orthopaedic surgery in 1986. In 2002 he retired from active faculty status and was appointed professor emeritus. He was awarded the American Orthopaedic Association A. B.C. Traveling Fellowship and received both the Nicholas Andre and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Kappa Delta Awards.
Dr. Matthews is an outstanding clinician, teacher, and investigator. Thousands of his patients are walking comfortably as a result of his hip and knee replacement surgeries. He is recognized for greatly enhancing orthopaedic research at Michigan and for inventing knee replacement prostheses and orthopaedic instruments. His scientific interests and educational enthusiasm has inspired many residents and graduate students to academic careers.