Thomas F. Higgins

Description

Dr. Thomas Higgins holds the Richard L. Stimson Presidential Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery and is a Professor and the Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery at the University of Utah. His medical degree was completed at Brown University School of Medicine. His orthopaedic training was at Yale University, with post-graduate fellowship in orthopaedic trauma at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He has been on the faculty at University of Utah since 2000. Dr. Higgins clinical expertise is in the treatment of complex intra-articular injuries, pelvic and acetabular trauma, and musculoskeletal care in the setting of polytrauma. His elective practice focuses on the deformity correction, malunions, and nonunions. The author of over fifty peer-reviewed publications and multiple book chapters, Dr. Higgins main area of research interest clinically has been on plateau fractures. He has been primary investigator or co-investigator on four OTA grants, two AO grants, and an OREF grant. His most recent research has focused on the genetics of trauma and the use of opiate analgesics in the trauma setting, and the roles of inflammatory mediators in the formation of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. In the educational sphere, Dr. Higgins is recognized nationally for his research and presentations of tibial plateau fractures. He has been active with orthopaedic education with AO North America, chairing three courses, and teaching at over thirty. Previously a member of the OTA Education Committee, he has also chaired multiple resident courses for the OTA. He has received the annual teaching award twice at the University of Utah. He has previously served on the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Board of Directors, and was the Program Chair for the OTA Annual Meeting in 2013 and 2014. In 2009, Dr. Higgins served as the OTA/AAOS Landstuhl Visiting Scholar, and has been visiting professor at multiple universities. In 2015 he and his family spent four months serving at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya, and he maintains an interest in continuing to serve in global medicine. When he is not working, he enjoys skiing, biking, and travelling with his wife and kids..