Kettering Health | Strive | Fall 2021

ketteringhealth.org 15 Thomas J. Graham, MD, wears many hats. In addition to being a top orthopedic surgeon, he is the senior vice president and chief innovation and transformation officer at Kettering Health. sports teams in the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, PGA, and LPGA. He established his career at Cleveland Clinic, where he eventually became the healthcare industry’s first chief innovation officer and also served as vice chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He spent another decade as chief of the Congressionally designated Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore, the world’s largest practice in the specialty. But before any of those achievements, Thomas Graham was an Ohio boy growing up in the Appalachian city of East Liverpool, on the banks of the Ohio River. An early calling Dr. Graham remembers when he decided to become a hand surgeon: “I was 8 years old, watching the first news broadcasts describing the advent of open-heart surgery, and instead of focusing on the beating heart, I watched the ballet of the unbelievably deft hands operating on the heart.” He wrote to the featured surgeon, Dr. Michael DeBakey. The famous medical pioneer not only replied but continued a mentor-mentee relationship with him for four decades. “I still have those inspiring letters,” says Dr. Graham, now 59. Knowing from an early age that he wanted to be a physician-scientist gave Dr. Graham a head start in his career, but his life was more than just academics. A natural athlete, he competed nationally as a long- distance runner at a time when Eastern Bloc athletes started to emerge with extraordinary capabilities. “I knew that I was not going to be an Olympian,” he says. “But I thought, ‘I know these athletes are working on their performance, and I probably could have insight from my world of science and medicine to create a nexus between the two worlds—sports and science.’” His college thesis on how to scientifically train athletes helped land him a position as an exercise physiologist with the United States Olympic Team, which was then competing in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. “The pinnacle of testing my theories was the Olympics,” he says. “I didn’t make it as an athlete, but I contributed as a scientist.” Finding his niche Medical school at the University of Cincinnati was followed by an orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Michigan, a hand surgery fellowship at the famed Indiana Hand Center, and the nation’s first fellowship in elbow surgery at the Mayo Clinic. “I was seeking ways to associate orthopedic surgery, hand surgery, and sports medicine,” he explains. “Sports medicine was emerging as a specialty, doing extraordinary things with knees and shoulders through the newly developed arthroscope, but nobody was paying attention to the hand and wrist injuries that were preventing athletes from competing.” Shortly after Dr. Graham’s arrival at Cleveland Clinic, he was invited to join the medical staffs of the Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians; he is now in his 25th year as a team physician in Major League Baseball. Dr. Graham’s relationship with professional golfer, businessman, and philanthropist Arnold Palmer also influenced his career. Growing up not far from Palmer’s home in Pennsylvania, he idolized Palmer for his legendary achievements in golf, then became friends with him. “Because of my friendship with Mr. Palmer, he trusted me with not only his own care, but he sent me hundreds of fellow athletes,” he says. Together they opened the Arnold Palmer Sports Medicine Center in 2006, with Dr. Graham serving as its surgeon-in-chief. A living laboratory Working with elite athletes inspired Dr. Graham to continually push the boundaries of hand surgery. “They’re the one group in the world that demands 100th percentile outcomes,” he says. “If you throw the baseball 96 miles per hour, you’re in Cooperstown; if you throw it 86 miles per hour, you have to find a job outside professional sports. It is the ultimate test of surgical science: Can you restore someone to that level?” The athletes themselves were perfect candidates and eager partners for his innovative approaches. “They have the best protoplasm, they’re incredibly dedicated, and we have every resource available to take care of them,” he explains. Also, the results are measurable: “My successful outcome isn’t the angulation on an X-ray or how the scar looks—it’s a batting average or how many touchdown passes a quarterback throws.” Dr. Graham also sought ways to shorten recovery time. “Putting injured athletes in a cast for months—the accepted treatment for many injuries at the time—was not acceptable in this population,” he explains. “We had Golfer Arnold Palmer with Thomas J. Graham, MD —Continued on page 16