AONA Surgeon Profile

Professor Howard Rosen, M.D.

In 1960, a young New York orthopaedic surgeon named Howard Rosen became aware of an uncle of a close friend who had sustained a severe elbow fracture in an accident. The man received a cast, and the elbow would not heal, causing this once active individual to become depressed and almost a recluse. Finally, in a visit to the Cleveland Clinic, this patient was told of a doctor in Switzerland who was surgically treating fractures with a new system involving plates and screws. Dr. Rosen found out that this Swiss surgeon - Dr. Maurice Müller of the AO Group - would be attending an international surgical meeting in New York City the next month. Armed with x-rays, Dr. Rosen found Dr. Müller at the meeting, who said that he could easily internally repair the fracture and that Uncle Paul would be playing tennis again in six weeks. The uncle immediately scheduled the operation in Switzerland, and in fact did begin to play tennis again six weeks after the surgery. Howard Rosen was so intrigued by this miracle that he signed up for the December 1960 AO Course in Davos, even though it was in German. At the course, he met Robert Mathys, Senior, who was devoting his factory in Bettlach to the manufacture and development of the new AO products. Dr. Rosen was so impressed with what he saw at the course in Switzerland that he convinced Dr. Mathys to sell him sets of the basic AO instruments and implants, which he carried back to New York on the Swissair flight home. And thus, AO was introduced to the United States.

Howard Rosen was born in New York City and still would not live anywhere else. He received his medical training at New York University College of Medicine and did his orthopaedic residency at the Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York City. During this time he met the love of his life, Connie, who has become almost as familiar as Howard himself at the numerous AO courses and Foundation meetings in which he participates. The Rosens have two daughters, Aileen and Terry, who both also reside in New York City (Manhattan). Terry, the eldest, is the head of Computer Graphics at a New York advertising firm. Aileen is married, but to Howard's chagrin, with no children.

After returning from Switzerland, Dr. Rosen began using the new AO system for patients with difficult fractures and non-unions, whom he treated at Joint Diseases Hospital in New York. His surgical skills and excellent clinical results soon had doctors all over the region sending him their difficult cases to operate on. This is still true today, and Professor Rosen was honored in 1993 by the Hospital for Joint Diseases as the first recipient of its prestigious Frauenthal Medal. This "lifetime achievement" award was presented to Dr. Rosen in recognition of his national and international reputation and his tremendous contributions to improved patient care and teaching at the Hospital for Joint Diseases over the past four decades. Other awards and honors which have been bestowed upon Dr. Rosen are too numerous to mention, as are the numbers of times he has participated as a faculty member or chairman of AO Courses. But to give some perspective, Dr. Rosen has been a faculty member at every Annual AO Course in Davos since 1969. He is also a Trustee of the AO/ASIF Foundation, and has been honored in Israel for his surgical contributions in that country during the 1967 and 1973 wars.

Howard and Connie Rosen are truly charter members of the "AO Family", and those of us at Synthes who have known them for so many years are fortunate to count them both as wonderful friends. We are proud to congratulate Professor Rosen on his tremendous accomplishments and great contributions to improved patient care.

Prof. Howard Rosen passed away on June 18, 2000 at the age of 75 after a serious illness. He will be greatly missed.

By James E. Gerry

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