The Wade O. Brinker Chair in Veterinary Surgery is endowed by gifts from more than 1,200 contributions to commemorate Dr. Wade O. Brinker and perpetuate his example of scholarship in veterinary surgery.
Brinker was one of the most well-known and respected surgeons in the veterinary profession. Thanks largely to his efforts, veterinarians today more effectively treat fractures, deformed limbs, and bone tumors in cats and dogs. Brinker’s work in developing surgical approaches, orthopedic devices, treatment of fractures, and methods for storing and grafting bones was particularly valuable because much of it could be used in the everyday practice of veterinary medicine.
Dr. Loïc Déjardin was appointed as the second Wade O. Brinker Professor of Veterinary Surgery in 2020. Déjardin leads comparative orthopedic research at the College of Veterinary Medicine, as well as the Orthopedic Surgery Service at the MSU Veterinary Medical Center. He had the unique opportunity to work with Brinker personally, and also was a research associate with Dr. Steven Arnoczky, the first Brinker Chair.
Déjardin has a strong research foundation in orthopedic surgery, and describes himself as a surgeon, engineer, scientist, inventor, and mentor. His research focus is on biomechanics, implant and instrument design, total joint replacement (elbow, hip, knee, ankle), and robotics. His research is increasingly well-funded (> $5.5M) and recognized nationally and internationally. Building on his existing funding and his recent award from the AO Innovation Translations Center’s Strategy Fund to develop a robotics integration system for sacroiliac luxation/fracture reduction and fixation provides further recognition of his expertise and ability to continue to elevate veterinary orthopedic surgery at MSU.
Déjardin is an astute orthopedic surgeon and compassionate clinician, highly regarded for the quality of his patient care and client communication, innovation in clinical practice, devotion to mentorship, and highly effective clinical and classroom instruction of professional students. As a former AO trustee he has contributed substantially to the expansion of the College’s footprint as a leader in veterinary orthopedics. He is a dedicated mentor of graduate students in research, and is committed to mentoring junior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, residents, and visiting scholars.
Past Chairs
- Dr. Steven Paul Arnoczky
Founding Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and first President of the Veterinary Orthopedic Society
Dr. Wade Oberlin Brinker was an integral participant in the birth and development of veterinary orthopedic surgery. Along with his early colleagues (Schnelle, Schroeder, Paatsama, Vierheller, Archibald, Rudy, and Jenny), Brinker helped introduce the fundamental principles of intra-medullary pinning and fracture fixation that are still practiced today in veterinary surgery. His surgical procedures for various joint problems have stood the test of time and remain mainstays in the surgical arsenal of most small animal orthopedists.
As the practice of veterinary orthopedics evolved, Brinker remained at the forefront, introducing the concept of rigid internal fixation and the principles of the AO/ASIF. He was an important fixture in the international AO community; he lectured all over the world on veterinary orthopedics and continued to do so well into his 70’s. His textbook on small animal orthopedic surgery with Gretchen Flo and Donald Piermattei remains a classic.
Brinker came to Michigan State University in 1939 as a graduate assistant. Except for the five years of service to his country during World War II, he never left MSU. He was chairman of the Department of Surgery and Medicine from 1957-67, and he retired as professor in 1978.
At MSU, Brinker developed an internationally renowned small animal surgical program. He received numerous awards for his work, including the Norden Teaching Award (1966), the Distinguished Faculty Award (1969) from Michigan State University, the Centennial Award for Distinguished Service (1963) from his alma mater Kansas State University, and the Veterinarian of the Year Award (1953) from the Gaines Dog Research Foundation. After his retirement from Michigan State University, Brinker continued to lecture and instruct the student surgery laboratories at the Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine (1981-90).
Brinker’s early contributions to the art and science of veterinary surgery made him a natural selection as an organizing member of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and one of its charter diplomates (1965) and president (1968). The wisdom and foresight of these founding members created the “blueprint” for the specialty colleges that followed. Brinker was honored by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2005 with their inaugural Founder’s Award for Career Achievement for his many significant contributions to the art and science of veterinary surgery.
Brinker also was a founding member of the Veterinary Orthopedic Society, and served as its first president (1974-76). He saw the importance of broadening surgical perspective, and was instrumental in bringing physicians such as the late Howard Rosen, MD, into the society to share their expertise.
The real testimony to Brinker is that he has achieved his revered status in veterinary surgery not only because of his many surgical innovations, but also from a lifetime of dedication to teaching the principles and procedures of veterinary surgery to literally generations of students, interns, and residents. Indeed, the list of surgery residents mentored by Brinker reads like a who’s who of veterinary surgery and the ACVS. Therefore, it was not surprising that literally thousands of his grateful students came forth to honor Dr. Brinker’s many contributions to veterinary surgery by creating the Wade O. Brinker Endowed Chair of Veterinary Surgery at Michigan State University, the first such chair in all of veterinary medicine and a fitting tribute to one of the true giants of the profession.
Brinker always represented his profession, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, and Michigan State University in the highest standards. He spent his entire professional career advancing the art and science of veterinary surgery around the world, and has been a respected cornerstone of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons for more than 40 years. Brinker will forever remain the father of small animal orthopedic surgery.