What an Orthopedic Oncologist Does

Dr. Templeton introduces herself and shares what an orthopedic oncologist does, which is a medical doctor and surgeon who specializes in the diagnoses and treatment of primary benign and malignant tumors.

What an Orthopedic Oncologist Does I am Dr. Kim Templeton. I am an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Kansas in Kansas City. As an orthopedic surgeon, I have completed four years of medical school and then five years of an orthopedic residency program where you learn additional skills in treating bone and joint and muscle conditions. After that I went to Harvard combined programs in Boston and did a Fellowship which is additional training in oncology. So learning to take care of bone and muscle tumors. I then went to Kansas City to start practice there at the University. I am also the residency program director now, which means that I work with the residents who are now there in training to learn also how to become orthopedic surgeons. I work with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons which is an international group where orthopedic surgeons gather to learn and learn the latest techniques in orthopedic surgery. I chair one of the committees within the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and I am also a member of a group that’s affectionately known as CORQUAT, which is a Council on Research Quality Assessment and Technology, where we look at some of the most recent data on research and some of the newer technologies. An orthopedic oncologist is someone who has additional training in dealing with bone and muscle tumors. You learn a little bit about that during your residency, more if you happen to have somebody on faculty there where you are trained that can teach you about that, but to really learn about the tumors in depth, one needs additional training. And so that’s an additional year or two after the five years of surgical residency training. You learn to take care of both benign and malignant or cancers of both the muscles and bones. You learn about how to make the diagnosis both on looking at patients and examining them as well as reading their x-rays. You then learn some of the natural history of the tumors, what will happen to them, which ones need treatment, which ones don’t, and then the surgical techniques required to be able to take care of them.