Appointment of Col. James Ficke, M.D., as Director of Orthopaedic Surgery

Dear Colleagues:

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Colonel James Ficke, M.D., as the new director of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and orthopaedist-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

We appreciate the members of the search committee, headed by W.P. Andrew Lee, M.D., director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, who conducted an exhaustive, 18-month nationwide search, screening some 30 potential appointees before enthusiastically recommending Dr. Ficke, a nationally renowned expert on the treatment of complex foot and ankle patients, lower extremity trauma patients and amputees.

The search committee was particularly impressed with Dr. Ficke's ability to establish teamwork, camaraderie and collaboration with other disciplines. A 1983 West Point graduate who received his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences' F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine in 1987, Dr. Ficke currently is chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, as well as the orthopaedic surgery consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. In this position, he has ensured exceptional care in this specialty at Army health centers across the country.

During Dr. Ficke's deployment as deputy commander of clinical services at the 228th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, he was the senior orthopaedic surgeon, treating more than 600 U.S. soldiers and Iraqi patients for war injuries. His service there and elsewhere subsequently earned him the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons' prestigious 2010 COL Brian Allgood Memorial Leadership Award, as well as The Surgeon General's 2010 Major General Lewis Aspey Mologne Award for excellence in military academics, education and clinical care.

As orthopaedics consultant to the Army surgeon general, Dr. Ficke has mentored dozens of Army orthopaedic surgeons through all six residencies and has helped train a substantial number of the Army's current orthopaedic professionals in what has become, under his leadership, the largest medical department in the Department of Defense and the fifth largest orthopaedic residency program in the nation.

In addition to the awards he has received for his skills as a surgeon, educator, and leader of men and women, he also has received some two dozen military decorations and awards, including a Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medals. 

Until Dr. Ficke takes full-time command of the department in September, it will remain under the guidance of Charles Cummings, who has served so admirably as its interim head for the past two years. Sincere thanks to Dr. Cummings for his extraordinary leadership—which he seems to effortlessly demonstrate in everything he does, from heading the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery to serving as medical services director of Johns Hopkins Medicine International. 

It is clear that Dr. Ficke will be a worthy successor. As pathologist Edward McCarthy, M.D., a member of the selection committee has said, Dr. Ficke is immensely personable, extremely fair and honest, and is "the kind of guy you'd follow into battle."  We all are delighted that he will be bringing all of those exceptional abilities to Johns Hopkins when he joins our ranks in September.  

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President
The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine