Posted on June 10, 2002 at 11:15 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Dr. John S. Kirkpatrick, associate professor of surgery and of engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been appointed to positions with the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). He is an alumnus of Duke University (B.S. Engineering), University of California, La Jolla (M.S.E. Bioengineering), and Bowman-Gray School of Medicine (M.D.).

Kirkpatrick was named chairman of the AAOS’ biomedical engineering committee with responsibility to review and monitor scientific regulatory developments. He also was selected for the AAOS Leadership Fellows Program, which prepares young members to assume roles of responsibility within the organization.

He already serves on the orthopedic and rehabilitation devices panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Orthopaedics and the Journal of the Southern Orthopaedic Association.

The surgeon, who specializes in diseases and injuries of the spine, is director of the Birmingham Veterans’ Administration biomechanics laboratory and on the faculty of the UAB Center for Injury Control Research.