In Memoriam: Charles A. Rockwood Jr., MD

SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 8, 2022) — Renowned orthopaedic surgeon Charles A. Rockwood Jr., MD, died Feb. 1 at age 92 after a 60-year career in San Antonio. Joining the UT medical school faculty in San Antonio in 1966, he was one of the medical school’s founding faculty members, retiring just two years ago. The medical school today is called the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and is part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio).

Orthopaedic surgeon Charles A. Rockwood Jr., MD, authored many textbooks. Coauthors included Kaye E. Wilkins, MD, DVM, and David P. Green, MD, of the Department of Orthopaedics in the Long School of Medicine.

As the head of orthopaedics at UT Health San Antonio for more than 20 years, Dr. Rockwood trained nearly 300 orthopaedic resident physicians. Later specializing in shoulder surgery, he became an internationally known consultant and mentored numerous shoulder fellows both stateside and abroad. He co-edited three major textbooks during his career still in use by orthopaedists worldwide, including the sentinel “Fractures,” now in its 11th edition. As an innovator, he devised several groundbreaking prosthetic devices for shoulder surgery while at UT Health San Antonio, and as a lecturer he traveled worldwide for more than 40 years. He was the president of several national orthopaedic associations, always with a special emphasis on education and research.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Rockwood was the driving force in organizing the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program in San Antonio. Serving as its first medical director, this forever changed the landscape of emergency care in the city. In addition, the textbook that he helped publish, “Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured,” became the standard reference for EMS training curriculums throughout the country and remains important to this day.

“Dr. Rockwood was one of the most influential, revered and enduring figures in the field of orthopaedic surgery,” said Robert H. Quinn, MD, professor and chairman of orthopaedics in the Long School of Medicine. “His name, inventions and textbooks will persist for decades to come. As one of the founding faculty members of our school, the first orthopaedic division chief and later the first orthopaedic department chair, Dr. Rockwood created one of the legacy programs in orthopaedics nationally and internationally. That reputation persists today. As a beloved mentor, leader, innovator and inspiration to many in the orthopaedic profession and beyond, Dr. Rockwood will eternally represent the soul of our department.”