Ben Alman, MD

Dr. Alman is the Distinguished James R. Urbaniak Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University.  He was born in Philadelphia and studied at the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical School, Pennsylvanian Hospital, and Tufts University before undertaking a clinical fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. After three years back in Boston at the New England Medical Center he returned to a faculty position at the Hospital for Sick Children, where he subsequently was appointed the A. J. Latner professor and Chair of Orthopaedics and Vice Chair for research for the Department of Surgery of the University of Toronto. One year ago he relocated to Duke University.  While in Toronto he helped develop and implement a competency based orthopaedic residency curriculum, the first of its kind.  Dr. Alman has an active clinical practice focusing on the care of children with pediatric orthopaedic problems including tumors, congenital deformities, spinal deformity, syndromes, muscular dystrophies, and trauma.

He is a clinician-scientist, with a research program, focusing on understanding the role of developmental signaling pathways in musculoskeletal tumor and reparative processes.  The long-term goal of his work is to use this knowledge to identify improved therapeutic approaches to orthopaedic disorders. Based on his work, a start-up company was established to commercialize a novel therapy to improve wound healing.  He is the principal investigator on several national research grants, has supervised scores of graduate students, and has over 125 peer-reviewed publications in Journals such as Lancet, Cell, and Nature Medicine.  Dr. Alman has given over 150 presentations in international meetings and at invited lectures at various venues throughout the world.  He received numerous awards for his work over the years, including the Premier’s Research Excellence Award for outstanding research work in Ontario, the Heune Award for outstanding contributions to Pediatric Orthopaedics, the OREF Research Award, the Royal College Medal in Surgery for best research publication by a member, and the Association for Surgical Education’s 2102 Award for Excellence in Innovation.  In addition to his research and clinical activities, Dr. Alman serves on the Research Advisory Board and Chairs the clinical research subcommittee for the Shriner’s Hospitals.