Hall of Fame

The POSNA Hall of Fame provides an enduring history to honor those POSNA members who have displayed dedication to the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, teaching and mentoring, studying musculoskeletal conditions in children and caring for children with musculoskeletal conditions. Nominations for inductees are taken each fall by the POSNA membership and selected by the Awards Committee and members of the Hall of Fame.  

Hall of Fame Categories: Leadership, Diversity, Teacher, Humanitarian, Hero, Triumph over Adversity, Pioneer, Contributions to Literature, Home Person (one who does the real work while others go to meetings), Fox-Hole Buddy (reliable person when the stakes are high), Exceptional Clinician, POSNA Service

Eligibility:

• POSNA member for at least 15 years
• Minimum age of 60 years
• Inaugural Class (2019) includes all previous Distinguished Achievement Award recipients

Dr. Michael J. Goldberg is legendary in the field of pediatric orthopaedics. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended undergrad at Cornell University. Medical School took him back to Brooklyn at State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. He completed his internship and research fellowship at Columbia in New York City before matriculating into the Combined Harvard Orthopaedic Residency Program. He completed 2 years of service to the United States Army Medical Corps. 

Pictured below: A family photo, Dr. Goldberg's wife, Fran (they had recently celebrated 61 years of marriage) with their grandchildren, Sam and Estelle.

 
In 1973, Dr. Goldberg began a nearly 40 year long career at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston; becoming the Henry H. Banks, MD Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedics and Chairman of the Orthopaedics Department as well as Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief at Tufts Medical Center. He was awarded the title of Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Emeritus in 2012. In 2006 he joined the faculty as Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and served as Director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital, retiring from clinical practice in 2020.

Dr. Goldberg’s contribution to pediatric orthopaedics is bountiful. He authored a classic book in 1987 titled “The Dysmorphic Child: An Orthopaedic Perspective”, and according to Dr. Vincent Mosca the book “was unprecedented at the time and continues to be the go-to resource for pediatric orthopaedic surgeons and other health care providers who care for these children.” He has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific articles and served as a Visiting Professor 39 times.

Dr. Goldberg was an inaugural member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Clinical Outcomes Committee and co-developer of the AAOS Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument, along with serving as the chair of the AAOS Evidence Based Practice Committee and the AAOS Guideline Oversight Committee. He participated in the development of outcomes instruments, performance measures, evidence-based guidelines for multiple societies including the AAOS, POSNA, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Medical Association. According to Dr. Mosca, he was enamored with asking “Are we helping? And How do we know?”

Dr. Goldberg has a long history of service to POSNA including Chairing Committees such as the Awards Committee, the Pediatric Outcome Development Committee, Standard of Care Committee, Data Management Committee, and Long Range Planning Committee. In addition he served on 10 additional Committees over the span of 25 years. He was the President of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 1998.

Dr. Goldberg was awarded multiple prestigious awards, including the POSNA Alvin Ingram Pioneer Award in 1990, the AAP Distinguished Service Award in 2002. In addition he was recognized with honorary memberships in the pediatric orthopaedic societies of Brazil and Italy.

Pictured below: Camp Korey, a camp for children with life altering conditions in Washington State. Dr. Goldberg initiated a summer camp program for children with skeletal dysplasia. Pictured is the inaugural summer (2011) with Dr. Goldberg and the campers (mostly all of whom were my patients).

Dr. Goldberg has served as a member and chair of the Board of Directors of The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston, the oldest and one of the largest child welfare agencies in the United States, and on the Board of Directors of Camp Korey in Mount Vernon, Washington, a camp for children with life altering medical conditions. His current focus is as a Scholar in Residence at The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare in Boston, Massachusetts. He is active with thought leadership and initiatives designed to improve workforce well-being, creating a culture of compassion, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Dr. Goldberg stated that he was most proud of his work in developing some of the earliest Patient-Based Functional Health Outcome Instruments and Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines and seeing them become essential components of high quality care. He was also proud that he strived towards “Making clinician wellbeing a priority, and implementing strategies to mitigate physician burnout.”

For his lifetime of dedication to POSNA, pediatric orthopaedics and healthcare, Dr. Michael Goldberg is truly worthy of the POSNA Hall of Fame.

Biography written by Dr. Matthew Schmitz on behalf of the Hall of Fame Committee. 2021.