The Duke community was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. James R. Urbaniak. He was a pioneering Master Surgeon, devoted mentor, and exceptional leader.
Dr. Urbaniak graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine in 1962 and also completed his residency training in Orthopaedics at Duke in 1969. Before completion, he served a tour of duty from 1963 to 1965 in the U.S. Navy as the Attending Physician to the United States Congress and Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
He joined Duke's faculty in 1969 as an Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and was promoted to full professor in 1977. From 1985 to 2002, he served as the Chief of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery. He had a distinguished career at Duke being awarded the Virginia Flowers Baker Professorship Chair in 1991 and Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery for Clinical Affairs from 1994.
Dr. Urbaniak was known for his innovative work in microsurgery blended with orthopaedics, to give rise to the free vascularized fibular graft (FVFG), a procedure designed to help younger patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head. He performed, with his colleagues, over 3,500 FVFG procedures at Duke.
Dr. Urbaniak has received many awards and honors. He educated hundreds of residents and fellows; chaired multiple private industry, medical journal, and academic boards; and served in many leadership positions for various prominent professional organizations.
The Duke Medical Center Archives is fortunate to have an oral history interview with Dr. Urbaniak from 2018. In honor of his memory, we would like to share a couple of highlights from this interview. Dr. Urbaniak directed hand surgery at Duke for 30 years. When asked hand surgery and microsurgery, he shared that:
The hand, I’m just fascinated by particularly the functional anatomy of the hand… I heard and witnessed some incredible results on replantation of digits and hands on my visits to the far east and then decided, “Well, that’s what I wanted to do here.” Actually I started working with a general surgeon. First, we thought when we got an amputated hand or arm that we’d preserve it by putting it on a kidney dialysis machine to keep it perfused. We did a couple of those together with general surgery, but they weren’t successful. Dr. Goldner told me, “You need to learn microsurgery.” I didn’t learn it from anybody, I taught myself. I didn’t go to any courses or anything like that. I taught myself how to do it in the lab. Actually, when I started with the residents, they were as good as I was because they were learning just like I was.
When asked about available equipment for microsurgery when he first started, he replied:
Well, we didn't have any. I didn't have a microscope. What I did-my research was mostly funded with the VA hospital and I was on staff at the VA my first 13 or 14 years. I brought an operating microscope with VA research funds--it actually had three heads(binoculars) on it then. You didn't hook them up to TV even at that time. I bought one through my research grant at the VA, and this is no kidding, every time we had a replant--see, I wasn't allowed to keep the microscope here. They didn't have one in Duke Hospital. Every time we had a replant, I had to go across the street to VA and bring the microscope down the elevator from the fourth floor. We'd wheel the thing across the street and--[laughs] Seriously, we'd wheel the thing across the street and up to the operating room. Well, you can see it sustained a lot of damage because we'd wheel--We were usually in a hurry too, we're running. I did that for a couple of years, then I got some more research money and bought a couple of operating microscopes hereat Duke Hospital without the video, this was before you had a video and so you had a third binocular where people could look in and watch what you were doing.
To learn more about Dr. Urbaniak’s life and legacy, contact the Archives for access to the full oral history interview.