Michael R. Baumgaertner

Michael R. Baumgaertner, MD, is a fracture surgeon who is a professor of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation. He served as chief of the Orthopaedic Trauma Service at Yale New Haven Hospital, where he has practiced for more than thirty-five years, treating patients with severe fractures, fracture complications, and worn-out joints.

Following a childhood in Minnesota, Dr. Baumgaertner graduated from Stanford University with a degree in art history. He attended the University of California (San Diego) Medical School as a Regent’s Scholar, where he earned his MD. He then did his orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of California (San Francisco); following that he completed a one-year fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. He joined the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine in 1988.

Dr. Baumgaertner’s landmark 1995 publication (Orthopaedic Knowledge Update: Trauma 3) on hip fracture fixation performed at Yale initiated his international recognition. The measurement he described at that time has been validated repeatedly and remains the universal standard. He has authored numerous original articles and chapters in orthopaedic textbooks. He has lectured and taught residents in training and practicing surgeons on five continents in optimal surgical fracture care.

He has served as chairperson of education for both the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and AO North America, was elected president of AONA, and served as the chairperson of the board of directors of AO North America, a non-profit organization of more than 1,000 surgeons that is dedicated to the optimal care of patients with fractures and/or deformity. He is a trustee of the AO Foundation, an international group of more than 15,000 surgeons, and is currently serving as chair of the AO Trauma International Board.

Along with his academic career, Dr. Baumgaertner is a surgeon dedicated to the recovery of his injured patients, providing technically expert surgical repair, as well as the education and counseling necessary to heal not only the patient’s fracture, but also the lifestyle.