Alumni
Interviews:
 Reginald
Cooper, M.S.
"It’s been a fantastic journey for me,
and I couldn’t have picked a better place than Iowa for me
and my family.
Few physicians have achieved so comprehensive a knowledge of their
profession, or such broad influence within it, as Reginald Cooper,
UI professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation. From basic science
to clinical care, from graduate medical education to leadership
of national professional organizations, Cooper has participated
in every aspect of academic medicine and played a significant role
in his specialty’s development.
Cooper arrived at the UI in 1955 to begin graduate study and
residency training, and except for military service and a National
Institutes
of Health fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, has remained here
his entire career. He served as head of his department from 1973
to 1999.
Under his leadership, the department—already respected nationally
and internationally—expanded its faculty and recruited outstanding
candidates in a wide range of emerging clinical specialty services.
Cooper’s own studies of the biochemistry and molecular biology
of skeletal muscles and bone exemplified the department’s
growing strength in basic research. He also took a keen interest
in graduate medical education, adopting improvements to residency
training that have since been followed nationwide.
In addition to his work at the UI, Cooper played a leading role
in professional organizations. "I got into national orthopaedic
politics fairly early on," he said.
Indeed, his consummate political skills, analytic abilities and
sense of humor won Cooper allies and admirers within professional
circles. His many years of involvement with the American Academy
of Orthopaedic Surgeons included terms as president and as chair
of numerous committees. He served as president of the Orthopaedic
Research Society, chaired the National Shriners Hospitals Medical
Advisory Board, advised the National Institutes of Health and served
dozens of other organizations.
Unlikely as Iowa’s strength might seem to outsiders—the
department consistently ranks at or near the top in national surveys—it’s
no surprise to Cooper. State characteristics have contributed to
the department, he observed. A stable population and supportive
patients give UI physicians the unique ability to do very-long-term
follow-up, "and that’s a tremendous value to us, to
our patients and to the orthopaedic research community at large," Cooper
said.
"
It’s been a fantastic journey for me, and I couldn’t
have picked a better place than Iowa for me and my family."
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