The Passing of a Big-Hearted Leader in Orthopedics: Larry Dorr

The legacy of this one orthopedic physician, Lawrence Douglas Dorr, M.D., who passed away December 28, 2020 at the age of 79, cannot be overstated. As a physician, as one of the giants of medicine, founder of The Hip Society and The Knee Society and the driving visionary behind Operation Walk, Larry Dorr healed millions of patients. There is a special place on earth and in heaven for this larger than life mentor in the world of orthopedics. His more than 50 years of service combined with his groundbreaking work and kind heart will influence this field for decades to come.

Dr. Dorr was one of a handful of pioneering large joint surgeons and from that experience, helped found The Knee Society, created the nonprofit Operation Walk, and contributed to the development of hip and knee surgical techniques and devices that revolutionized the field of joint replacement surgery.

His friends and colleagues pay tribute to the man behind such a storied career.

His Early Years

Dr. Dorr was born April 13, 1941 in Storm Lake, Iowa. He spent his early life in Iowa and was very proud of his Midwest roots.

He met his wife in Iowa City, and they married there in 1966. He attended graduate school and medical school at University of Iowa and then did an internship at Los Angeles County and University of Southern California (LAC + USC) Medical Center.

Dr. Dorr also served his country as Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy Medical Corps at Camp Pendleton, California and Jacksonville, Florida from 1967 to 1971.

He then completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at LAC + USC Medical Center before starting his fellowship along with Dr. Alan Inglis in joint replacement under Dr. Chitranjan Ranawat at The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York from July 1976 to July 1977.

Dr. Ranawat, Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Attending Orthopaedic Surgeon at HSS, became his mentor and friend and they collaborated many times on a variety of clinical studies, device design, The Hip and Knee Society and other projects.

In 1978, Dr. Dorr became a board certified orthopedic surgeon and started his career in Los Angeles at LAC+USC Medical Center and Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey as an attending surgeon.

A Pioneer and Innovator

A pioneer in rapid recovery techniques for implant patients, his minimally invasive surgical techniques, pain management, the Dorr bone type classification, and his discovery of the relationship of the spinopelvic to the hip has transformed the field.

He started designing implants in 1982. His designs for Zimmer’s APR stem first came to market in 1984, which were followed by the Apollo knee replacement in the early 1990s.

He was one of the first surgeons to use cementless prosthetic joints. The story goes that he drew one on a napkin in 1982 when out to dinner with Dr. Ranawat.

Dr. Dorr is also one of the founders of The Knee Society and The Hip Society and a member of many orthopedic associations.

It was at a dinner at Dr. Ranawat’s house during the 1983 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, a time when total knee arthroplasty was becoming a popular treatment for knee arthritis, that the society was first created. His goal was to advance education and research in the area of total knee arthroplasty and arthritis of the knee joint.

He is also the founder of the American Academy of Hip and Knee Surgeons, The Bone and Joint Institute and The Dorr Arthritis Institute, turning Los Angeles into an international destination for joint replacement.

Patients came to him from across the United States and internationally as his reputation grew. He personally trained over 100 clinical and research fellows. The Dorr Bone Classification which he developed in 1993 is often used to categorize bone types prior to hip reconstruction.

Giving back to others was always important to Dr. Dorr as well. After being inspired by Operation Smile which provides free corrective surgery for impoverished children with cleft lips, he started his own nonprofit called Operation Walk in 1996.

The nonprofit organization provides free joint replacement for people in underserved countries and the U.S. Implants, surgical materials medications and recovery equipment are donated by American companies.

He put together a team of surgeons, doctors, nurses and physical therapists who all donated their time to perform the surgeries and to educate local doctors in countries such as Cuba, China, Nepal, Philippines, El Salvador, Tanzania, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Vietnam. Operation Walk has now operated on over 17,000 people.

Over the years, he partnered with Zimmer Biomet, Johnson and Johnson, MAKO, Cardinal Health and Medline. He published hundreds of peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters and books on the practice of total joint replacement. In the 2000s, he helped develop computer technology to improve hip and knee replacement. He retired from Keck Medical Center of USC in June 2019.

Because no biography could do real justice to the impact Dr. Dorr had on people’s lives, Orthopedics This Week has asked the people who loved him to use their own words to paint his true portrait.

A Force of Nature

Lowry Barnes, M.D., the 30th president of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons will always remember Dr. Dorr as a giant among men.

Isaac Newton popularized “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” in reference to his advancement of science.

Truly, Larry Dorr was a giant in the field of hip and knee arthroplasty. Many of us “have seen more” and accomplished more because of his example and mentoring.

He was a giant in the development of some of our most significant hip and knee organizations. In addition to being a founding member of the American Association of Hip Knee surgeons, he was also a founding member of The Hip Society and Knee Society. He clearly saw the benefit of academic fellowship and the idea of peers pushing peers to do more and more in their field of expertise.

Despite his many impressive academic contributions related to techniques of hip and knee arthroplasty, he will always be remembered as a giant in the world of philanthropy and service to others.

He founded Operation Walk, and many patients across the world are walking pain free now because of this organization and its mission to make joint replacement available to those who do not otherwise have access to these remarkable life-changing procedures. The leaders of the many chapters of Operation Walk across our country who continue to provide this service across the world stood on Larry’s shoulders to see the future and what they could do to help others.

Larry Dorr was a giant among his peers. His impact will be realized for decades as many will “stand on his shoulders.”

Former Zimmer Biomet CEO Ray Elliott will miss Dr. Dorr’s big heart.

The mile wide smile and the inevitable rib crushing bear hug were not only a part of our ritual but a reflection of the big heart that came with Larry Dorr. Somehow the day just got a lot better courtesy of the proud Storm Lake Iowan that made it to the very top of his profession, trained so many, gave back endlessly through Operation Walk and other philanthropies but never forgot who he was…and nor will we ever forget our business partner and friend.

A. Seth Greenwald, D. Phil (Oxon), director of Orthopaedic Research Laboratories and founder of Current Concepts in Joint Replacement, will never forget this friend and colleague’s “no nonsense approach” to providing excellence in everything he did.

In Larry Dorr’s passing, orthopedic joint replacement surgery has lost a real contemporary contributor to the discipline. Those who knew him will always remember a larger than life character whose no nonsense approach to accepting nothing less than excellence in hip and knee reconstruction was his mantra. I will always count Larry as a friend and stand-up colleague who, both in his personal practice and through the founding of Operation Walk, continues to bring arthritic relief to thousands of patients around the world who otherwise might have been excluded from the best of orthopedic healthcare. Larry’s contributions to the orthopedic peer-reviewed literature, his dedication to educate through the Masters’ meetings as well as his ability and imagination to characterize life’s experiences as a novelist all define an individual who has made his mark. He will be missed.

His Operation Walk colleagues also posted about the legacy Dr. Dorr is leaving behind on the Operation Walk website.

Operation Walk was such a joy to Dr. Dorr. He not only ‘gave back’ to our society, he taught us all the true meaning of compassion, of helping others selflessly, to work hard and be kind. He was a man who was larger than life. His booming laughter, his big smile, his skilled hands…they brought joy and mobility all over the world.

Mary Ellen Sieben OR Director wrote a personal message on the website.

One of the many things I loved about Dr. Dorr was his leadership. He had many ideas about patient care, surgical techniques, pain control, implant design and giving back. Then he built a team whom he helped guide to implement these ideas and have them come to fruition.

He had the utmost respect for other healthcare professionals—true, you had to earn it, but once you had it, you had the autonomy to do your job, which let him do his job. He was the type of leader you absolutely wanted to do your best for and everyone on the team strived for that. I think you can see this in his patient outcomes, the number of excellent surgeons he sent out into the world, and the creation of Operation Walk.

Though his passing is so very sad, I know in my heart that he is so proud of all the strong team leaders he mentored to carry on a seek improvement in joint replacement—and we will!

Innovative Mind, Big Heart

Dorr’s pioneer spirit and big heart have been recognized many times. His awards too numerous to mention them all, include his Distinguished Alumni Awards from Cornell College (2003) and University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine (2006), Humanitarian Award from American Academy of Orthopaedic surgeons (2005), Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Iowa Orthopedic Society (2007), American Academy of Hip and Knee Surgeons Humanitarian of the Year Award (2017) and Honorary Member of the Cuban Orthopedic Society (2019).

Dorr is survived by his wife, two sons and daughter.