circa 1938

Dr. John J. Loutzenheiser started his practice at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco. That practice would later become San Francisco Orthopaedics, and then after a time San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgeons Medical Group, Inc.

1942-1945

Dr. Loutzenheiser joins the Army in 1942, the lowest point in the battle of World War II for the Allied Forces, and he is given the rank of Colonel as an Orthopaedic Consultant.

1945

Dr. Loutzenheiser returns to St. Mary’s Hospital, where he practiced until his retirement in 1966.

1958

Dr. Loutzenheiser made Orthopaedics an independent department; previously it had been a subdivision of the General Surgery department.

1963

Dr. Loutzenheiser asks Dr. Lloyd W. Taylor to join him in San Francisco in orthopaedic practice. Dr. Taylor had been the head of the orthopaedic department at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC and the Chief of Staff at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco. He was being groomed to be the Surgeon General of the United States Army, but turned down the offer when he was told that he would have to stop seeing patients. He also was a fully trained Pharmacist prior to becoming an Orthopaedic Surgeon. Dr. Taylor joined Dr. Loutzenheiser in 1963 and became the head of the St. Mary’s Orthopaedic Residency Training Program.

1964

Dr. Taylor brought several independent hospital residency programs together in 1964—St. Mary’s, St, Luke’s, St. Joseph’s, Mary’s Help (now Seton Hospital), French Hospital, and Kaiser Hospital. Dr. Taylor created the Combined San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgeons Residency Training Program; at a later date the word ‘Combined’ was dropped. Dr. Taylor remained the Director of the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Program until his untimely death in 1983 at age 67.

1965

Dr. Gar Wynne joined San Francisco Orthopaedics in 1965 and was extremely well trained in all aspects of general orthopaedics. He retired from orthopaedics in April 2006, but prior to that he was Intern of the Year at Trippler Army Hospital in 1956 and also Resident of the Year in 1959 at Trippler Army Hospital in Hawaii. He resigned from the United States Army Medical Corps, where he had served from 1956 to 1965; he resigned from the Army in 1965 when Dr. Lloyd Taylor requested him to join Dr. Taylor. He was Chief of Staff at St. Mary’s Hospital 1980 to 1982, and he was the Director of the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Training Program from 1983 to 2006.

1969-1970

Dr. Richard B. Welch joined SFOSMG in 1970. He did a fellowship (registrar) with Professor John Charnley in 1970 in England; Professor Charnley was the man who developed the Total Hip Procedure. Dr. Welch was one of the first physicians licensed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to use cement for total hips. He gained much fame and many accolades from 1970 to 2005, when he retired from San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgeons.

1969

In 1969, San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgeons Medical Group, Inc. was formed and was the first medical group in California to become incorporated.

1972

Dr. Arthur H. White joined SFOSMG in 1972 after doing a fellowship in spine surgery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. White gained fame for the spine surgery on Joe Montana, the 49ers star quarterback, who was able to return to playing with the San Francisco 49ers football team in six weeks after his spine surgery done by Dr. White. In 1987, the documentary program 20/20 did a 20-minute special segment called The Montana Miracle, and San Francisco Orthopaedics had to add more telephone lines to handle all the national and international calls for referrals of spine surgery.

1978

Dr. Joseph F. Haggerty graduated from medical school and joined Dr. Lloyd Milburn as assistant team physician to the San Francisco 49er football team upon graduation from medical school in 1971. Dr. Haggerty did this concurrently with his post-graduate medical training in General Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery in the San Francisco Combined program. Dr. Haggerty became the head team doctor for the San Francisco 49ers when Dr. Milburn retired, and Dr. Haggerty left the San Francisco 49ers in 1979. Dr. Haggerty joined SFOSMG in 1978 at the request of Dr. Lloyd Taylor. Dr. Haggerty started one of the first sports medicine clinics in Northern California in 1979 and also spent 30 years volunteering as the team orthopaedic physician for the Division I sports teams at the Jesuit University of San Francisco.

1983

Dr. James Zucherman joined SFOSMG in 1983, specializing in spine surgery and working closely with Dr. Arthur White. Dr. Zucherman became the Director of the St. Mary’s Spine Center in 1988 and continues to hold that position at the present time.

1984

Dr. Ken Hsu joined SFOSMG in 1984 after completing a spine fellowship in Hong Kong. Dr. Zucherman and Dr. Hsu gained fame in the spine community two years ago when they developed the X-Stop, a relatively low-risk and relatively easy procedure for patients of almost any age with spinal stenosis or foraminal stenosis.

1984

Dr. William McGann also joined the San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgeons in 1984, immediately after Dr. Hsu. Dr. McGann did a total joint fellowship with Dr. William Harris at Mass. General Hospital. In 2005, Dr. McGann became the head of the Orthopaedic department at St. Mary’s Hospital, and in 2006 Dr. McGann became the Director of the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Training Program.

1992

Dr. William Montgomery, III joined SFOSMG in 1992. Dr. Montgomery had just completed a fellowship in sports medicine with the famed Dr. Kerlan and Dr. Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles. Dr. Montgomery has been the team doctor for the San Francisco Giants baseball team, the San Francisco Spiders hockey team, and is currently the USF head team physician, plus Dr. Montgomery is the team doctor for numerous San Francisco high schools, including current team doctor for Sacred Heart Cathedral High School.

2006

Dr. Dimitriy Kondrashov joined SFOSMG in 2006 after completing the Combined St. Mary’s and Stanford Hospital Spine Fellowship. In addition to his spine training, he is well trained in trauma surgery. Dr. Kondrashov is fluent in both English and Russian.