Cincinnati Children’s Establishes Hand and Upper Extremity Center

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has established a Hand and Upper Extremity Center and recruited Roger Cornwall, MD, one of only six full-time pediatric hand surgeons in the United States, as co-director. Dr. Cornwall joins Mohab Foad, MD, and Kevin Yakuboff, MD, as co-directors of the Center.   

Additional team members include plastic, reconstructive and hand surgeons Christopher Gordon, MD, and Jesse Taylor, MD. 

The Hand and Upper Extremity Center at Cincinnati Children’s is one of a very few located at a full-service children’s hospital. This location will enable the Center to provide a great breadth of experience and services. The Center is unique in that it includes experts in physical therapy, occupational therapy and hand therapy. The divisions of orthopaedic surgery, physical and occupational therapy, plastic surgery, and physical medicine and rehabilitation provide coordinated care for the pediatric population. 

The Center includes both surgical and non-surgical treatment of conditions and problems involving the hand and upper arm. It is expected that approximately half of the children and teenagers who come to the Center will have had a traumatic injury to a hand, including fractures as well as tendon, nerve and vascular injuries. The multidisciplinary staff at the Center also treat neuromuscular problems, including cerebral palsy, tumors of the hand and congenital malformations.   

Dr. Cornwall, a pediatric hand and upper extremity orthopaedic surgeon, came to Cincinnati Children’s from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in October of 2008. He earned a medical degree at Columbia University in 1997. He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in 2002 and a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at Harvard in 2003. It was there that he studied at Boston Children’s Hospital with Peter Waters, MD, considered to be one of the founders of the subspecialty of pediatric hand surgery. Dr. Cornwall then completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2004, with visiting fellowships in Cape Town, South Africa and Paris, France. He is co-editor of Core Knowledge in Orthopaedics: Hand, Elbow, and Shoulder, a textbook published in 2006, and has authored multiple other textbook chapters and research articles. Dr. Cornwall is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and is an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. 

Dr. Foad is a hand and orthopaedic surgeon with UC Physicians and assistant professor at the UC College of Medicine who brings to the Center expertise in hand and upper extremity surgery. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore with a degree in biology, Dr. Foad returned to his hometown of Cincinnati and earned a medical degree at the UC College of Medicine in 1999.  After he completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery in 2004, Dr. Foad went on to complete a fellowship in hand and microsurgery at the Indiana Hand Center in Indianapolis in 2005. Dr. Foad is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. 

Dr. Yakuboff, MD, FACS, a hand and plastic surgeon with UC Physicians, is a professor of surgery at UC and chief of plastic surgery at Shriners Hospital. He brings 20 years of expertise in hand and microsurgery as well as burn reconstruction. Dr. Yakuboff received his medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine and completed his residencies in general surgery and plastic surgery at the UC College of Medicine. Dr. Yakuboff completed a fellowship in hand and microsurgery at the University of Louisville in 1990. Dr. Yakuboff holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in hand surgery from the American Board of Surgery and is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is also a member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery. 

Drs. Cornwall, Foad, and Yakuboff are also members of the Brachial Plexus Center at Cincinnati Children’s, which is co-directed by Charles Mehlman, DO, orthopaedics, and Linda Michaud, MD, director of physical medicine and rehabilitation. The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that provides movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm and hand. When injuries occur to the brachial plexus, it is typically during the delivery of a baby and most commonly during a vaginal birth. 

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is one of America’s top three children’s hospitals for general pediatrics and is highly ranked for its expertise in digestive diseases, respiratory diseases, cancer, neonatal care, heart care and neurosurgery, according to the annual ranking of best children's hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. One of the three largest children’s hospitals in the U.S., Cincinnati Children’s is affiliated with the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and is one of the top two recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health.  

For its achievements in transforming healthcare, Cincinnati Children's is one of six U.S. hospitals since 2002 to be awarded the American Hospital Association-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize ® for leadership and innovation in quality, safety and commitment to patient care. The hospital is a national and international referral center for complex cases, so that children with the most difficult-to-treat diseases and conditions receive the most advanced care leading to better outcomes. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org.