NGF Medical Board

Dr. Henry Mankin
Massachusetts General Hospital
1122A Jackson Building
Boston, MA 02114
Tl: (617) 726-2735
Email: hmankin@partners.org

I am Henry J. Mankin MD, currently serving as a senior research consultant for the Orthopaedic Oncology Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Edith M. Ashley Professor Emeritus of Orthopaedics at Harvard Medical School. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA and attended the University of Pittsburgh undergraduate and medical school, receiving my MD in 1953. I married Carole Jane Pinkney in 1952 and we had three children. Allison lives in Washington, is a computer person and has two children. David is a Professor of Classics at Cornell and is unmarried. Keith is a pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon who lives in Raleigh NC and has one child.
As to my career, after an internship at the University of Chicago and a tour in the US Navy at the end of the Korean War, I took a residency in Orthopaedics at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City. In 1960, I joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Orthopaedic Service and then in 1966 returned the Hospital for Joint Diseases as Chief of Orthopaedics and a Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In 1972, I became Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at the MGH and served in that capacity until 1996 and also ran the Harvard Combined Residency program until 1998 and the Orthopaedic Oncology Service until 2000. I became very interested in Orthopaedic Oncology, developed a Fellowship, which has since trained over 80 Fellows and practiced and taught caretaking and surgical treatment for patients with these complex diseases. I established an organization with our colleagues in bone radiology, pathology, radiation, medical and pediatric oncology known as the Connective Tissue Oncology Center which meets at least twice weekly to review current problems.

From 1962 until 2003, I was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for orthopaedic biologic research in the fields of cartilage, osteoarthritis, bone and cartilage allografting, Gaucher disease and number of aspects of tumors. In order to keep track of our activities in tumor care I developed a computer system which currently contains information regarding over 17,000 patients and more specific information regarding over 1200 patients who have had implanted cadaveric allografts. I was also responsible for starting the bone bank from which we obtain these tissues. The lab activities and computer technology described above has enabled me to publish 616 articles and book chapters about our clinical and basic research and I have another 18 submitted or in press.
I recently published a book entitled "Pathophysiology of Orthopaedic Diseaes".

I have served on numerous local and national committees, and as President of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the American Orthopaedic Association, the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, the Academic Orthopaedic Society and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. I am an Honorary Fellow in the Royal College of Surgeons of London and honorary member of the Thai, Japanese, Australian, New Zealand, Argentine, Israel, Canadian and British Orthopaedic Societies. I have received numerous awards for my contributions and have served as visiting professor at many United States and foreign University Orthopaedic Services and am a frequent faculty member at conferences of organizations within our discipline. I have a Chair in Orthopaedics named after me at my alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh and have served for twelve years on the Dean’s Visiting Advisory Committee there. I was recently honored by being named a Legacy Laureate at the University of Pittsburgh and was further honored by the University of Pittsburgh as a Distinguished Alumnus for 2005. Two years ago, I received the Diversity award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and this year the Ropes Award from the Rheumatism Society and the Frauenthal Award from the Hospital for Joint Diseases.