African-American Physician Named President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Dr. Edward Anthony Rankin was elected president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Rankin graduated from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, with a degree in biology. He went on to graduate from Meharry Medical College and served as an intern and resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Serving as an Army orthopedist in Vietnam, he earned the Bronze Star.

In 1973 he joined the practice of Dr. Charles Epps, who later served as the first black president of the American Orthopaedic Association. That same year Dr. Rankin joined the faculty of the Howard University College of Medicine. Today, he is clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery at Howard, chief of orthopaedic service at Providence Hospital in Washington., D.C., and clinical associate professor of community and family medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

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