It is our pleasure to announce that Cynthia Emory, MD, MBA, FAAOS, FAOA, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, has been named Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery effective April 1. She succeeds L. Andrew Koman, MD, who has led the department since 2007.
Cynthia will also assume leadership of the Musculoskeletal Service Line for the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist market on July 1, and Andy will continue to serve as a tenured professor in Orthopaedic Surgery.
Cynthia will report to Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH and Kevin High, MD, MS in her role as chair, and to Claude “T.” Moorman, MD, in her role as service line leader.
As Chair, Cynthia will lead the department’s clinical, educational, and research missions to ensure continued growth and success. She will lead more than 80 faculty and 50 advanced practice providers across 23 locations in the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist market, enhancing translational science through partnerships across the region, and overseeing the creation of high-quality training methods for learners at multiple stages of career development.
As leader of the Musculoskeletal service line for the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist market, she will collaborate with other service line leaders to ensure optimal clinical performance across Orthopaedics, Podiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Sports Medicine.
A 2004 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, Cynthia completed her Orthopaedic residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center followed by an Orthopaedic Oncology fellowship at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She returned to Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2010 to join the faculty, and was promoted to Associate Professor and Vice Chair of the Department in 2015. She received her MBA from Wake Forest University in 2017, where she graduated with academic distinction and received the School of Business Leadership Award.
Cynthia is the Past-President of the North Carolina Orthopaedic Association and serves in leadership roles in the Eastern Orthopaedic Association and the Southern Orthopaedic Association. She was one of 10 orthopaedic surgeons nationally selected for the 2018-2019 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Leadership Fellows program.
She is actively involved with operations and strategic planning within Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute and Surgical Services and served as Associate Chief Medical Officer at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center until being named Interim Chair of Pediatrics from July 2021 – June 2022.
Cynthia’s research interests include radiation induced fibrosis in soft tissue sarcoma, biomechanical assessment and management of patients with compromised bone from osteoporosis and cancer, and value-based care analyses in orthopaedic surgery.
She is passionate about mentoring, leadership and professional development, demonstrated by her participation in the Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) Committee at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and service as Chair of the WIMS Committee for two years. She also serves on numerous committees and has participated in internal and external programs focused on helping women in medicine grow as leaders.
Please join us in congratulating Cynthia in her new role. We are excited to see where her leadership will take us. We also want to thank and recognize Andy who has been instrumental in elevating our Department of Orthopaedic Surgery to where it is today, and we look forward to him continuing to share his vast knowledge and expertise with us.