DeCoster, Thomas A

English

University of New Mexico

First Chairman of the Department of 
Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation: A Tribute to 
George E. Omer Jr, MD 
Thomas A. DeCoster, MD*
*UNM Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation
After a distinguished 20-year military career, Dr. George 
Elbert Omer Jr became the first chairman of the Universi-
ty of New Mexico (UNM) Department of Orthopaedics & 
Rehabilitation in 1970 and served until 1990. During this 
time, he was president of multiple national orthopaedic so-
cieties and founded one of the first divisions of hand sur-
gery in North America. Dr. Omer trained more than 300 
residents and faculty members who went on to practice in 
New Mexico and the western United States. Our first chair-
man put New Mexico on the orthopaedic map, creating a 
strong foundation upon which the department continues to 
flourish. He passed away on November 20, 2014. 
George was born on December 23, 1922, (5 years before 
his sister Betty) at Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Mis-
souri, to George Elbert Sr and Edith Mae. His family moved 
to a variety of towns in Kansas between 1920 and 1940, a 
historic period encompassing both the Roaring Twenties 
and Great Depression. His father was a dentist, and George 
had two uncles who were physicians. 
Particularly influenced toward a medical career thanks 
to his summers spent with Uncle Will, George attended 
Fort Hays State College (now University). His education 
was interrupted during World War II when he served in the 
United States (US) Army Medical Corps in 1943. Afterward, 
George resumed his studies and attended the University of 
Kansas for medical school, where he would meet his future 
wife, Wenda “Wendie” Vilven (marrying her in 1949). He 
completed his medical internship at the same hospital in 
which he was born.
In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, he rejoined 
the US Army, although this time as a commissioned officer. 
George—now Dr. Omer—was first posted in the 82nd Air-
borne Division in Fort Benning, Georgia. At one point, a 
patient had refused to follow rehabilitation orders, claiming 
that the doctor was “not one of us.” Motivated rather than 
discouraged, however, Dr. Omer subsequently completed 
his paratrooper training and proudly obtained his jump 
wings. While at this post, his two sons, George Eric and Mi-
chael Lee, were born.
 During the Korean War, Dr. Omer developed extensive 
experience in treating solider-patients with traumatic or-
thopaedic injuries. In 1952, he was offered an orthopaedic 
residency at the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in 
San Antonio and obtained his master’s degree from Baylor 
University. In the late 1950s, Dr. Omer wrote articles for the 
Kansas Historical Society, obtained his pilot’s license, and 
established five centers of subspecialty care in hand injuries 
(for which he received a commendation and promotion). 
From 1962 to 1965, he directed the orthopaedic residency 
program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center 
and taught an annual course at the Armed Forces Institute 
of Pathology. 
During the height of the Vietnam War, he returned to 
BAMC for his final posting as assistant chief of surgery, 
chief of orthopaedic surgery, and chief of hand surgery—a 
time in which he would become known as “The Peripheral 
Nerve Man.” Dr. Omer was clinically and academically in-
vested in treating damage to the peripheral nerve, and he 
published studies on hundreds of patients with upper-ex-
tremity nerve injuries. He firmly believed that documented 
research between medical fields was key to understanding 
these injuries in BAMC and beyond. 
Dr. Omer treated many high-profile patients, including 
President Lyndon Johnson while both were in Washington, 
DC. In 1969, former-president Johnson returned to Texas
and continued to see Dr. Omer who was then working in
San Antonio. On a particularly hot summer day, one of
these visits resulted in funding for air conditioning in some
of the BAMC orthopaedic clinics.
In 1970, Dr. Omer was recruited to UNM by Dean Rob-
ert Stone and previous Division Chief Jim Weaver who both 
wanted someone to lead the orthopaedic group. Dr. Omer 
incorporated various existing entities into a new orthopae-
dic department. These organizations included the Carrie 
Tingley Hospital in Truth or Consequences; Gallup Indian 
Medical Center; Department of Veterans Affairs of New 
UNM Orthopaedics Journal 201568 69In Memoriam
Mexico; and the existing but limited clinical orthopaedics 
enterprise affiliated with UNM School of Medicine at Ber-
nalillo County Medical Center. Dr. Omer also initiated the 
Carrie Tingley Hospital Winter Conference, which contin-
ues to meet annually to this day. 
As chairman, Dr. Omer organized clinical facilities into 
a cohesive group, established regimented training beyond 
clinical apprenticeship, created an academic curriculum 
of relevant topics and assigned readings, and emphasized 
balanced student and teacher responsibility in learning. 
He incorporated national standards into education, with 
formalized participation in the Orthopaedic In-Training 
Examination administered by the American Academy of 
Orthopaedic Surgeons. 
When the residency program was better established, 
Dr. Omer turned his attention to faculty recruitment and 
subspecialty divisions, founding one of the first divisions 
of hand surgery in North America. In 1971, he performed 
one of the first toe-to-hand transplants in a child. Another 
watershed moment occurred in 1976 with the recruitment 
of Dr. Moheb S. Moneim who brought great expertise in mi-
crosurgical technique and enthusiasm to clinical work.
Dr. Omer was actively involved in many regional, na-
tional, and international orthopaedic organizations. He 
was an original member of the American Society of Sur-
gery of the Hand and served as president in 1978. Dr. Omer 
was also a long-time member of the American Orthopaedic 
Association, serving as president in 1989. Furthermore, he 
served a 10-year term (1981-1991) on the American Board 
of Orthopaedic Surgery, which included 1 year of presiden-
cy in 1987. While on the Board, he oversaw the process for 
re-certification of all orthopaedists and the introduction of 
the Certificate of Added Qualification for hand surgery. 
After his retirement as chairman in 1990, Dr. Omer con-
tinued his practice by lecturing, writing, and caring for 
patients. He served on national and international advisory 
boards for numerous medical publications while remaining 
actively involved with several organizations, including the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National 
Football League, Navajo Nation, and Carrie Tingley Hospi-
tal. Dr. Omer was awarded the “Pioneers of Hand Surgery” 
status in 1995 by the International Federation of Societies 
for Surgery of the Hand—the Nobel Prize equivalent for 
hand surgeons. In 1996, the Society of Military Orthopae-
dic Surgeons honored Dr. Omer with an annual memorial 
lecture series at BAMC. 
Dr. Omer’s life and career spanned three phases of ortho-
paedic surgery in the US. From 1920 to 1945, when George 
was growing up, orthopaedics was a nonoperative specialty. 
During Dr. Omer’s military career from 1945 to 1970, or-
thopaedics had shifted into an operative specialty. Finally, 
his academic career from 1970 to 1990 encompassed the 
change of orthopaedics into an implant-intensive specialty, 
with advanced surgical techniques such as arthroscopy and 
microsurgery. 
Dr. Omer left behind an international legacy in treat-
ing traumatic war-related injuries (particularly peripheral 
nerves of the upper extremity) and establishing the subspe-
cialty of hand surgery, whereas his regional legacy is carried 
on today by the hundreds of residents and fellows he trained 
at the UNM orthopaedics department and division of hand 
surgery. The development of this department continues to 
prosper under the enormous, steady foundation established 
by Dr. Omer. For that, we all owe him a great debt of grat-
itude. 
UNM Orthopaedics Journal 201570 71In Memoriam


First Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation: A Tribute to George E. Omer Jr, MD

https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1266&amp;context=unm_jor

First Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation: A Tribute to George E. Omer Jr, MD

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