HECTOR W. KAY MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP

HECTOR W. KAY MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP

Hector W. Kay was born in Australia, November 1, 1909. After his basic education in Australia, he completed his formal education in 1938 at Springfield College where he received a Masters Degree in Education. It was also here that Hector met and married Katherine Johnson, a Springfield native.  Hector’s early association with prosthetics and prosthetic education began at New York University where he spent the years 1952 through 1965 in the Adult and Child Prosthetic Studies group. During this period, he became intimately associated with the Sub-Committee on Children’s Prosthetic Problems of the Committee on Prosthetics Research and Development of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. He was instrumental in developing the original cooperative clinic group, working very closely with the pioneers in this field: Drs. George T. Aitken, Charles Frantz, Newton McCollough and Claude Lambert. In 1965, he left New York University to join the Committee on Prosthetics Research and Development of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council as Assistant Executive Director. Here he continued to coordinate the activities of the Sub-Committee on Children’s Prosthetic Problems. The committee was gradually expanded to cover orthotic problems as well as the prosthetic problems. During this period, Hector also acted as editor of the Interclinic Information Bulletin. The Interclinic Information Bulletin has more recently had a name change to the Journal of the Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics. Hector retired from the Committee on Prosthetics Research and Development in 1974, and met a very untimely death on March 31, 1975. He is deeply mourned by all of those who knew him, respected him, and looked to him for advice. No organization owes more to one individual than does the Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics. Though founded after his death, ACPOC owes its existence to an organization he nurtured.

2025 HECTOR W. KAY MEMORIAL LECTURER

Hank Chambers, MD

Hank Chambers, MD, is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. He also serves as a Professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, San Diego.   He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado in 1978.  After medical school at Tulane University School of Medicine, he completed an orthopedic surgery residency at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX.   He finished a pediatric orthopedic surgery fellowship in San Diego under the tutelage of David Sutherland, Scott Mubarak, and Dennis Wenger in 1990.

Dr. Chambers is currently the Director of the Southern Family Center for Cerebral Palsy Program at Rady Children’s Hospital.  He is also the Medical Director of the David H. Sutherland MD Motion Analysis Laboratory.   He is a former Director of the 360 Sports Medicine Program at Rady Children’s Hospital.   Hank was the Chief of Staff at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego from 2004-2006.    He is active nationally in many organizations, including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.  He is a Past President of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. He is also the Past President of PRiSM, a pediatric sports medicine research society he co-founded.  He has authored over 150 publications and has written over 40 book chapters.  He has been fortunate to have been a Visiting Professor at over 100 institutions throughout the world and has been recognized as one of the Top Doctors in San Diego, Best Doctors in America, Top Doctors in the US News and World Report, and Who’s Who in America and the World.

His wife, Jill, is active in many local and national patient advocacy groups and is a healing touch provider at Rady Children’s Hospital.  His son, Sean (41), who has cerebral palsy, is currently living independently (with support) in San Diego, and his other son, Reid (40), is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH.

PAST HECTOR KAY LECTURERS

  • 2024 — Vincent Mosca, MD
  • 2023 — Mark Dahl, MD
  • 2022 — Ola L.A. Harrysson, PhD
  • 2021 — Stan Sonu, MD, MPH
  • 2020 — Deborah Gaebler-Spira, MD
  • 2019 — Joan E. Edelstein, MA, PT
  • 2017 — Scott Kozin, MD, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2018 — John G. Birch, MD, FRCS(C)
  • 2016 — Melissa Stockwell, CP, Chicago, IL
  • 2015 — Eric P. Neufeld, CPO, FAAOP, Denver, CO and David J. Krupa, CP, Quito, Ecuador
  • 2014 — Lori A. Karol, MD, Dallas, TX
  • 2013 — Terry R. Trammell, MD, Indianapolis, IN
  • 2012 — Ellen M. Raney, MD, Portland, OR
  • 2011 — John H. Bowker, MD, Miami, FL
  • 2010 — Kenneth J. Guidera, MD, Twin Cities, MN
  • 2009 — Sheila Hubbard, OT, PT, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • 2008 — James A. Harder, MD, Alberta, BC, Canada
  • 2007 — John R. Fisk, MD, Springfield, IL
  • 2006 — Randall R. Betz, MD, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2005 — Peter F. Armstrong, MD, Tampa, FL
  • 2004 — Michelle A. James, MD, Sacramento, CA
  • 2003 — Sandra Dukat, Heber City, UT
  • 2002 — Craig W. Heckathorne, MS, Chicago, IL
  • 2001 — Lewis B. Holmes, MD, Houston, TX
  • 2000 — Michael Keith, MD, Banff, AB, Canada
  • 1999 — Hugh G. Watts, MD, St. Pete’s Beach, FL
  • 1998 — Curtis D. Edholm, MD, Grand Rapids, MI
  • 1997 — Michael Lovett, PhD, Dallas, TX
  • 1996 — Michael J. Goldberg, MD, Boston, MA
  • 1995 — Mary Williams Clark, MD, Hershey, PA
  • 1994 — Yosio Setoguchi, MD, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1993 — Robert E. Tooms, MD, Memphis, TN
  • 1992 — N/A
  • 1991 — Charles H. Epps, Jr., MD, Washington, DC
  • 1990 — Leon Kruger, MD, Springfield, MA
  • 1989 — Dudley Childress, PhD, Chicago, IL
  • 1988 — Norman Berger, BS, MS, New York, NY
  • 1987 — R. Merv Letts, MD, FRCS(c), Winnipeg, MB, Canada
  • 1986 — Georg Neff, MD, Tubingen, Germany
  • 1985 — Charles Scott, MD, Wilmington, DE