In Profile: AFS Grad, Lubbock Orthopedic Surgeon Bryan Smitherman
Specializing in joint reconstruction and replacement "" particularly knees, hips and shoulders "" Bryan Smitherman is a successful orthopedic surgeon in private practice at Lubbock's Center for Orthopedic Surgery. But in a slightly different academic take from his peers, the McLean native's path to medicine took him through Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Following graduation from high school, Smitherman seemed to naturally gravitate toward the Hub City and CASNR with the assistance of an agriculture scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Soon he was deep into his undergraduate class work as a pre-vet major in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. While at Tech, he was also a member of the meat judging team, sigma phi epsilon fraternity and student senate.
Looking back, Smitherman believes his ability to juggle a demanding studies with extracurricular activities came at a good time. Medical schools were beginning to recruit students with broad-based educational experience, which is what he had. Plus, his particular major included many of the same life sciences classes that were in a traditional pre-med degree plan.
"Scientifically, I was as equally prepared as any of the other medical students," he said. "And I may have been better prepared for some of the other areas of the medical profession, such as how to relate with patients, manage a staff and run an office."
After graduating from Tech in 1988, Smitherman headed for the Texas coast, earning his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. After graduating from the branch in 1992, he completed his internship and residency at Tech's Health Science Center. Five years later he joined a seven-physician group in Lubbock, known as The Center for Orthopedic Surgery.
Smitherman has a life beyond the medical office. He enjoys time with his wife, Lisa Patterson, a 1982 Texas Tech graduate, and their two children, Ross, 8, and Carol-Anne, 6. In terms of community service, he's a member of the American State Bank Community Advisory Board and the Texas Tech Foundation Board of Directors.
"My days vary," Smitherman said. "That's what I like about this work."
Written by Norman Martin
CONTACT: Kevin Pond, Department Chair and Professor - Animal Nutrition, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University at (806)742-2805 ext. 223 or kevin.pond@ttu.edu
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