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DR. BILL'S BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Bill is the on-line handle for William Thomas Stillwell, M.D., a highly experienced, fellowship trained, board certified orthopaedic specialist. Dr. Stillwell is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the International College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Academy of Neurological & Orthopaedic Surgeons (that's what all those initials stand for). He is also a member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America, the Association for Hip & Knee Surgery, among numerous professional and scientific societies.

A native of Brooklyn, he was educated in New York, through medical school and received his doctorate from New York Medical College in 1973. While in college and medical school, he worked (intermittently) as a professional artist and illustrator for the comics. Originally aiming at a career in cardiovascular surgery, during his general surgical residency at the Medical College of Virginia, and much to his surprise, he gravitated instead to orthopaedics.

He was trained in the orthopaedic surgery residency program at St. Luke's Hospital Center in New York City and thereafter, was accepted for postgraduate training as an Otto E. Aufranc Fellow in Constructive Surgery (adult joint reconstruction) at the New England Baptist Hospital, in Boston.

In 1979, he opened a private practice in orthopaedic surgery in Smithtown, New York. Five years later, he was appointed Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Medical Director of Physical Therapy at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, while serving as Assistant Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Instructor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University, and Director of the Fracture Clinic at the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City.

Dr. Bill in surgery

During this period, Dr. Stillwell published a number of academic and scientific articles in peer reviewed professional journals. His major medical publications include The Art of Total Hip Arthroplasty , by Grune & Stratton, and Arthroplasty: An Atlas of Surgical Technique (with W. Norman Scott, M.D. as coauthor) by Aspen Press, both published in 1987. He did the bulk of the illustrations and paintings for both books, as well.

He introduced a number of new surgical techniques and patient care innovations during his career, including the use of what eventually became known as clinical pathways, decades ahead of the rest of the field, and mega-dose intravenous vitamin therapy, in the postoperative period after joint replacement. He lectured extensively to lay audiences and promoted community outreach programs to teach the public about medical issues.

He was promoted to Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at SUNY, Stony Brook in 1987, and was elected Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at his community hospital, which had undergone a change of name and ownership to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in 2000. During Dr. Stillwell's tenure as Chairman, he built the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery into what was arguably the most talented group of surgeons on Long Island, and one of the most respected regional centers for arthroscopic surgery, spine surgery, total joint replacement & revision. Dr. Stillwell himself was acknowledged to be a regional expert in his field, as The Hip & Knee Specialist, with a burgeoning practice that included patients from other cities, states and even other countries.

An accidental fall at home caused a serious back injury in mid-2001. Despite efforts to work through the injury, by the following year, progressive, persistent back pain, that he felt posed a real potential risk to his patients, led him to voluntarily step down and retire from the active practice of surgery.

Dr. Stillwell is now living in central Florida, with his wife of 33 years, and a menagerie of cats and dogs. Frustrated by enforced early retirement and truly dismayed by the changes in Medicine, he decided to make use of his wealth of accumulated knowledge, surgical expertise and clinical experience. His services are now available to the public through Dr. Bill's Clinic, Inc., to provide the useful advice, straight information and medical guidance so lacking in the modern health care industry.