Dr. Kevin Bozic, at left, and philanthropist Dr. John L. Chase met last week at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons held in Dallas. Dr. Chase recently funded the Chase-Bozic Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Fellowship in the UCSF Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery to support the specialized field of hip and knee arthroplasty. (PHOTO: Courtesy of Dr. Chase)
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 18, 2019) -- The UCSF Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery received a generous gift from one of its alumni, John L. Chase, MD, FACS to fund the Chase-Bozic Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Fellowship.
Dr. Chase, an orthopedic surgeon, specialized in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries and worked extensively with NCAA Collegiate Athletics at UC Davis and International Amateur Rugby from 1975 to 1991.
Subsequently, from 1991-2009, Dr. Chase pioneered continuing medical education (CME) and training to more than 2,000 doctors who wished to learn medical skills to become medical legal experts and consultants in civil litigation, as Founder and CEO of Benchmark Medical Consultants, Inc.
In 2006, Dr. Chase was offered an opportunity by the UCSF Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery to help develop a fellowship program in hip and knee arthroplasty. Dr. Chase, with the mentoring and direction of Dr. Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA, then Chief of the UCSF Arthroplasty Service, served as the first arthroplasty fellow from 2006-2007, after which new fellows were recruited. The fellowship has been very successful and now selects two fellows every year.
"Dr. Chase showed incredible ambition and drive to ‘reinvent himself’ as he took on a new educational experience in the latter stages of his career," stated Dr. Bozic, who currently serves as Chair of the Dept. of Surgery and Perioperative Care at the Dell Medical School at UT Austin.
"Despite being almost 40 years older than most of the trainees he worked with, he embraced the opportunity to learn new knowledge and skills during his Arthroplasty Fellowship. He continued to contribute to the fellowship by participating in educational conferences, and ultimately through his financial support, after he left the fellowship."
"Dr. Chase was the consummate professional," Dr. Bozic added. "He always took extra time to get to know his patients and advocate on their behalf throughout their care experiences."
"By making this very generous gift, Dr. Chase enables us as a Department to continue to support our public mission: pioneering musculoskeletal discovery and innovative care to transform lives. We are very grateful for his support in the specialized field of hip and knee arthroplasty," said Dr. Thomas P. Vail, MD, Chair of the UCSF Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery.
"I’m tremendously grateful to Dr. Chase for his unflagging generosity and service to UCSF," said Dr. Erik Hansen, MD, Chief of the UCSF Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Service. "His continuing support to the Department, especially in his judgment on how to best realize our vision, will make a significant difference in the lives of those patients who struggle with arthritis."
"I feel very privileged to be able to make this donation to the UCSF Department of Orthopedics," said Dr. Chase. "I am grateful for the opportunity to ‘give back’ to the Department. I could not have had the career I had without my orthopaedic training at UCSF and I am humbled by the serendipity that I was trained early in my development by William R. ‘Wild Bill’ Murray, MD, a pioneer of hip knee arthroplasty in the United States and late in my career was so fortunate to be mentored by Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA, the William R. Murray Endowed Professor and Vice Chair of Orthopedic Surgery at UCSF."
About Dr. Chase
Dr. Chase, an orthopedic surgeon who specialized in sports injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, graduated from high school in Sacramento in 1960 and did his undergraduate work at UC Davis, where he earned varsity letters in football and baseball while pursuing an accelerated three-year medical prep program to gain admission to UCSF Medical School from 1963-67 and the UCSF Orthopedic Residency Program (1968-72). He served a surgical clerkship at Guy’s Hospital in 1966 and was an Intern in Medicine and Surgery at Denver General Hospital 1967-68.
Dr. Chase is a Fellow of the AAOS and American College of Surgery. He joined the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine in 1978. Dr Chase was Orthopedic Consultant to the Department of Athletics at UC Davis and Team Physician for the NCAA Division II Mustangs ("Aggies") from 1975-1983. From 1977-1991, Dr Chase was Honorary Medical Advisor to the United States Rugby Football Union and team physician for the USA Eagles, America’s International Rugby Side. Dr. Chase was a visiting orthopaedic surgeon in Timaru, New Zealand, and orthopaedic consultant to the New Zealand Rugby Union in 1983-84. He accompanied on invitation of the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRFU), commonly known as the New Zealand All Blacks, to the Hong Kong Seven’s Tournament in 1984. In 1985, Dr. Chase was invited to be the U.S. Representative to the International Rugby Board Medical Committee meetings in London to revise rules of scrum engagement with the objective of reducing injury. Dr. Chase was recognized as establishing the precedent for sports injury doctors from the same country to travel with International Rugby sides touring outside their own countries when he toured with the USA Eagles to England in 1977, at which time he demonstrated the improved injury prevention and care possible with this approach.
Dr. Chase retired from U.S. and International Rugby when he was called to active duty in the U.S. Air Force during Desert Storm in 1991. He served as an orthopaedic surgeon with the rank of Lt. Colonel at the 12th Contingency Hospital in Lincoln, England. When he returned to the United States he founded Benchmark Medical Consultants, Inc. to train and provide front and back office support to medical and surgical specialists. Benchmark was a recognized leader in the industry for providing CME accredited training and “best practices” education to Doctors in the field. In 2009, the company was purchased by Examworks, Inc., a public company and the largest provider of medical legal services in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
In 2010, after selling his business, Dr. Chase retired for a time to Incline Village, Nev. on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. He returned to the Bay Area in 2008 and lives with his wife Susan in Berkeley, Calif. Dr. Chase was elected to the US Rugby Foundation Hall of Fame in 2018. He is currently a member of the Clinical Faculty in the UCSF Department of Orthopedics where he offers training in medical legal skills to residents and fellows. Dr. Chase attends weekly Grand Rounds, Clinical Conferences and participates in selecting prospective Fellowship Candidates for future years. Dr. Chase and Susan have three grown children and two grandchildren.
About Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA
Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA, currently serves as Chair of Surgery and Perioperative Care at the Dell Medical School at UT Austin. He is a nationally recognized leader in orthopaedic surgery and value-based health care payment and delivery models. Prior to joining the Dell Medical School, he was the William R. Murray Endowed Professor and Vice Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at the UCSF School of Medicine and served on the core faculty of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.
Dr. Bozic’s clinical practice is focused on the management of patients with hip and knee arthritis, which he does in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team of providers focused on improving health outcomes that matter to their patients including pain reduction, increased musculoskeletal function and improved quality of life.
