UB medical school names Leslie Bisson chair of the Department of Orthopaedics

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Leslie J. Bisson, MD, associate professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Orthopaedics, has been appointed the inaugural June A. and Eugene R. Mindell, MD Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The announcement brings to 12 the number of new chairs and chair-level appointees named by Michael E. Cain, MD, UB vice president for health sciences and dean of the UB medical school, in the past five years.

These hires, Cain says, are a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical school's future.

Over the next five years, UB plans to hire 250 new faculty members across all academic units, 100 of whom will join the medical school. Major New York State investments to this effort include Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s NYSUNY 2020 bill, a historic piece of higher education legislation signed into law in 2011 that is enabling the university to pursue the next phase of UB 2020.

Following a comprehensive national search, Cain said that Bisson emerged as the top candidate possessing the administrative, investigational, scientific, clinical, leadership, and visionary skills needed to move the department forward, expand its research programs to fulfill UB2020’s strategic goals, enhance the excellence of its graduate medical education and mentored research training programs, and best develop and align a comprehensive clinical program at Great Lakes Health and in the community.

Bisson joined the UB Department of Orthopaedics in 2007 and also became director of UB’s Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship. Certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons, he has research, education and clinical interests in anterior cruciate ligament injuries, maximizing the strength of soft tissue repairs, and exploring techniques to optimize rotator cuff healing. He is currently the principal investigator of a multi-surgeon, prospective, randomized trial to determine the optimal treatment for cartilage lesions encountered during arthroscopic treatment of meniscal tears, a common knee injury.

He serves as medical director/team orthopaedic surgeon for the Buffalo Sabres, team physician and orthopaedic consultant for the Buffalo Bills, team orthopaedist for Buffalo State College and medical director for the World Junior Hockey Championships. He is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, as well as the NFL Physicians Society and the NHL Team Physicians Society.

Bisson has lectured nationally and internationally and published dozens of peer-reviewed articles in his areas of interest. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, and Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine.

A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bisson received his MD from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine graduating at the top of his class. He completed a general surgery internship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and an orthopaedic surgical residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. He also completed a fellowship in sports medicine at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala. Until 2006, he was a partner at Northtowns Orthopaedics in Williamsville.

Bisson and his family reside in Williamsville.