Edward Akelman, MD

Edward Akelman, MD, is chief of the department of orthopedics at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital and the Vincent Zecchino professor and chair of the department of orthopedics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is an international and national leader in hand surgery and orthopedic education, a dedicated physician, surgeon, and colleague, and a well-respected member and distinguished leader of the orthopedic community.

Dr. Akelman joined Rhode Island Hospital and Brown in 1985 and served as the chief of hand, upper extremity and microvascular surgery for 30 years. He is currently the Edward Akelman MD Scholar in Hand Surgery. He leads Brown University’s nationally recognized orthopedic department.

Dr. Akelman earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University, and his medical degree at Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his general surgery residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, his orthopedic residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and spine and hand surgery fellowships at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven and Roosevelt Hospital in New York, respectively. Dr. Akelman is a past-president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. He served as chairman of the Council on Education of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and served on its board of directors. He is a past-president of the New England Hand Society and the Rhode Island Orthopaedic Society. He has served on the Board of Trustees at Rhode Island Hospital, on Rhode Island Hospital’s Board of Governors and as President of the Rhode Island Hospital Medical Executive Committee.

His research interests include orthopedic education, treatment of Dupuytren’s disease, nerve compression syndromes of the upper extremities, wrist and carpal kinematics, and wrist injuries.