History of the program

The Orthopedic Surgery Residency program in Columbia, South Carolina, originally began in 1944 at Columbia Hospital and has been proudly training orthopedists for nearly 80 years.

At the time of inception, the faculty for the residents were community orthopedists including Austin Moore, MD, inventor of the Austin Moore Hip prosthesis and founder of the Moore Orthopedic Clinic. In 1977, the program began its affiliation with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Ultimately, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Department of Orthopedic Surgery was formed and principally led by Founding Chair Ed Kimbrough, MD.

In 2016, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and local hospital affiliate Palmetto Health merged to form the Palmetto Health/USC Medical Group; at that time, the Moore Clinic additionally merged with the USC Department of Orthopedics forming the largest orthopedic surgery group in the state. Given this growth of faculty and resources, the program doubled in size from two residents per year to the current complement of four per year.

Most recently, Palmetto Health-USC has merged with the legacy Greenville Health System to form Prisma Health, the largest healthcare provider in South Carolina and parent institution to the Orthopedic Residency Program, with continued affiliation with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.