Stephen Brotherton, MD

Dr. Stephen Brotherton joined The Fort Worth Bone and Joint Clinic, the precursor to Texas Health Care Bone and Joint Clinic, in 1987, after completing a Bachelor’s degree at Texas Christian University in 1978, a Doctor of Medicine degree at UT Southwestern in 1982, and an Orthopedic Surgery Residency at Emory University and Affiliated Hospitals, in Atlanta, in 1987. He is past President of the Texas Medical Association and past Chair of the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery. His areas of emphasis are sports medicine, dance and performance medicine, foot and ankle, and lower extremity joint replacement.

Dr. Brotherton became an orthopedic consultant to TCU in 1987 under Dr. James Beckley and an associate team physician under Dr. Bert Franks. He became the senior orthopedic consultant upon Dr. Beckley’s retirement from sports medicine in 1994 and continued in that capacity with his partner Dr. Milne until 2015. Along with Dr. Beckley, Dr Franks, and Head Trainer Ross Bailey, he developed the Sports Medicine Advisory Team at TCU, which has become a model in many other institutions. He established this model with Head Trainer Ed Chisholm at Fort Worth Country Day School, also in 1987, and in 2005 was the 17th recipient of the “Old Sport” Award given by FWCDS and its Alumni Association for these and other volunteer efforts.

Interested in applying sports medicine principals to dancers and other performers, Dr. Brotherton implemented a program for the Casa Manana resident company in 1988 with then-choreographer Francis Fuller. He was asked to become Company Physician for The Fort Worth Ballet (now Texas Ballet Theater) in 1990 and continues to treat dancers of all disciplines. He was Company Physician for the Arlington Ballet (later Metroplex Classical Ballet) from its inception as well as several other professional ballet companies. Among other sports medicine principals, Dr. Brotherton was one of the first to advocate for an Athletic Trainer to be assigned to dance companies.

In 1988 Dr. Brotherton joined the physician group attending the Ft. Worth Rodeo. He became the Medical Director for the Stock Show and Rodeo in 2006.

Dr. Brotherton has held adjunct/clinical faculty positions with TCU, UT Southwestern Medical School, and Ft. Worth Affiliated Hospitals Orthopedic Residency Program (JPS).

Dr. Brotherton has been lead author on published and/or presented papers on such topics as bilateral knee replacements, uncemented hip replacements, spine fusions, and amputations in diabetics. He has been co-author on bioethics papers and was a principal author on the updated AMA Code of Medical Ethics issued in 2016, the first comprehensive update to the Code in over 50 years. Dr. Brotherton has taught at specialty clinics for residents in orthopedics in both sports medicine and foot/ankle, currently staffs the JPS amputee and prosthetic clinic. He regularly has primary care residents attend at his office, and orthopedic residents scrub in on surgeries, especially total joints. He was recognized for teaching by the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2002 and was selected Educator of the Year 2004 by the JPS orthopedic residency program. His Grand Rounds presentations have included amputations and prosthetics, ethics topics, and posterior tibial tendon failure and reconstruction. In 2009 the Resident and Fellows Section of the Texas Medical Association awarded Dr. Brotherton the Lamar McNew Award for teaching and mentoring.

Dr. Brotherton has served the Tarrant County Medical Society as president in 2003, as a member of the Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2007, and as Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 2007. He is past President of the Texas Medical Association, having previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees and both Speaker and Vice Speaker of the House of Delegates. He was a delegate from the TMA to the AMA House of Delegates from 1998 until he resigned that position in 2009 in order to accept an appointment to the nine-member AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Perhaps best described as the AMA’s Supreme Court, he served on that body for seven years, including as Chair.

In the community he has been President of the Board of Casa Manana Musicals, has served on grants panels for the Art Council, Mayfest Advisory Board, Ft. Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Board, and has been an Elder for two terms at 1st Presbyterian Church. He ran a homeless clinic at the Presbyterian Night Shelter from 1998 to 2000, then began serving at a free clinic at Cornerstone Assistance Ministries in 2007. He has attended mission trips both within and outside the U.S. borders, especially in Nicaragua. He frequently teaches adult Bible study classes.