Dr. Kates serves as the Professor and Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. In this role, he leads a Department of 50 outstanding orthopedic surgeons and physicians, 25 orthopedic residents and four orthopaedic fellows. A graduate of Northwestern Undergraduate and Medical School, Dr. Kates served in the Northwestern General Surgery residency before relocating to the University of Rochester for Orthopedic Residency training in 1986, and where he practiced orthopedic surgery until 2015, when he then relocated to Virginia.
Dr. Kates is a global and national thought leader in Geriatric Fracture Care. He is the original developer of the Geriatric Fracture Center Model of Care and has studied this model since 2004. This program has shown markedly better outcomes in quality and safety. The program has inspired hundreds of hospitals to emulate it in the US, UK, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Dr Kates has also originated the AO Geriatric Fracture Management physician course in 2005. This is a globally offered continuing education course that has helped educate practicing physicians and surgeons across the globe about the importance of high-quality patient centered, co-managed, standardized health care for older patients with a fracture. He has served as the founding president of the International Geriatric Fracture Society. Dr. Kates was the founding editor-in-chief of Geriatric Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, a journal focused on the improvement of care for older adults with orthopedic conditions.
Dr. Kates served as the Principal Investigator for the AO Trauma CPP Bone Infection program project grant for 10 years. He is also a Principal Investigator for the National Institutes of Health P50 program grant on osteoimmunology, a grant that is shared between The University of Rochester and Virginia Commonwealth University. He serves as site PI for several other large national grants sponsored by PCORI and DoD.
Dr. Kates has published numerous book chapters, three large edited books, two monographs and over 170 peer-reviewed publications. He has lectured extensively in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America on numerous orthopedic topics including bone infection, geriatric orthopedic surgery, osteoporotic fracture care, and system of care improvement.
