John H. Healey, MD, FACS, FAAOS, is an emeritus member of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). As an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Healey cared for people with sarcomas and non-cancerous tumors of the bones and soft tissue.
He specializes in removing tumors while preserving limbs (arms and legs) and treating children with bone cancers, such as osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma.
A part of MSK since 1984, Dr. Healey served as Chief of the Orthopaedic Service for 32 years. He also researched the cause of these diseases and published more scientific articles on the subject than any other surgeon.
Dr. Healy’s expertise includes rebuilding bones and joints with bone transplants and joint replacements. He has worked to improve the durability and function of joint replacements and invented four joint replacement systems. A specialist in limb-preserving surgeries, Dr. Healey has pioneered customized techniques to restore function using biologic and man-made materials.
Dr. Healey’s research has involved understanding the biological makeup of sarcoma cells and how they behave. He has also worked to develop new ways to deliver chemotherapy to tumors and explore strategies to use the immune system and tumor environment to kill cancer. He led clinical trials to study different surgical reconstructions, ways to reduce surgical complications, and measure quality of life in cancer patients.
A professor of orthopaedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Healey is a founding board member of the pediatric osteosarcoma organization, Make it Better (MIB) Agents. He has served as chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Orthopaedics Section, president of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, the International Society of Limb Salvage, and the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons. He is also on the boards of several musculoskeletal and orthopaedic organizations and serves as an advisor to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Dr. Healey was also an educator who directed the Orthopaedics Fellowship Program at MSK for 20 years and trained leading specialists in the field. He was the first American traveling fellow in Japan, studied at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and is honorary Professor at Peking University and member of the Korean Orthopaedic Association and the Italian Orthopaedic Society (SIOT). He remains an active participant in resident and fellow education with the MSKCC Orthopaedic Service.
Dr. Healey played Division 1 baseball at Yale University and continues to love and follow the game.