Navigating through Forty Under Forty:

Klaus Abels
Jeanne Allgood
Jennifer Barnhart
Keith Bellizzi
Scott Case
Swin Cash
Kevin Clarke
Stacey Violante Cote
Margaret Drozdowski
Bryan Dumont
Stefanie (Pratola) Ferreri
Lani Fortier
Chunlei Guo
Christopher Hattayer
Tabitha Hitchcock
Kristin Hoffman
Scott Holcomb
James Hormuzdiar
Rebecca Lobo
Brett McGurk
Mikki Meadows-Oliver
Kevin Molloy
Irina (Tsikhelashvili) Moore
Christopher Murphy
Ilia (Rodriguez) O’Hearn
Emeka Okafor
Eric Owles
Jonathan Plucker
Althea Marshall Richardson
Craig Rodner
Carlos Rodrigues
Richard Ruiz
Christine Sansevero
Elizabeth Flynn Scott
Matthew Small
Peter Tesei
Anthony Uliano
Fahd Vahidy
Marcela de Jesús Vergara-Jiménez
Alicia Young

Craig Rodner, 34

Orthopaedic Surgeon

Craig Rodner '00 M.D. did not decide to follow his father's career path into medicine until his sophomore year at Swarthmore in 1994, when he completed an externship in a physician's office in Philadelphia.

After that he wasted no time.

At the UConn School of Medicine, the lifelong athlete was quickly drawn to anatomy and the musculoskeletal system and zeroed in on orthopaedics.

Photo by Judy Griesediek

Recipient of the 2000 UConn School of Medicine Dean's Award for outstanding achievement in medical studies and the 2000 Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey Humanism in Medicine Award, he recalls being motivated “to help people function better.”

He completed his surgical residency at UConn, from 2000 to 2005, and was honored by his fellow residents with the Orthopeaedic Surgery Residency Cavazos Award.

He was just 32 in 2006 when, following a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at Brown University, he was recruited back to UConn as an assistant professor.

“In a short period of time, Craig has established himself as an outstanding hand surgeon and educator,” says Jay R. Lieberman, director of the UConn Health Center's New England Musculoskeletal Institute.

“His enthusiasm for orthopaedic surgery and his compassion for his patients sets an excellent example for other faculty, residents and medical students.”

In addition to teaching at the New England Musculoskeletal Institute, he continues to publish research findings in medical journals.