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The AOFAS Orthopod-Cast
Meet the 2025 Pillars of the AOFAS - Dr. Kenneth A. Johnson & Dr. Pierce E. Scranton
00:15:40
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to AOFAS Ortho Podcast, where leaders in foot and ankle orthopedic surgery discuss the issues that affect you and your practice. Please note that the views expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of the AOFAS or its members.
- [00:27]
B
2025 AOFAS Legacy Pillar, Ken Johnson. This is Joe park and Ben Jackson, here with the family of Ken Johnson. So Laura and her brother Gunner are here to receive the award on your dad's behalf. And as you know, he's meant so much to our society. He has a named award after him that we hear his name every meeting. And I just wanted to try to get you guys to share what he meant to you. And Dr. Kyle is joining us. Todd Kyle's with us as well, but maybe just from a family perspective, you know, tell us about your dad, things that we might not know otherwise from Google.
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C
Yeah, this is Gunner. And we grew up in an orthopedic family in Rochester, Minnesota. And my dad worked at the Mayo. I was born young enough so that we went through the training with him. So we went to Newfoundland, Canada, for a while, and he trained in pediatrics. And then he was in Rochester, and then he was in the military out in Fort Lewis, Washington, for a couple years. And that was during the Vietnam War. And so I remember as a child going with my dad to the hospital, Fort Lewis, and seeing all these kids. These were soldiers that had just been busted up in Vietnam, and they were just 24 hours out of the jungle, and. And my dad was there doing his best to learn orthopedics and to put these guys back together again. And I think that was a very powerful time in his life. And then we moved back to Rochester and we lived. We grew up with our dad as a doctor. And, you know, there would be times where I would go into the bathroom in my mom and dad's bedroom, and they would be. He would be in there cleaning off a bone, a cadaver bone, for some sort of project that he was working on. And he would.
- [02:20]
D
What a fantastic story.
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E
Boy, that is fantastic.
- [02:22]
C
And he would sit at his chair and he would think about and write articles for the Foot and Ankle Journal, and he would edit. I mean, this is what he put a lot of time and energy into. And it was. It was a part of his life. It was a part of our life growing up. And I, you know, we listened to the other doctors talk that received the same foundation or pillar award and how they loved what they were doing. And I would say that about my dad. Is he really, he got a lot of energy helping people. He got a lot of energy training people like Todd and many other fellows that worked with him. And he was an interesting guy where we would roll in. I so a story that we did one time, Todd was talking about, we. We were involved in a plane crash where he flew a plane, and we landed in northern Minnesota. And so we got out of this plane, we walked to the nearest farmhouse, and the people let us use their phone. But through the discussion, my dad figured out that this guy up in Black Duck, Minnesota, was suffering from heart congestive heart failure. And within a week, my dad had him in at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. And they stayed with us. I mean, that was the kind of doctor my dad was, where he would. He would not only he would use his position to get people medical care, they would stay with us at the house. They became almost family. And so growing up in that, it was a very powerful experience. And, you know, it's. It means a lot to us for my dad to get this award. After many years, we're all, I'm a professional. But I don't think that 30 years after I die, people will be remembering the accomplishments that I've made. And so it means a lot to have 30 years after my dad passed away to be remembering the work and the accomplishments that he brought. So we'd like to thank the society and we very much appreciate this award.
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E
Laura, I love you.
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D
To share stories between.
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F
Yes, as Gunner said, my dad always involved us in the practice of medicine. He would take us to meetings for as young as I can remember, he would take us to meetings, he would introduce us to all of his colleagues. We know Dr. Mann and Dr. Smith and all the people, because we went to all those meetings and we were young individuals and he was passionate about his practice and he really was committed. He would. I remember, as Gunner says, that he would sit at his desk late at night and work on articles and edit articles and talk about his day. And he really gave me a respect for doing something that you feel passionate about and doing it well. Because I always remember him saying, you can tell the people who do things well and you can tell the people who don't. And he only wanted people who did things well. And that being said, he wasn't afraid to take risks. He wasn't afraid to encounter challenges, but he wanted people who would work hard and advance the profession. And I think he was a leader in that. And it was a tremendous honor for us to see him receive this award this morning.
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B
Yeah, well, you know, this is the first time we've done this and I apologize it didn't go as smoothly as I would have wished for. But you know, it meant a lot. And you know, Dr. Kyle, you know, taking the time to help put this together, I don't know. Do you mind saying a few words before we close?
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E
Thank you.
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G
Thank you. This is Todd Kyle. I have to say that you two did a fantastic job telling us who Ken was as a father. And I think that that same theme carried into his professional life. He was very inclusive, as you mentioned, Laura, very inclusive to the society. He grew our society by being inclusive and he grew the journal and he made the journal international journal and that's just, that's who he was as a person. And it was true in his personal life and his professional life. So it was an honor today. Thank you.
- [06:34]
D
Yeah, I think, I think Gunner, you said something that was really poignant, I thought. I mean, I agree with you. I don't think anybody's me talking about me 30 years after I die. Right. And that's something that is earned. You know, I think this award is obviously is given, but it's really earned. It's earned by I think a career and a life well spent. And so congratulations to your dad and your family for, for what he's done to our society and the fact that we're still talking about him 30 years later. So that's amazing. I'm sure it's something you're super proud of of your father.
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F
And thank you, thank you for including us today.
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H
2025 AOFAS pillar Pierce Scranton.
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B
This is Joe park and Ben Jackson here interviewing yet another award winner today. Which is really humbling to be involved in this at all. But you know, just learning more about what Pierce Scranton has done for our society again makes me realize how much the predecessors have built for us being part of the foundation, which I know Brian Den Hartog is joining us too. But as former president, he understands and realizes how important your role was for our society. So thank you. Do you have any insight into perhaps what this society has meant for you? I know you shared some today.
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H
I would say professionally it gave me great reward to be part of the scientific community. It was one thing to treat patients and achieve that reward, but to have scientific accomplishments that advanced what we did and then have a forum to present it with a collection of people who are like minded, that was, it was very meaningful. And I was in aossm, I was in the Arthroscopy association. But for me There was no comparison to the sense of family and inclusion that the society offered. And it just felt at home there. So it made me want to live up to how I perceived other people that I thought were there selflessly serving. It's a long answer, but it was it. You know, since I haven't really tried to wrap my mind around that before, that's where it went.
- [08:48]
D
I may pick up on. On two things that you mentioned there. One, I think even one of the other pillars mentioned today, the contribution your society that you had by the fundraising arm of it, and what a big deal that's been. And because of that, we have the resident scholarships. And I've had many people go into foot and ankle because of what you said, the sense of community and family. And there have been many resident scholars who have come here, met other foot and ankle surgeons. Like, those are my people. I'm going to do foot and ankle. That's honestly what inspired me to do foot and ankle was on a resident scholarship because some of the money that you initiated and helped raise decades ago led the resident scholarship that allowed me to get around these people. Like, I like those people. They seem really nice and nicer than any other specialty I thought than I'd ever been around. And there's been numerous people that I think have had that same experience. So I think you're right about this sense of community, and it's all because of the fundraising arm that you helped start that led to our ability to do that, and it's led a lot of people to go into foot and ankle career. So I just want to personally thank you for that. But I've known a lot of people that have also had that same experience, so really appreciate that.
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H
That's super. Yeah.
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D
So, Brian, what led you to nominate him? Just want to hear a little bit about that.
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E
Well, Naomi Shields and I both nominated Pierce, and again, he was one of my heroes when I was a young practitioner looking for growth in the society and looking for direction, not just professionally, but also personally. You an example of somebody who cares beyond just their professional achievement or money or a successful practice. It was more about the heart of the society, which really should be a heart of service. So that's really what attracted me to Pierce and his initiatives. For example, the oef, you know, he and Elaine were the initial donors to that fund. They donated $100,000 to that fund. And they didn't just speak the words, but they lived the words. They went to their pocketbook and they shelled out a large sum of money. And then encourage a number of industry partners to join them. And that's sort of the philanthropic part of our organization. And to build on that, now we've. We have the Orthopedic Foot and Ankle foundation, which has a pseudo fund that, that really does fund a lot of research and education at this point, mostly research. And it gives stability. You were talking in your presentation, Pierce, about the economic downturn of, you know, in the early 2000s, late 1990s and so forth. And it was, it was a concern at that point, you know, with the society' survive. And we needed a fund of money. It's kind of a rainy day fund. And. And really, Pierce started that initiative. He had that vision of, you know, well, what happens if another economic downturn? I mean, societies need money too, to survive, to do their mission. And so in the late 2008, with the downturn, again, it was just reinforced to us as a board of our society that we needed even a bigger fund of money with more reserves to fund those rainy days. So that was the start of the Orthopedic Foot and Ankle foundation and the pseudo endowment that we formed through that. So that was really the impetus, that was the vision that we carried on. But Pierce started that.
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D
Tell us some special story about them that you can't find on Google.
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E
Well, I mean, I'm sure Naomi Shields would probably have some really good stories about times in Vietnam. You know, it was. It was a time where there was a lot of emphasis on landmines. I think there was how many million landmines that replaced 80 million that were so, so, so Pierce and Naomi and other team members, really, I'm sure, you know, broke some ground going over there and trying to repair some of the hard feelings between the two countries.
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D
And there are 80 million landmines in.
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H
Vietnam was at the time, on a worldwide basis. You know, the DMZ demilitarized zone was heavily mined, heavily bombed, and heavily Agent Oranged. And that has produced an ongoing gift that never goes away. The Agent Orange doesn't go away. The birth defects. There are hundreds of square miles that can't be touched because anything that you eat or grow out of there has Agent Orange dioxin in it, which will cause birth defects. But I did it because I did not serve in Vietnam. I was a 2s during the draft times. I was a medical student. And by the time I finished, there was no draft. But I. I have friends that went to Vietnam that fought and friends that died in Vietnam, and they thought they were doing the right thing. And I You know, that's what the path that America chose. And we carpet bombed 2 million people, 2 million Vietnamese, just to try to pound them into submission. And so part of me wanted to do something to give back. And it wasn't that I singled them out, but they had a stable government too. You can't just show up in a country and say, we're here to operate. And so I went over, did a fact finding mission in Hanoi and met with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Veteran affairs and, and they set it up, you know, and then, then the ball started rolling. You open one door and three more doors open. That's how it worked out. Well, it was an idea to create this fund turned into a life work. Shall we say that it's a powerful story. Yeah, it really is.
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E
So one of my stories that appears is I remember he's very successful at sports. Foot and ankle provider to not just the Seahawks. He's only a team position for the Seahawks for 18 years, but also to professional volleyball, you know, skaters, a number of different other sports as well. But despite all that success, I remember what you told me one time, he's admiring the fact that he was so prominent in the NFL and so forth. And he says, you know, watching football now is like watching paint dry, so there's gotta be more than this. And that's. I think that was part of the initiative by which you started the OEF and the Vietnam initiative and so forth. But it's really just as hard for service and for especially for those that were less fortunate than us. So that's really what drives us, that's really our purpose.
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H
That's hits the nail on the head, right?
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B
So I think that's pretty profound insight, you know, in a country where there's such a disparity between the wealthy and the care they receive and the poor. So I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for our society. And thank you for joining us to receive the award.
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H
Thank you very much.
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D
Yeah, congratulations on award well earned.
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H
Thank you.
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B
Lex Rudin.
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A
Thank you for listening to the AOFAS Ortho Podcast, a Convey Med production. To learn more about joining our dynamic community of highly skilled orthopedic specialists, visit aofas.org.