Hampar Kelikian

Hampar Kelikian (1899 to 1983) was an Armenian American orthopedic surgeon known for rebuilding badly damaged limbs. Born Hamparzoum Keklikian in Hadjin in the Ottoman Empire, he emigrated to the United States in 1920, supported himself as a waiter at the University of Chicago, and went on to study at that university and at Rush Medical College. He interned at Cook County Hospital and later joined the staff of Wesley Hospital and Northwestern Medical School. During the Second World War he served as chief orthopedic surgeon of the 297th General Hospital. His most publicized case was the future senator Bob Dole, whose shattered right shoulder and arm he treated in seven operations between 1947 and 1953 using transplanted leg bone and muscle. He wrote three monographs on hand, ankle and foot surgery, worked on congenital deformities, and was still operating in his eighties.