MEMBERS
DR. Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
ROLANDO PUNO, MD
Aaron Burch
I
t’s rare to meet a physician as casually innovative as Dr. Ro-
lando Puno. The renowned spinal surgeon propelled himself
from humble beginnings in the Philippines to an impressive
career here in the United States. Along the way, he submitted
52 patents which have irrevocably changed the orthopedics
field for the better.
Affable and soft-spoken in person, Dr. Puno is quick to heap
praise on the orthopedic surgeons who came before him, those
who provided the foundation for advances he has made in the field.
“Dr. Kenton Leatherman, who founded the Leatherman Spine
Center, has said ‘Innovation and collaboration give excellent care’
and I believe that,” he explained, sitting in his downtown Norton
office.
On the wall behind him are photos of family and friends as well as
a magazine cover of a recently famous case in which Dr. Puno saved
an Ethiopian boy from a particularly dangerous spinal curvature.
Throughout the course of his interview, Dr. Puno presents numerous
photos of his patients before and after their spinal surgery. His gifts
for abstract thought and surgical proficiency have allowed Dr. Puno
to regularly change the lives of these patients in dramatic fashion.
While Dr. Leatherman and other like-minded physicians pro-
vided guideposts for Dr. Puno to follow, engineering and problem
solving have been in his DNA from the start. Growing up in the city
of Manila as the oldest of six brothers and sisters, a young Dr. Puno
had to devise ways to entertain himself and his younger siblings.
“My parents were careful about spending money, especially for
toys. So, I made my own. When I was 11, I designed a wooden boat
with a lead weight, almost like a submarine. It was powered by a
rubber band that went around the propeller,” he said. A few years
later, when his father refused to buy him a motorcycle, Dr. Puno
and his brothers bought an engine and built their own from scratch.
“We built it in my dad’s machine shop without him knowing,”
Dr. Puno laughed. “When he finally saw it, he said, ‘Okay, we better
buy you a safer bike.’”
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
His father, Rufino, was an entrepreneur in Manila, managing
three businesses. One involved drilling for fresh water, another
manufacturing and the third sold water pumps.
“I worked in the drilling company, and it was similar to looking
for shallow oil. You’d have to drill 1,000 feet sometimes to hit fresh
water. The drill bits were imported from the United States and
could cost as much as $15,000. If the drill rod broke, you lost all
your profits instantly. I developed a device for the company that
would fish the drill bits out and save them, which was a huge help
financially,” he said.
Because engineering skills came naturally to him, Dr. Puno’s
grade school education came from Don Bosco Technical Institute.
He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Santo
Tomas before pursuing medicine at the University of the East - Ra-
mon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC). Upon
his graduation in 1977, Dr. Puno worked to quickly expand his
knowledge through years of internship, rural service and residency.
In his free time, he loved to motocross and hydroplane race.
“I thought I’d go into orthopedics, so I could apply my interests
in both engineering and medicine at the same time,” he explained.
“This was in the early 1980s, and there were not many good devices
for treating orthopedic disorders. People were often left in casts and
forced to stay in bed for months.”
Ever the innovator, the young Dr. Puno designed an external
fixer that worked in place of a cast, realigning and supporting bones
while providing significantly more mobility for the patient. “I’ve
always thought: if I’m having a hard time, then other people are
probably having a hard time as well. Sometimes the way to solve
this is to create a different device or technique.”
Hoping to pursue a career in orthopedic trauma and joint sur-
gery, Dr. Puno came to America in 1979. He began a fellowship at the
Hennepin County Medical Center at the University of Minnesota.
There he met a mentor, Dr. Ramon Gustilo.
“Dr. Gustilo is a very innovative person and a good friend. He