The Biography of Dr. Bill

Dr. Bill is the nom de guerre of William Thomas Stillwell, M.D., FACS, FICS, FAAOS, FAANAOS, FAAPGS, member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America, the Association for Hip & Knee Surgery, and numerous professional and scientific societies, including his Fellowships in The American College of Surgery, The International College of Surgery, The American Academy for Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgery, and the American Academy for Postgraduate Surgery.

He is a licensed, board certified orthopaedic surgeon, with nearly a quarter century of clinical experience, and has served as Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Smithtown, New York until he retired in 2003, Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1987-2003), Assisitant Professor before that, and Instructor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University (1982-1999).

Dr. Bill was born in Brooklyn, New York and is a product of the New York City educational system, with higher education through New York Medical College, where he earned his Doctorate in Medicine in 1973. At this time, he also worked as a professional medical illustrator and comic artist

His Internship and General Surgery Residency were at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Vurginia and his Residency in Orthopaedics was at St. Luke’s Hospital, back in New York. Subsequently, he completed his advanced training in Adult Reconstruction as an Otto E. Aufranc Fellow in Constructive Surgery at the prestigious New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, and Tufts University, where he was a Visiting Fellow.

Thereafter, he began the private practice of orthopaedic surgery in Commack and Smithtown, New York, on Long Island, in the summer of 1979. Five years later, he had a specialized practice in surgery of the hip & knee and was appointed Chief of Orthopaedics. During this period, he was also Director of the Fracture Clinic, at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in NYC. He introduced many advanced techniques in joint reconstruction to the hospital, including his pioneering work on standardized protocols, which eventually became known as clinical pathways, decades ahead of the rest of the field.

He has written (and often illustrated) a number of scientific and academic articles, which have been published in peer reviewed medical journals, and two major orthopaedic textbooks on advanced joint reconstruction: The Art of Total Hip Arthroplasty (Grune & Stratton, 1987), and Arthroplasty: An Atlas of Surgical Technique (with coauthor W. Norman Scott, M.D., Aspen Publications, 1987). He illustrated the latter two books, as well.

During his tenure as Chairman, Dr. Stillwell developed his Department with one of the strongest rosters of surgical excellence on Long Island and the region. His hospital became a widely respected regional center of excellence for major joint replacement and revision, arthroscopic surgery, and advanced spinal procedures. He himself was publicly acknowledged as a regional expert in his field, The Hip & Knee Specialist, with a regional, national and international referral base. He was also invited, twice, to lecture at the prestigious British Hip Course in Oswestry, Wales, in the U.K., on advanced revision surgery techniques.

At the peak of his career, Dr. Bill sustained a fractured spine in a fall, and after attempting to continue his work for over a year, despite progressive pain, believing he was putting patients at risk, he voluntarily resigned from his position and retired from his practice. He now commutes seasonally between his main residence in Central Florida and the “Northern Command,” in Southampton, New York. He lives with his wife of over 35 years and a whole lot of cats.

He is now the Founder, President & CEO of Dr. Bill’s Clinic, Inc. (http://drbillsclinic.com) which publishes medical information for the laity and Medical Director of Dr. Bill’s Favorite Formulas, Inc. (http://favoriteformulas.com) for the best enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil available and other fine supplements.