Chairman's Message

"The mission of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Medical College of Wisconsin is to provide outstanding care for our patients, expand our scientific knowledge base, and train physiatrists, academicians, and rehabilitation leaders of the future. "

Timothy R. Dillingham, MD, MS, was appointed Chairman and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by Michael J. Dunn, MD, Dean and Executive Vice President in April 2003. Dr. Dillingham comes from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he served as associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and director of the department's outpatient and electrodiagnostic services.

In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, he sees patients at Froedtert Hospital and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. His clinical specialties include outpatient management of persons with musculoskeletal disorders and amputations, as well as electrodiagnostic medicine.

"Dr. Dillingham's talents as a gifted teacher, administrator and distinguished clinician and researcher will help ensure the long tradition of excellence in a department that offers one of the largest medical rehabilitation programs in the country," said Dr. Dunn.

Dr. Dillingham is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine and the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is a Fellow of, and serves as an oral board examiner for, the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Dillingham was a member of the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of Major and received the Army Commendation Medal for promoting, directing and improving the quality of research in the physical medicine service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for exemplary performance of duties during four years of service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the American Military Engineers Award of Excellence, and two Golden Spoon faculty teaching awards from the physical medicine and rehabilitation residents at Walter Reed.

While at Johns Hopkins, he won the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Education and Research Foundation Young Investigator award to study the neurophysiology of the mylohyoid nerve.

His current research interests include rehabilitation and long-term outcomes for amputees, and electrodiagnosis of patients with limb symptoms and musculoskeletal disorders. He is an established investigator with over 70 publications including 43 peer-reviewed papers, two textbooks and other invited contributions and abstracts. He is the primary investigator on a National Institutes of Health-funded grant examining the epidemiology, post acute rehabilitation services utilization, and outcomes for dysvascular amputees.

Dr. Dillingham is an associate editor for the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation editorial board, and has served as an invited guest editor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America. He won the Association of Academic Physiatrists Excellence in Research Writing award in 1999.

Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Dillingham was assistant professor of neurology at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

He received his medical degree, and a master's degree in rehabilitation medicine, from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, where he also completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation.