David Ring, M.D., Ph.D.

David Ring is the associate dean for comprehensive care and a professor of surgery and psychiatry at Dell Medical School. He is also a courtesy professor in the departments of Health Social Work and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He was born in San Diego, double-majored in physics and biochemistry/cell biology at the University of California at San Diego, and graduated from the UCSD School of Medicine in 1993. His surgical internship was at Massachusetts General Hospital, orthopedic residency in the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency, chief residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and hand and upper extremity fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital with Jesse Jupiter, M.D.

Before moving to Austin, Ring was a professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School, chief of hand surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, and chair of the MGH Orthopedic Quality and Patient Safety Committee. He was awarded a Ph.D. for clinical research in psychosocial aspects of arm pain from the University of Amsterdam in 2005. His interests include trauma and post-traumatic reconstruction in the arm, quality and patient safety, common arm illnesses and psychosocial aspects of arm illness. He has more than 450 peer-reviewed original research publications. He is a deputy editor for Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Ring has influenced the treatment of upper extremity trauma and its sequellae (traumatic elbow instability in particular), nonunions, and common hand illnesses. He has also increased the appreciation of the importance of both nontechnical skills in orthopedic surgery and the psychological and sociological influences on musculoskeletal illness.