Matthew Charles Hess, MD

Orthopedic Oncologic Surgeon at The University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Children's of Alabama, and the Birmingham VA Medical Center.

About Dr Hess

Orthopedic Oncologist and Joint Replacement Surgeon

Dr Hess is 1 of 2 specialists in the state of Alabama trained in pediatric and adult orthopedic surgical oncology. This means he received extra surgical and clinical training to take care of patients with cancer that has spread to the bone, tumors that developed within the bone like osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma, and soft tissue masses that are malignant cancers like sarcoma or benign lumps and bumps like lipomas. He will serve patients at UAB Hospitals, Children’s of Alabama, and the Birmingham VA Medical Center. He also functions as an assistant professor within the Department of Orthopedic Surgery where he educates medical students and orthopedic surgery residents as well as conducts research on bone and soft tissue sarcomas and metastatic bone disease.

He received his medical degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) where he graduated cum laude with Honors and was inducted into both the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Societies. Dr Hess trained in orthopedic surgery at UAB and helped lead the residency program as one of the two administrative chief residents in his final year. He established a number of quality improvement initiatives for the department and helped organize resident education. His research focused on the use of tranexamic acid in preventing blood loss in the surgical management of bone and soft tissue sarcomas, for which he won the best overall paper award at UAB’s resident research day and was awarded recognition by the Alabama Orthopedic Society. Upon graduation he was selected for the Neimann Award for outstanding chief resident. For fellowship training in musculoskeletal oncology, Dr Hess trained at the historic and prestigious combined Dr Michael A. Simon fellowship program at The University of Chicago and Northwestern University Hospitals. He trained with Drs Terrance Peabody, Rex Haydon, Tessa Balach, Samer Attar, and Alan Blank. Before joining the faculty of UAB, he was the recipient of the prestigious Hatcher Fellowship from the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society. Dr Hess traveled to the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Center for additional training in rotationplasty surgery with Dr Kevin Jones as well as the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in the United Kingdom to further study orthopedic oncology and reconstructive surgery with Professor Lee Jeys.

Dr Hess is committed to taking care of his patients as if they were his own family and friends. He believes in honest, empathetic, and frequent communication. He also believes in a multi-disciplinary approach to the management of bone and soft tissue tumors and works with a large team of medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, musculoskeletal radiologists, interventional radiologists, surgical oncologists, reconstructive surgeons, and specialized oncologic nurses who meet weekly to discuss care plans. When not delivering compassionate care or working to grow his knowledge of orthopedic oncology, Dr Hess enjoys going on walks outdoors with his wife and dog as well as playing disc golf and strategy board games

Medical Training:

Fellowship: Orthopedic Oncology at The University of Chicago and Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Residency: Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital (UAB)

Medical School: University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine (UAB)

Undergraduate Education: Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a Minor Degree in History: University of Georgia

Awards

Recipient of the MSTS Hatcher Traveling Fellowship Grant

Recipient of the MSTS Traveling Fellowship sponsored by Onkos

Neimann Award for Outstanding Chief Resident as voted on by all the faculty of the UAB Orthopedic Surgery Department

2nd Place Overall Paper in the Alabama Orthopedic Society Chestley L. Yelton Resident Essay Competition

American Orthopaedic Association – Emerging Leaders Program

Recipient of Foundation for Orthopaedic Trauma Resident Research Grant

Recipient on behalf of the UAB Orthopedic Residency of the 2021-2022 Robert Bucholz Journal Club Support from the JB&JS Resident Education Fund

UASOM Achievement Award for excellence in the clinical curriculum

Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society

Gold Humanism Honor Society

Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, UGA Phi Beta Kappa

Honors International Scholar, UGA Honors Program

M. Ebad Hasan Memorial Award for Outstanding Character, Medical College of Georgia Summer Training and Research Program

Charter Scholarship, University of Georgia

Professional Organization and Memberships

American Academy of Hip and Knee Surgeons

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Candidate Member

American Orthopaedic Association Emerging Leaders Program

Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, Candidate Member

Orthopaedic Research Society