Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Don Buford.
Dr. Don Buford founded The Texas Orthobiologics Institute as a research institute where patients can benefit from the latest evidence-based orthobiologic orthopedic treatments. The most common conditions treated are arthritis pain, back pain, tendon injuries, and sports injuries.
Dr. Buford has been in an established orthopedic surgery practice in Dallas for over 20 years and has been voted multiple times by Dallas area physicians as one of the best orthopedic surgeons. He has been board certified by the American Board Of Orthopedic Surgery twice and is a sought after lecturer nationally and internationally on orthopedic surgery and regenerative medicine subjects.
Dr. Buford attended Stanford University for the first half of his college career. While at Stanford, he was a member of the baseball team and had a double major in economics and Human Biology. He then transferred to USC, where he continued to play baseball and study economics and the pre-med curriculum.
In 1988 he received the Woody Hayes NCAA Division I Academic All-American Award for being the single most outstanding NCAA Division I male student-athletes. After graduation from USC, he signed his first professional baseball contract with the Baltimore Orioles and also enrolled at UCLA Medical School.
Dr. Buford played professional baseball as a second baseman and outfielder in the Baltimore Orioles professional organization for four years. Dr. Buford’s father, Don Sr., played for the Chicago White Sox (’63 -’68) and the Baltimore Orioles (’68-’72) and played in 3 World Series, winning in 1970 over the Cincinnati Reds. Don Sr. is in the Orioles Hall of Fame. Dr. Buford’s younger brother, Damon, had an eight-year- major league career, which included two years as the starting center fielder for the Texas Rangers.
After graduating from the UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Buford completed a 5-year orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Texas, Southwestern, in Dallas. Dr. Buford also completed a one-year sports medicine fellowship at the prestigious Southern California Orthopaedic Institute (SCOI) in 1999, where he learned advanced arthroscopy techniques.
Dr. Buford’s interest in orthobiologics was a natural outgrowth of his training in minimally invasive surgery both are designed to help patients in the simplest, safest way possible. Since 2008, Dr. Buford has been training clinicians on MSK ultrasound and now orthobiologics as the Director of the MSK Ultrasound and Orthobiologics Course. The course is held twice a year in various locations. Dr. Buford and his course faculty have trained over 1600 clinicians in MSK ultrasound.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There were challenges during my medical school education, during which I was still playing professional baseball in the Baltimore Orioles organization. This was before the internet (1987-1991) so I had to follow a “self-study” curriculum for about 12 weeks of the year by using atlases and textbooks during the baseball season. For many tests, I had to fly back to Los Angeles during the season to take a mid-term or final test.
As a practicing orthopedic surgeon in private practice (not a salaried hospital position), my primary challenge has been incorporating state of the art evidence-based orthobiologic therapies into my practice. The use of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) and bone marrow-derived stem cells in orthopedics have grown exponentially in the last ten years. Gaining the confidence of surgical colleagues has been a challenge since the procedures in some cases, have few human clinical outcome studies. An ongoing challenge is combating the rampant fraud and misinformation presented to the public in the media regarding the clinical use of orthobiologics in orthopedics and other medical specialties. I advocate for the ethical evidence-based use or orthobiologics in orthopedics. I founded the orthobiologics ethics consortium years ago as a way for like-minded clinicians to self-police the field and to be sources of accurate information.
Please tell us about The Texas Orthobiologics Institute.
Our mission is to use personalized, state of the art nonsurgical orthobiologic treatments to help patients return to their best level of health and function. We can also use the same orthobiologic techniques to speed recovery, minimize complications, or increase the success rate of some orthopedic surgeries.
The Texas Orthobiologics Institute is a clinical research institute and works to further knowledge in this growing field. Currently, we use platelet rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow concentrate (BMC- Stem Cells) as our two primary orthobiologic therapies and in our clinical studies. We also provide a concierge-style full-service orthopedic surgical practice and believe in working with our patients to maintain and improve their health thru an evidence-based use of the best surgical and nonsurgical therapies.
Patients deserve a state of the art, unbiased, and accurate medical information so that they may make informed decisions about their health care. The Institute’s founder, Don Buford, MD, holds an advanced certification in MSK Ultrasound (RMSK) and has been the Director of the Las Vegas MSK Ultrasound and Orthobiologics Course for 12 years.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Technical skill, honesty, teaching skills (both patient and clinician).
Pricing:
- Platelet Rich Plasma for 1 location $650 | Platelet Rich Plasma for 2 locations: $1000
- Bone Marrow Concentrate/Stem Cell for 1 location $2800
Contact Info:
- Address: 1015 N Carroll
Ste 2000 Dallas, TX 75204 - Website: http://www.orthobioteas.com
- Phone: 214-385-4861
- Email: donbufordmd@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://buford.info/instagram
- Facebook: http://buford.info/facebook
- Twitter: @orthobiotexas.com
- Other: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-don-buford-xvsw4
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