Claude Moorman III, MD, is professor and Edward N. Hanley, Jr. Endowed Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., and president of the Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute.
A native of Durham, N.C., and known to everyone as “T,” Dr. Moorman graduated from Duke University and, in 1987, received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He later completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Duke University Medical Center and a year-long sports medicine fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
Dr. Moorman is board certified in orthopaedic surgery and orthopaedic sports medicine. Throughout his career, he has focused his clinical practice on complex shoulder instability and multiple ligament knee injuries.
In 1996, Dr. Moorman became an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he started the school’s Sports Medicine Program. He served as head team physician for the Baltimore Ravens through their first NFL championship in 2001. Later that year, he was recruited back to Duke as associate professor, chief of sports medicine and head team physician. He later was named professor and vice chair of orthopaedic surgery.
Dr. Moorman remained at Duke through 2017, continuing to lead the medical care of the university’s athletic teams. During his tenure, he was part of 17 national championships and 60 Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
Dr. Moorman began his work at Atrium Health in Charlotte in 2018. As president of the Musculoskeletal Institute, he manages more than 100 clinical faculty, 12 PhD faculty, 31 residents and fellows, and the ancillary services supporting the musculoskeletal service line. He also oversees a program for physician-scientists, known as the Early Career Development Award, which marries clinical and translational science.
Dr. Moorman has devoted a significant portion of his career to the education of undergraduate, graduate and medical students, residents and fellows. While at Duke, he also was a professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology teaching an undergraduate anatomy course. Additionally, he has served as residency program director and fellowship program director at three institutions, and has been responsible for the education of 168 residents and 75 fellows. He twice has received Resident Teaching Awards.
An international leader in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine, Dr. Moorman has lectured in 20 countries on five continents. He has been an international European traveling fellow with the Sports Medicine Society and was selected to lead an exchange fellowship in the Far East. Dr. Moorman is a past president of the Magellan Society, which oversees international exchange in sports medicine.
He also has been president or a member of the Board of Directors of several orthopaedic and medical organizations, including the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the Southern Orthopaedic Association, the Piedmont Orthopaedic Society, the Atlantic Coast Conference Team Physician Society, the Duke Medical Alumni Association, and the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.