William B. Kleinman, M.D.

Biography

William B. Kleinman, M.D., is one of the three original founders of the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center. He has been in the practice of hand and upper extremity surgery at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center since the completion of his post-residency fellowship training in 1978. He earned his doctorate degree in medicine from Cornell University/New York Hospital in New York City in 1972, then completed a two-year general surgery residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver in 1974.  He returned to New York City in 1974 to complete a three-year residency training in orthopaedic surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. His formal one-year fellowship training in hand surgery was also completed at Columbia-Presbyterian, under the tutelage of his legendary mentor, Dr. Robert E. Carroll. Dr. Kleinman’s training in microvascular reconstruction followed at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.  He moved to Indianapolis from New York City in 1978.

Dr. Kleinman is a full Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Much of his work at the Medical Center during his early career was treating children with hand and upper extremity birth defects and birth palsies at the Riley Children’s Hospital for 15 years.

He has been passionate about teaching throughout his 46-year career. He’s given over 450 formal international, national, and regional lectures on hand and upper extremity reconstruction; has been an invited speaker to societies and institutions 60 times; has published 55 scientific articles in peer-review journals; and has written more than 30 chapters in academic textbooks.  He has developed six teaching videotapes for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

In 1985, Dr. Kleinman received the coveted Sterling Bunnell Traveling Fellowship Award from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, and in 2019, the Lee Osterman Award for most outstanding teacher of hand surgery nationally.

In 2022, he was nominated by the ASSH to become a “Pioneer of Hand Surgery”, an award given every three years by the International Federation for Societies of Surgery of the Hand. 

He has been the keynote speaker for the national ASSH Richard Smith, M.D. Residents’ and Fellows’ Conference, and the invited guest lecturer for the Robert E. Carroll, M.D. Founders’ Lecture of the ASSH in 2021.

Dr. Kleinman is passionate about delivering the highest level of care to his patients. He values above all the doctor-patient relationship, and the quality of services he – and his partners at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center – deliver to each of our patients.

Patient Stories

• Kenzie T-K., Age 28, Severely Broken Wrist

For Fun

Education

Undergrad
Rutgers University

Medical School
Cornell University Medical College

General Surgery Residency
University of Colorado Affiliated Hospitals

Orthopaedic Surgery Residency
The New York Orthopaedic Hospital (Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center)

Hand Surgery Fellowship
The New York Orthopaedic Hospital (Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center)

Microvascular Surgery Fellowship
Duke University Medical Center

Certifications

• American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
• Certificate Added Qualifications in Surgery of the Hand

Awards

• Fellowship ad hominem (by the Royal College of Surgeons {Edinburgh}), 2023
• International Pioneer in Hand Surgery (by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH)), London, 2022
• The William B. Kleinman, M.D. Teaching Award (by the Fellows of the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center for best teacher of the year), 2009-2023
• St Vincent Distinguished Physician Award, (Ascension Healthcare System), 2015
• Lee Osterman Excellence in Education Award (by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand), 2019
• Sterling Bunnell Traveling Fellowship in Hand Surgery (by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand), 1985

Publications

• Kokmeyer D, Merrell GA, Kleinman W, Baltera RM. The Use of a Vascularized Distal Ulna Autograft for Complex Distal Radius Fracture Nonunions. J Hand Surg Am. 2020;45(2):163.e161
• Kleinman WB.  Physical Examination of the Wrist:  Useful Provocative Maneuvers.  Journal of Hand Surgery 40(7):1486-1500, July 2015.  Invited Journal Publication.
• Kleinman, WB. “Salvage Procedures for the distal End of the Ulna: There is no Magic” The American Journal of Orthopedics 2009, 38(4) Vol XXXVIII; 172-180.
• Kleinman WB. Stability of the Distal Radioulna Joint: Biomechanics, Pathophysiology, Physical Diagnosis, and Restoration of Function; What We Have Learned in 25 Years. Review Article – invited Journal Publication.  Journal of Hand Surgery. September 2007;32A(7):1086-1106
• Kleinman WB. Cubital tunnel syndrome: Anterior transposition as a logical approach to complete nerve decompression. Journal of Hand Surgery 24A:886-897, 1999. Invited Journal Publication.
• Kleinman WB, Graham TJ. The distal radioulnar joint capsule:  clinical anatomy and role in post traumatic limitation of forearm rotation. Journal of Hand Surgery 23A:588-599, 1998.

Patents

• United States Patent – March 19th, 2013
• Inventor/co-inventor European Patent Office – May 9th, 2011
  • Assignee: Acumed LLC
  • Partial or complete prosthetic replacement arthroplasty of the distal radio-ulnar joint