Orthopaedic surgeon, pediatric advocate, mayor … no matter which hat he is wearing, Ken Moore, MD, keeps his focus on service to the community.
Growing up in Donelson, Moore knew he wanted to be a doctor from the time he was in elementary school. “That was just always my focus,” he said of going into medicine.
After earning his undergraduate degree at Tennessee Tech, Moore set off for the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. He stayed in Memphis for his internship and subsequently spent two years at Fort Bragg, N.C. as a general medical officer.
Moore then returned to Memphis to complete his training. “I toyed between plastic surgery, urology and orthopaedics … and orthopaedics won out for me,” he noted. “I like the diversity of operations and procedures and diseases.” In particular, he added, “I liked the complexity and intricacies of the hand.”
After a year of general surgery with City of Memphis Hospitals, and a six-month research fellowship in rheumatology at UTHSC, Moore undertook his orthopaedic training at the renowned Campbell Clinic.
During medical school and training, Moore became friends with a young doctor who was a year ahead of him in the program. He and fellow orthopaedic surgeon Eslick Daniel, MD, both knew they wanted to practice in a smaller town. “We scouted around, and Columbia, Tennessee looked like a good opportunity,” Moore said, adding there was a good community hospital, good schools and a good quality of life in Maury County.
Daniel founded Middle Tennessee Bone & Joint Clinic in January 1974. “I got there in January of ’75 and was there until I retired in 2004,” Moore said, noting the practice is still going strong today.
“My wife grew up in Franklin,” Moore said, of the impetus to pull up stakes and move to Williamson County. “We saw it was a good place to start the next phase of our life.”
He continued, “I always thought I’d have another career when I retired. My real thought was I’d try to develop expertise in healthcare policy.” Although he had some experience in that arena from work on a regional and national stage within his specialty, Moore said he was called in a different direction.
“I had the opportunity to go over to Bhutan in 2005, and I taught orthopaedic assistants,” he said of working with the group Orthopaedics Overseas. “In 2006, I went and taught orthopaedics in Ethiopia. I had 13 orthopaedic residents there for a month.”
Preparing for a similar trip to Moldova in 2007, a friend’s comments changed Moore’s course. “I was having breakfast with a friend who suggested I run for office … so I did,” he said with a chuckle. “In 2007, I was in a field of 13 candidates for four alderman-at-large positions, and I was successful in that race.”
By 2011, Moore was vice mayor of Franklin. When Gov. Bill Haslam tapped then-mayor John Schroer to become commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Moore finished the last nine months of Schroer’s mayoral term before running for the office in late 2011.
“This term I’m currently serving expires in October. I’m running again, and I’m unopposed,” he said of his new career leading the 14th fastest growing city in America with a population over 50,000.
While the charming city of Franklin boasts many positive qualities, Moore said he is particularly proud of one of his earliest efforts … a sustainability initiative that includes everything from curbside recycling to a solar field to a $200,000 savings in annual energy costs. “Not only has the community bought into it, but all of the city departments have sustainability initiatives, too,” he said.
With his deep medical roots, Moore is also proud of the growth in healthcare services in Williamson County, pointing to the recent opening of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Williamson Medical Center and the new Scott Hamilton Proton Center coming to Franklin. “We’ll be the second in Tennessee (first is in Knoxville) and the 18th in the nation,” Moore said of the cutting-edge form of radiation therapy. “We’re continuing to evolve as a major regional player in healthcare delivery.”
While Moore relishes his role as mayor, his love of medicine won’t allow him to completely step away from providing care. Moore serves as medical director for the Shalom Foundation, a local non-profit that has a surgery center in Guatemala City that provides care to children.
He calls his involvement in the organization a “God thing” that came about when a mutual friend introduced him to Steve Moore (no relation), chairman and founder of the Shalom Foundation. “I enjoyed my trips overseas and was sharing this at a Christmas breakfast,” he recalled of the casual first encounter. The two men, both passionate about helping children in poverty-stricken areas, struck up a friendship and then a working relationship through Shalom.
“We do every type of pediatric surgery except cardiovascular and neurosurgery,” Moore said of their work in Guatemala. “This year, we’ll do about 1,000 cases at no charge.” He added, “We’ll have some of the best surgeons in the world come to the surgery center.” In fact, Moore said Shalom partners with Monroe Carell at Vanderbilt, Duke University, Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin, the Miller Clinic in Los Angeles, and Denver Children’s Hospital, among others.
Moore traveled to Guatemala City five times last year and expects to go that many times again this year. He said they partner with the local Ronald McDonald House to help families traveling to the surgery center, which has 23 overnight beds, and with physicians throughout the country to provide follow-up appointments and monitoring. “We’ve been blessed with the opportunities we have there to render care to a lot of these kids,” Moore stated.
At first glance, it might not seem like physicians and politicians have a lot in common, but Moore pointed out both professions take a similar skill set. “As a physician, your career is talking and listening. My career as mayor is meeting and talking and listening to people,” he said.
While there isn’t much down time in Moore’s ‘retirement’ years, he does love to play golf when he gets the opportunity and has recently taken up learning to play the guitar. He and wife, Linda, also enjoy traveling, and Moore noted that between them they have five children and six grandchildren.
Whether spending time with his own family, working to improve his community or reaching out across the globe to children in need, it’s clear that Moore will never retire from his lifelong profession of helping others.
RELATED LINKS:
Shalom Foundation: http://www.theshalomfoundation.org
