Thomas Kelso

Thomas Kelso is Board Certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and has been in practice since 1998. He graduated from Virginia Tech and completed his medical education at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Prior to attending medical school he was a graduate student studying exercise physiology and received a Ph.D. from Washington State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Kelso received his orthopedic training in the Navy. While on active duty he served for two years as the medical officer aboard the guided missile cruiser, USS Virginia. After completing orthopedic residency he joined the teaching faculty at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center Orthopedic Department and was the Director of Residency Research. During this period he was the orthopedic surgeon for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

In 2000 Dr. Kelso left military service and practiced for ten years in Springfield, Missouri at Mercy-St. John’s Hospital, a level I trauma center. While practicing at St. John’s he gained extensive experience in caring for orthopedic trauma patients. He continued his interest in sports medicine and was a team orthopedic surgeon for Missouri State University and the Springfield Cardinals baseball team, the AA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2010 he moved to the southeastern coast of North Carolina and became a full-time practicing partner in the Wilmington division of EmergeOrtho where he cares for patients with aging joints and sports related injuries. In the evenings and on weekends, when not on emergency room call, he writes fiction. His first novel, “Fractured” was published in 2018.