KISSIMMEE—Michael Karr, MD, had planned to have a military career like his Marine dad, Lloyd, but hit a snag during the application process to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

 

"I had to wear glasses, and they only gave waivers if your vision was no worse than 20/100," he explained. "I read the 20/80 and the 20/100 charts satisfactorily, but the examiner said I squinted and he couldn't count them. The next line on the examining chart was 20/200."

 

Karr had been so focused on getting into the Naval Academy that he didn't have a back-up plan.

 

"That was the only place I'd really applied because I was sure to get in," he said. "I was an A student, had been captain of the football team, president of my senior class, had an almost perfect math score on the SAT, and all those things you strive to achieve to get into a school like that." 

 

Instead, Karr, the oldest of four in a military family whose assignments included California, Colorado, Virginia, and a final stop in North Carolina, headed to East Carolina University to pick up a chemistry degree before studying medicine on a Navy scholarship at the University of North Carolina, home of the Tar Heels.

 

"Usually if you go to Annapolis, you don't go on to medical school, so things worked out for the best," said Karr, a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon who originally considered becoming a dentist. "Because the curriculum for pre-dentistry students for the first two years of undergraduate school is basically the same for pre-med students, and I was acing everything, I decided I'd rather take care of the whole body than just the teeth. Then I figured out in the second year of medical school that I wanted to specialize in orthopaedics. Since I was an athlete and a sports nut, it fit. Specializing in total joint replacement came later."

 

In between college and medical school, Karr married his high school sweetheart, Joanne Waller, an elementary schoolteacher/reading specialist who also grew up in a military family.

 

The Karrs lived in Portsmouth, Va., for five years while he completed his internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at the Naval Regional Medical Center—and played on the championship-winning softball team—and spent an autumn in Boston for him to complete a fellowship in total joint reconstruction at Brigham & Women's Hospital.

 

After a short time as director of the total joint replacement service at Naval Regional, Karr relocated to Central Florida, which was closer to his wife's family in Albany, Ga. Karr and his partner, Markus Kornberg, MD, were among the first orthopaedic surgeons to set up practice in the metro Orlando area.

 

Karr has served in several leadership positions locally, most recently as chief of staff at Florida Hospital-Kissimmee. He has professional privileges at Osceola Regional Medical Center, Florida Hospital-Kissimmee, St. Cloud Regional Medical Center, Kissimmee Surgery Center Inc., and Florida Hospital-Celebration. An American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Fellow, he's involved with the Southern Orthopaedic Society, Florida Orthopaedic Society, Citrus Orthopaedic Society, American Medical Association, Osceola Medical Society, and Association for Arthritic Hip and Knee Surgery.

 

"I love what I do," said Karr. "The nice thing about my specialty as a joint replacement surgeon is that I really enjoy changing people's lives in a positive way, especially taking care of the older population patients that have succumbed to their arthritic disorders, and have had to change their life so much because of their arthritis, they never thought they could go back to going on long hikes or dancing with their great-grandchildren. And suddenly, this beautiful solution of joint replacement surgery has allowed them to re-enjoy their lives. I have story after story of people coming to me, some in wheelchairs, who within a year of their surgery are doing things again they never thought they'd do. One of my favorites is a lady who could hardly walk. I did both of her knees, and within a year and a half, she was climbing up into the crow's nest of a cruise ship. Her husband sent me a picture. And another lady who had a hip replacement was walking the Appalachian Trail. Not to take anything away from them, but a lot of medical specialties don't have the definitive result that's a permanent solution to a problem."

 

In his spare time, Karr plays golf once or twice a week, and visits family scattered around the country. Karr and his wife have three grown children, all Lake Highland Prep School graduates—Bryan, a newly married copywriter for an advertising agency in Boston, Mass.; Kathlene, a marketing executive now a stay-at-home mom for Trey, 3, and Josie, 8 months; and Meredith, also a writer. Both daughters live in Atlanta. All of his siblings are professionals—one sister is a nurse practitioner in Flagstaff, Az.; another is a social worker in Jacksonville, NC; his brother is a retired naval officer now working at the Pentagon. His mother, Catherine, still lives in North Carolina; his dad died several years ago.