DR. WHO
DR. WHO
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
DR. DAVID RHOADS
AUTHOR Kathryn Vance
Growing up in Russellville, Kentucky, Dr. David Rhoads’
parents emphasized a strong work ethic and the importance
of planning for the future. “Thank God I had great
parents who helped me make choices early. My dad and
mom always said it’s never too early to start planning for
a career,” he said. His mother was a registered nurse, so he
had an inside look at the medical field from a young age.
As a sixth grader, he got to join his mother at work, and he
shadowed a physical therapist. Impressed, he later volunteered in
a physical therapy clinic. As a high school freshman, he shadowed
an orthopaedic surgeon and watched a total knee replacement. That
one procedure was all it took: he was hooked. He graduated from
University of Louisville (program now at Bellarmine University)
with a degree in physical therapy.
During his first week there, however, he found the woman he
knew he wanted to marry. “I saw her, and I just knew I had to meet
her. It was kind of love at first sight,” he said of his wife, Dr. Shiela
Rhoads, a gastroenterologist with UofL Health - University of Louisville
Physicians, currently working out of the Brooks/Shepherdsville
office. The couple dated for four years and married just one week
after his college graduation. “We were great study partners and she
helped me stay motivated to go to medical school.”
With Shiela’s support along the way, Dr. Rhoads attended the
University of Louisville School of Medicine, graduating in 2001. He
matched in orthopaedics at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit.
After completing his residency in 2006, his wife still had a year of
training ahead, so they stayed in Michigan. He did a fellowship in
adult reconstructive surgery at William Beaumont Health Systems.
Then at last, they moved back to Louisville, and have called it home
ever since.
Dr. Rhoads joined a private practice in town for a few years
before stepping into his current role. His practice disbanded, and
he was left trying to find a new medical home. “I was just trying
to figure out what I was going to do. I was at Baptist East on the
orthopaedic floor, and there was Dr. Pomeroy standing there at
the nurses’ station,” he said. While the two knew each other from
working in the same hospital over the years, it was along the lines
of collegial conversation. But with Dr. Pomeroy having his own
private practice, Dr. Rhoads knew he had a lot on his plate and saw
an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“So I said, ‘Hey Don, how are you? Do you want to partner?’
and he said, “Sure.” We had a meeting and within a week, we were
partners. It was the fastest change ever. It was literally that quick.
And we’ve been partners ever since.”
He has now been a Senior Partner at Pomeroy & Rhoads Orthopaedics
since 2011 and “absolutely loves” this role. He enjoys
the managerial side of the practice and helping to make business
decisions, but the best parts are the opportunities to change his
patients’ lives.
“When you see patients coming in, either in a wheelchair or
hardly walking, you can tell by their faces that they’re hurting, that
they haven’t slept well,” he said. “Then, when you see them at their
three-month follow-up visit and they’re smiling, they’re able to
get up without an assist device and they’re saying, ‘Thank you Dr.
Rhoads, this is the best decision I ever made.’ If you can be a part
of that, it’s so rewarding.”
Dr. Rhoads specializes in joint reconstruction, seeing patients for
hip, knee and shoulder replacements. He operates at Baptist Health
Louisville - East and UofL Health - Mary & Elizabeth Hospital. In
addition, he also performs outpatient joint replacements at Advanced
Regional Surgery Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he was
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