Call it practicing cutting-edge medicine with a side of music. Or striking the right tone with satisfied patients as a result. However you care to describe it, there’s no better orthopedic care to be found than that provided by orthopedic specialists Drs. James L. Bond and Brian Clowers, colleagues at Ortho Central, which is part of the Norman Regional Health System.
Both physicians are certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and perform all types of orthopedic surgery.
Bond’s subspecialty interests include arthroscopic surgery, cartilage restoration, orthopedic care of the shoulder and knee, rotator cuff repair, sports-related injuries, surgical fracture care and total joint replacement of the shoulder.
Clowers performs general orthopedic surgery and sub-specializes in disorders of the foot and ankle. Both treat patients of all ages and conditions arising from disease, trauma, chronic injury and aging.
So where does the music come in? Clowers, who plays clarinet and saxophone, earned his bachelor’s degree in music prior to entering medical school. Bond, meanwhile, had always been a huge music fan and developed a habit of singing during surgeries. To this day, he frequently sings during surgical procedures, often at the request of his patients.
Both Bond and Clowers are graduates of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and completed their residencies at the OU Health Sciences Center.
From there, Bond completed a fellowship at the prestigious Southern California Orthopedics Institute, where he was among the first to perform minimally invasive, or “closed” shoulder surgery. After graduating as the institute’s top Fellow, he helped establish closed shoulder surgery as the current standard of care across the country. Bond has been recognized as one of the nation’s top orthopedic surgeons by U.S. News & World Report. He’s also received the Daily Oklahomans’ Readers’ Choice Award for “Best Orthopedic Surgeon” each year from 2015 to 2019.
Bond’s road to becoming a surgeon was somewhat convoluted. After graduating from Jenks High School, he was in his senior year working on a bachelor’s degree in English when his mother became ill with cancer. Bond commuted back and forth from college to help care for his mom during her chemotherapy treatments. After watching her doctors in action, he determined that he wanted to become a doctor himself. That led to several more years of college to take the needed courses, then on to medical school.
“I did a few oncology rotations, but those were too hard emotionally,” Bond said. “Then when I did my orthopedics rotation and some sports medicine, I thought ‘I can do that.’ I’ve been an athlete and interested in sports my whole life, so I understand where these patients are coming from. Helping people and getting them back to their game; that was just the fit for me.”
Clowers, meanwhile, grew up with a natural affinity for science and math, and said he was pretty sure he wanted to become a physician by the time he graduated from Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City. However, he also was a clarinet player, and even though he didn’t anticipate earning a living as a musician, he nevertheless wanted to get his music degree from OU. The music school allowed him to complete the required curriculum while at the same time taking the electives needed for medical school, which was a perfect situation.
It was late in his third year, after he’d already determined to become a surgeon, that Clowers completed an orthopedics rotation and found his niche.
“I thoroughly enjoy the hands-on nature of the surgical fields as well as the technical challenge of surgical arts,” Clowers said. “I have a gift for the spatial part of it that we use on a day-to-day basis, being able to synthesize what you see diagnostically and translate that imagery into your care procedures.”
Specializing in the ankle and foot, he added, further piqued his interest.
“When I looked at a subspeciality I settled on this because I get to do a little bit of everything—joint replacements, trauma, sports injuries, pediatric and adult patients—all in one part of the body,” he said. “I really enjoy the dexterity challenge that arthroscopic surgery provides, and to be able to effect so much change through such a minimally invasive approach. I also enjoy the geospatial aspects of reconstructing arthritic joints and the challenge of restoring anatomic relationships.”
When not in the office, both Bond and Clowers spend time with their families and enjoy various hobbies. Both are avid sports fans.
Bond’s wife, Susan, holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and is currently serving on the board for the newly established Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City, which honors her martyred cousin, Catholic priest Stanley Rother. Together the Bonds have five children, ranging in age from 26 to 13.
Clowers and his wife Leslie—a journalist and teacher who’s now working on her master’s degree in museum studies—share 11-year-old twin daughters and an 8-year-old son. He and his wife are huge supporters of the arts, serving on boards for the Norman Arts Council, Norman United Way and the advisory board for the OU Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts’ School of Dance, among others.
As one would expect, both doctors say their careers are fulfilling on every level.
“With our specialty, it’s not often that you’re saving lives, but there are plenty of cases where you’re improving them considerably,” Clowers said. “When you can fix a patient and they can do things they haven’t been able to for years, or you can alleviate chronic pain they’ve been living with, or repair a disabling injury, that’s satisfying. I’m also very attracted to the sports medicine aspect; there we’re helping people who are worried they won’t be able to play their sport again.”
Adds Bond, “I’ve worked on over 15,000 shoulders over the past 20 years. Every patient that comes in and we can make them free of pain, that’s a good feeling.
“With our shoulder surgery patients we have a ‘graduation day,’ which is when they are finally able to raise their arm over their head, and we take pictures and video,” he said. “That’s beautiful. I even have one patient who comes back every couple of years just to show that he can still raise his arm over his head! At the end of the day, that’s what keeps me happy to come to work.”