Richard D. Wood Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Richard D. Wood Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

2026 Winner is John “Jack” Flynn, MD

John M. Flynn, MD, Chief, Orthopedic Center

John “Jack” Flynn, MD, is Chief of Orthopaedics. He went to Johns Hopkins University to play football and baseball, where he met his wife Mary in their first week of college. After medical school at Pittsburgh, he did his orthopaedics residency at Harvard, fellowship at DuPont/Nemours and started at CHOP in 1996. When he arrived, he was the third fulltime physician in CHOP Orthopaedics (there are now 31).  In 1996, CHOP had the 3rd best pediatric orthopaedic program in the Philadelphia region; now it’s #1 in America.

Dr. Flynn’s clinical focus is spine and hip disorders. He is the author of over 400 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and chapters, and an editor of the four seminal textbooks in pediatric orthopaedics. He has served as President of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), President of the Pediatric Spine Foundation, and Director and Vice President of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.  He has been inducted into the POSNA Hall of Fame and has received the highest honor in his profession—the POSNA Distinguished Achievement Award.

Dr. Flynn launched CHOP’s nationally renowned Center for Thoracic Insufficiency in 2004.  He improved the quality, safety and value in scoliosis care by pioneering the use of image-guided navigation for pediatric spine surgery in 2007 and launching CHOP’s Dedicated Spine Teams in 2014 and Rapid Recovery Pathway (with Dr. Sankar) in 2015.  He has served as the Department of Surgery’s leader at King of Prussia Hospital since its inception.

Dr. Flynn has always been passionate about mentoring.  He created CHOP’s Ben Fox Research Fellowship for medical students and Medical Career Design Fellowship for pre-meds. For the past 15 years, Dr. Flynn has given many Grand Rounds and residency graduation lectures around the country on physician wellness.  This year he published this content in his new book Peak Performance for Physicians: Managing Our Energy, Time and Priorities.

Most importantly, Jack and his wife Mary have been joyfully married for over 38 years and are the embarrassingly proud parents of Kelly, John, Colleen, Erin (a CHOP Pediatrics Chief Resident in 2022-23).

Past awardees

  • 2025 – Philip B. Storm, MD
  • 2024 – Kathleen E. Sullivan, MD, PhD
  • 2023 – William P. Potsic, MD
  • 2022 – Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, MD
  • 2021 – Paul A. Offit, MD
  • 2020 – Linton A. Whitaker, MD
  • 2019 – N. Scott Adzick, MD
  • 2018 – Alan Cohen, MD
  • 2017 – James A. Katowitz, MD
  • 2016 – Stephen Ludwig, MD
  • 2015 – Elaine H. Zackai, MD
  • 2014 – Robert A. Zimmerman, MD
  • 2013 – James O’Neill, MD
  • 2012 – Anna Meadows, MD
  • 2011 – Guilio D’Angio, MD
  • 2010 – Shirley Bonnem
  • 2009 – Walter J. Gamble, MD
  • 2008 – Lucy B. Rorke-Adams, MD
  • 2007 – Balu H. Athreya, MD
  • 2006 – John J. Downes, MD
  • 2005 – Gary R. Fleisher, MD
  • 2004 – James A. Stockman III, MD
  • 2003 – Audrey E. Evans, MD
  • 2002 – C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD
  • 2001 – Stanley A. Plotkin, MD
  • 2000 – Patrick S. Pasquariello, Jr., MD
  • 1999 – No award granted
  • 1998 – No award granted
  • 1997 – Louise Schnaufer, MD
  • 1996 – Sidney Friedman, MD
  • 1995 – Patricia F. Borns, MD
  • 1994 – No award granted
  • 1993 – Leonard Bachman, MD
  • 1992 – Robert Kaye, M
  • 1991 – Albert W. Kitts, MD
  • 1990 – Dale G. Johnson, MD
  • 1989 – T. F. McNair Scott, MD
  • 1988 – Richard D. Wood, Sr.