Dr B. Sonny Bal named new editor-in-chief of Open Access Surgery Journal

Dr. B. Sonny Bal, MD, JD, MBA has been named Editor-in-Chief of Dove Medical Press journal entitled Open Access Surgery.

Dr. Bal added: “The focus on surgical procedures and interventions continues to expand at a phenomenal pace. As medical professionals, we must continually balance our tried-and-true methods with breakthrough technologies and techniques that present new opportunities to improve patient care, while introducing new learning, risks, and other variables into medical decision-making. This journal fills an important role in helping the surgical community achieve this crucial balance and advancing our shared goal, i.e., the care of patients.”

Dr. Bal is an associate professor who specializes in hip and knee replacement at the University of Missouri, Columbia (MU), where he also serves as division chief for hip and knee surgery. He provides a unique perspective in not only being a busy clinician, but an experienced biomaterials researcher and an expert in medicolegal matters.

For more than decade, Dr Bal has partnered with Mohamed N Rahaman, PhD, biomaterials professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla. They study and create new ceramic biomaterials used in orthopedic total joint replacements. Their collaborative efforts were honored by the University of Missouri system in 2011, when they received the President’s Intercampus Collaboration Award.

A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, Dr Bal in 2009 achieved a long-desired goal of earning a law degree from MU and passing the Missouri Bar. His legal experience has led to increased scholarship: he has twice co-edited a special medioclegal issue presented by Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. He also has contributed several articles and editorial comments for these issues.

He served as a resident physician at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University. He also holds a master’s of business administration degree from Northwestern University. His clinical interests include ceramic bearing surfaces in total hip and knee replacements and he is currently conducting research in new materials used in implants and the molecular causes of osteoarthritis. He has published nearly 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been active in writing, editing and moderating topics on medicolegal issues.

Dove Medical Press is a privately held publisher of 100+ open access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. Dove was founded in 2003 and has offices in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with an active presence in the USA and a network of agents in Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia.

Updated 23 July 2014