Jim Fitzsimmons

Jim Fitzsimmons joined Mayo Clinic in 1992 in the Cartilage and Connective Tissue Research Laboratory as a Research Technologist, and today is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedics and manages both the Elbow and Shoulder Research Program under the Direction of Shawn W. O'Driscoll, M.D., Ph.D. and the Biomechanics Core Facility under the direction of Chunfeng Zhao, M.D respectively. He has focused the latter half of his 3-decade career on Elbow and Biomechanics research. He serves as co-principal investigator on numerous clinical research studies alongside Dr. O’Driscoll including a prospective clinical randomized trial comparing the success of the post-operative application of continuous passive motion versus physical therapy following elbow contracture release surgery. He also coordinated with Mayo Clinical Trial Management Services (CTMS) over a period of several years to guide the construction of the database that is used to manage the clinical data pertaining to this study. Jim has developed new methods for data acquisition and analysis for ongoing laboratory studies, and presents his team’s research findings both nationally and internationally. He has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and 200 abstracts, and mentors research fellows, trainees and students in the lab. He serves on the editorial board of Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow and has serves as a peer reviewer on numerous other journals. Jim received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto in 1991, his Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Medical Science Assistant Professor appointment in 2010 and was appointed as an Associate in the Mayo Clinic Department of Orthopedics in 2017. He is an Associate Member of the Global Elbow Network and serves as the Lead of their Logistics Task Force.