Hiram Winnett Orr, MD
Assistant Professor in the History of Medicine at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, 1910-1916
Born in 1877 in Pennsylvania, Hiram Winnett Orr, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1899. He practiced medicine and orthopedic surgery in Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1899 to 1956 and was instrumental in establishing the Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital in 1905. Orr served as the hospital’s assistant surgeon and superintendent from 1906 to 1917 and chief surgeon from 1948 to 1956. During World War I, Orr was stationed with the Army Medical Department in England and France. During this time, he devised the “Orr Method” for treating bone and wound infections and compound fractures. He also developed techniques using skeletal pins, plaster of Paris, and other immobilizing devices. At his death in 1956, he was buried in Arlington Cemetery with full military honors.