Columbia University has been at the forefront of hip and knee replacement in the U.S. since the 1960’s, when these operations were first performed. The late Frank Stinchfield, M.D. (Chairman from 1956 to 1976) founded a program in total hip replacement at the hospital in 1968 (one of the first in the nation) when he hired British trained Nas Eftekhar. Nas trained at Wrightington, England with Sir John Charnley, the father of total hip arthroplasty. This monumental improvement in hip arthroplasty quickly sent mould arthroplasty (which Dr. Stinchfield had become widely known for) into obsolescence. In 1970, Dr. Eftekhar performed the first total knee replacement in the United States. The technique he developed, condylar knee replacement, is still used today.

Due to Dr. Eftekhar’s pioneering efforts in hip and knee surgery, the Anne Youle Stein Foundation helped to officially start hip and knee research by indoctrinating "The Nas S. Eftekar, M.D. Documentation Center for Clinical Orthopaedic Research" in 1997. The Center for Hip and Knee Replacement (CHKR; which carries on the tradition of prospective outcomes data collection to this day) was founded in 2001 and has been under the direction of Dr. Macaulay since its inception. A testament to this center’s rapid rise in recognition and prestige was provided by its honorable mention in New York Magazine’s 2007 list of quality centers for hip replacement.

The CHKR has and will continue to provide treatment and education for hip and knee disorders, while remaining on the cutting edge of translational and clinical research. At CHKR, patients receive the best, dedicated clinical care and attention from our team of health care providers. It is the CHKR mission to place a premium on high quality patient care, while remaining on the forefront of research and training our hip and knee surgeons of tomorrow.