Dr. Stephen Howell, MD

Stephen Howell’s clinical and research career spans 44 years, focusing on total knee arthroplasty (TKA), anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, meniscal transplantation, and shoulder biomechanics. He is an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis, collaborating with Distinguished Professor Maury L. Hull, Ph.D. Together, they developed the caliper-verified kinematic alignment (KA) concept for TKA in 2006. Dr. Howell has performed over 7,000 caliper-verified kinematically aligned TKAs, the largest clinical series with the longest patient follow-up for this technique. He and Professor Hull supervised research for 35 M.S. and 4 Ph.D. students at UC Davis Department of Biomechanical Engineering. They managed research grants from sources such as the National Science Foundation, industry sponsors, and independent foundations. Dr. Howell provided surgical techniques and documentation that enabled two implant companies to gain FDA approval. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed studies and is the editor of the definitive text on KA TKA. He holds 27 U.S. patents and six international patents. His Google Scholar h-index is 72, and his i10-index is 194 as of March 2025. Search his National Library of Medicine Bibliography.