Biography

Dr. Robert Fullick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

Certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, Dr. Fullick specializes in Sports Medicine and Reconstructive Shoulder surgery, including injuries and degenerative conditions of the shoulder and knee.

Dr. Fullick received his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He attended medical school at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and completed the Harvard Combined Orthopedic Residency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and Children’s Hospital Boston. He went on to complete the Alps Surgery Institute Shoulder Fellowship in Annecy, France, as well as the Union Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine Fellowship in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Fullick is a member of the Houston Shoulder Society and a candidate for membership in several other professional organizations. As a college baseball player, Dr. Fullick has the unique perspective of sports injuries as both the patient and the physician.

Education

Undergraduate Degree
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Medical School
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
Internship
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Residency
Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
Fellowship
Sports Medicine Fellowship, Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Fellowship
Shoulder Fellowship, Alps Surgery Institute, Drs. Laurent Lafosse & Bruno Toussaint, Annecy, France

Areas of Interest

Clinical Interests

Orthopedic Sports Medicine
Shoulder
Shoulder arthroscopy
Rotator cuff repair
Shoulder instability
Total and reverse arthroplasty
Tendon sparing shoulder arthroplasty
Care of the throwing athlete

Knee
Reconstructive knee surgery
Multiligamentous knee reconstruction
ACL reconstruction
Knee preservation surgery
Microfracture
Osteochondral transfer

Research Interests

2012 – Present University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Range of motion and deltoid muscle force in reverse total shoulder arthroplasty with progressively medialized glenoid components: A cadaveric biomechanical analysis. Doherty, David, MD; Robert Fullick, MD.

Biomechanics and Force Transmission across Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty During the Golf Swing.

 2010 – Present Alps Surgery Institute, Clinique Generale, Annecy, France

Regional Cerebral Oxygen Saturation and Shoulder Surgery in the Beach Chair Position: A prospective study with comparison to transcranial Doppler. Submitted for publication.

The “Sentinel” Sign: Evaluation of the Long Head Biceps Tendon as a Marker for Occult Subscapularis Pathology.

The 4 Dimension Code: A Universal Language for the Description of the Rotator Cuff and Surrounding Structures of the Shoulder.

The Minimally Invasive, Subscapularis Sparing Approach for Total Shoulder Arthroplasty: Technique and Early Outcomes.

2009 – 2010 Union Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine

Evaluation of Pullout Strength Using Bioabsorbable Interference Screws to Address Malpositioned Tunnels in Revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Biomechanical Study. Accepted for publication in Journal of Knee Surgery.

A Comparison of Microbial Colonization of Standard Orthopedic Tourniquets vs. a New Disposable Tourniquet Following Total Knee Arthroplasty. Pilot Study.

2006 – 2009 Harvard Combined Orthopedic Surgery Program

Comparison of three non-operative treatments for Juvenile Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Knee. A bi-center study from Children’s Hospital of Boston and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Calcaneofibular Ligament Transfer for Peroneal Tendon Dislocation in Skeletally Immature Patients: A Retrospective Analysis.

Analysis of Acetabular Retroversion in Ballet Dancers: A Radiographic Study

Publications

Visit the PubMed profile page

Sentinel sign: a sign of biceps tendon which indicates the presence of subscapularis tendon rupture. Dipit Sahu, MD, Robert Fullick, MD, Antonios Giannakos, MD, Laurent Lafosse, MD. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. August 2014.

Use of the Subscapularis Preserving Technique in Anatomic Total Shoulder Arthroplasty. Ryan Simovitch, M.D., Robert Fullick, M.D., Young Kwon, M.D., Joseph D. Zuckerman, M.D. Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Diseases 2013; 71(Suppl 2):S94-100.

Arthroscopic repair of large subscapularis tendon tears: 2- to 4-year clinical and radiographic outcomes. Lanz U, Fullick R, Bongiorno V, Saintmard B, Campens C, Lafosse L. Arthroscopy. 2013 Sep; 29(9):1471-8.

Interference screw fixation using a bio-absorbable screw as a bone void filler. Fullick R, Parks B, Hinton R. J Knee Surg. 2011 Dec;24(4):285-8.

Audio-Digest Orthopedics: Managing the Shoulder: Arthroplasty and Instability

The Subscapularis Sparing Approach for Total Shoulder Arthroplasty. Fullick, RK. ADO, Vol. 35, Issue 14, June 2012.

Insall & Scott Surgery of the Knee: Patellar Instability in Childhood and Adolescence. Richard Y. Hinton, Robert K. Fullick, Krishn M. Sharma. For the upcoming 5th edition.

Electromyography: InTech Open Access Publisher. Arthroscopic Treatment of Suprascapular Nerve Neuropathy. Dipit Sahu, Robert K. Fullick, Laurent Lafosse.