HJAR Jul/Aug 2026

and we’re the ones who are responsible for making it happen. The surgeon is the captain of the room — leader of the room — and the responsibility falls upon him or her to make sure things happen appropriately for the patient. I take that very seriously and always have. I think folks rally around what happens in the operating room, and the folks who work in the operating room have that same mindset. It’s a great experience to have an oppor- tunity to see your patient before surgery, tell them you’re going to take them to the operating room and you’re going to do the absolute best for them, and that you have a great team helping take care of them that day and then to come talk to the fam- ily member afterwards, and be able to tell them that surgery went well and your loved one is going to do well and soon their pain will be better and they’ll be back to func- tioning better. Editor So you’re a bit different frommany healthcare system leaders because you’re not only a physician, but a surgeon who continues to operate every week while serving as chancellor. Why is it important to you to continue your surgical practice? Barnes Well, for one thing, I love it. I love taking care of patients. I love what I do in the operating room. I love what I do in clinic. I feel spoiled rotten. I have patients that come to see me many years after their operation. I saw someone just a few weeks ago that I had done their joint replacement 31 or 32 years ago and for them to come back in and tell me they’re doing well and get an x-ray and I get a hug — it’s a pretty nice feeling. So I really enjoy what I do and I know that I’m very fortunate because I have a skill set and a subspecialty of orthopedics that can help lots of people and I enjoy doing it. As far as why I think it’s important to con- tinue to do it — from a leadership perspec- tive, I think it’s important that others know that I’m still working. Lots of docs and oth- ers think that if you’re in the leadership role and you’re in an office that you’re not really working. Frankly, I thought that sometimes too, but they know that I’m doing the same things they’re doing. Obviously, I’m not doing as much as they are. I now do six or seven total knees a week and I used to do more than that in a day. And I think it’s good for the organization that they [can] say I’m a part of what they do. When we talk about different things that we’re implementing, those things impact what I do in the oper- ating room and in my clinic. Editor Why did you leave private practice for academics? Barnes Yeah, that’s an interesting story. I’d always thought I’d go into academics. When I was a resident, I was pretty well committed to doing my fellowship and coming back to UAMS. Carl Nelson was chair then. He was a total joint surgeon, a very respected total joint surgeon doing hip and knee replacements, and I always thought I’d be his partner. I came back and interviewed and everything went great. And then on Sunday morning before I go back to Boston, he says, “Well, when you come back, I’ll do the hips.”Meaning he would do the hips and I would do the knees. And I’m like, “Wait a minute, Dr. Nelson, I’m only 30. I’m not ready to just do one body part. I’m having a hard time just restricting my practice to hips and knees.” And he very bluntly said, “Well, you don’t have a job here then.” So then . . . six or eight weeks later he called back, and [has] me come down and visit again. We tried to work it out, but we just couldn’t get there. He really wasn’t ready to have someone who would be a partner of the future. He quickly realized I’d been a chief resident for many years and so that didn’t fit very well with my personality, as you might imagine. I very much wanted to be in Arkansas. I came back and started a private practice. I joined two folks, two surgeons, Walt Sela- kovich and Dave Collins, a very small prac- tice. I came in with no salary and just started paying my overhead and whatever was left- over is what I made, an unusual way to start practice as a young surgeon, but it worked very well. And then after a few years I started working on combining the subspecialty