Benjamin “Kyle” Potter demonstrates how the OPRA implant (Integrum LLC), which is FDA-approved for osseointegration following transfemoral amputation, fits into the AXOR II failsafe device, directly linking a patient's residual bone to an external prosthesis.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)
In 2023, Potter completed 22 years of active-duty service to the U.S. Army, retiring as a Colonel. Then in 2024, he wrapped up stints heading up the Walter Reed Department of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University and the Department of Defense Limb Optimization and Osseointegration Program at USU. He was also chief orthopaedic surgeon for the Amputee Program at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and a consultant for the National Cancer Institute.
While in medical school at the University of Chicago, he reached a handshake deal with his now-wife Michelle, an emergency medicine physician, that they would both choose nonsurgical specialties for the sake of family life.
But then Potter did a medical school rotation with an orthopaedic tumor surgeon. “That one week literally changed my life,” Potter says. “I loved the idea of being able to operate wherever a tumor was in the body and being really creative in doing complex reconstructions on patients with serious problems and few treatment options.”
A decades-long military medical career was not something Potter originally envisioned when he chose West Point as a young man. He ultimately chose to remain in the military because, by the time he repaid his service obligation, he found that he loved his job and was only a few years from military retirement. Potter’s arrival at Penn now forges a new link in the chain of connections between military medicine and Penn, especially long-established in the Division of Trauma Surgery.
Through his military career, Potter earned a front-row seat for—and has played a central role in—two decades of unprecedented advancements in limb surgery and bionic prosthetics.
Potter has developed numerous surgical techniques and clinical programs to improve care and quality of life for injured service members and other patients worldwide. His research includes predictive modeling of conditions including musculoskeletal trauma and bone cancers, as well as amputation techniques to improve mobility and decrease pain for patients with trauma-related injuries.
For Potter, amputation is a much more nuanced procedure than is widely believed, and he doesn’t mince words about its importance in orthopedic care: “Amputations are viewed as treatment failures at most hospitals, from regional trauma centers to academic juggernauts, because too many surgeons consider amputation to be a barbaric procedure,” he says. “But patients have many reasons for choosing amputation and, as surgeons, we can make a huge difference in someone's life with amputation, dramatically improving function, restoring quality of life, and relieving pain.”
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