2024 Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumni (ASDA) Award Recipient
This is the highest alumni honor bestowed to a medical school graduate by the university's John Sealy School of Medicine Alumni Association. This award, recognizing outstanding service to the medical profession and to humanity, honors the memory of Dr. Ashbel Smith. A prominent figure in Texas medicine, politics and education, Dr. Smith was considered the driving force behind establishing the University of Texas at Austin in 1881, and a medical department that would later be known as the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1891.
About Dr. Berrey
Dr. B. Hudson Berrey has made a remarkable career spanning military service, medical education, and orthopaedic
oncology. Born in Texas, he graduated from West Point witha degree in engineering and was commissioned as a Field
Artillery offi cer. He served with the Second Armored Division at Fort Hood before entering medical school in 1973. A
graduate of the UTMB School of Medicine in 1977, Dr. Berrey went on to complete his orthopaedic training at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI, in 1981.
His military assignments included serving as Chief,Orthopaedic Service at Gorgas Army Hospital in Panama,where he also acted as the orthopaedic consultant to the US SOUTHCOM surgeon. Dr. Berrey further specialized in orthopaedic oncology under Dr. Henry Mankin at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he developed an orthopaedic oncology service and assumed leadership roles such as overseeing the amputee program and the Prosthetic and Orthotic Lab. He played a pivotal role in medical education, serving as Chair of Orthopaedics at Walter Reed, instituting a one-year research program for the orthopaedic residents. He was then selected as the Consultant to the Army Surgeon General for Orthopaedic surgery.
His military deployments included missions to the Philippines, Honduras, Guatemala, and serving as an orthopaedic advisor during the civil war in El Salvador. He also deployed to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield/Storm, where he served as deputy commander of the 85th Evacuation Hospital. The hospital received the Distinguished Unit Citation and Dr. Berrey
received the Bronze Star award for the efforts of his hospital throughout the conflict.
Upon retiring from active duty, Dr. Berrey joined the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where he established the first orthopaedic oncology program. He was then recruited to be Professor and Chair at the
University of Florida Orthopaedic Department and contributed significantly to the growth of the orthopaedic residency program at the University of Florida. In addition, he instituted a humanitarian mission rotation to Haiti, exposing
residents to the problems of medical care, especially musculoskeletal conditions, in the developing world.
In 2008, he was recalled to Army active duty and deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dr. Berrey retired from the University of Florida in 2016 and subsequently initiated his third orthopaedic oncology program at Baptist MD Anderson in Jacksonville. He officially retired from active practice in 2020.
Even in retirement, Dr. Berrey remains active in professional societies, particularly the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons, where he serves as a senior statesman. He continues to share his expertise by teaching combat orthopaedic surgery principles and techniques to surgeons in Ukraine.
Throughout his career, Dr. Berrey’s dedication to family, patients, students, and residents has been evident, earning him numerous awards and honors for his contributions to both the military and civilian medical communities.
Additionally, he remains engaged in his community and sings in the St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral choir and has sung with that choir in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral in England. He pursues his passion for SCUBA
diving with his loving wife of 49-years, Rolly. They have two daughters, Alison and Jillian and four wonderful grandchildren. He and his wife plan to move back to Texas in the near future.
