Dr. Brad Bushnell was raised in Athens, GA, where he graduated as valedictorian of Clarke Central High School in 1995. He majored in Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he was president of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated with highest honors in 1999. He is fluent in Spanish, and studied Spanish History and Language at the University of Madrid in Spain while in college. Dr. Bushnell received his medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia in 2003, where he was president of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He completed an internship in General Surgery in 2004 and a residency in Orthopedic Surgery in 2008 at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. During residency, he was involved in the care of many Tar Heel athletes. After residency, Dr. Bushnell was selected as a Sports Medicine fellow at the prestigious Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Denver, CO, and finished his training there in 2009. As a fellow, he served on the medical staff of the Colorado Rockies and the Denver Broncos. He completed his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Auburn University in 2014 and was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society at Auburn.
In 2009, Dr. Bushnell returned home to Georgia to join the Harbin Clinic. Since then, he has been an active member of the Rome community. Dr. Bushnell serves as a team physician for the Berry College Vikings, the Rome Braves, and Trion High School Bulldogs. He is a member of the Northwest Georgia Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors, and he serves on the worship team at Seven Hills Fellowship Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Berry College Board of Trustees and also teaches there as adjunct faculty in the pre-medical and leadership programs. He is a graduate of the Leadership Rome Class of 2012. He is a Reserve Sheriff Deputy for Floyd County and the Director of Sports Medicine for the Rome-Floyd SWAT Team.
Dr. Bushnell also has a long history of success at the regional and national level of orthopedic surgery. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in the orthopedic literature and co-authored 14 different chapters in orthopedic textbooks. Many of his papers have focused on shoulder and knee conditions in professional athletes, and his research has even been quoted in Sports Illustrated and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) and an active member of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA), the Georgia Orthopedic Society (GOS), and the Hawkins Society. In 2014, he was elected into the American Orthopedic Association (AOA) – a prestigious professional society for national leaders in orthopedic surgery with only 35 other members in Georgia. In 2016, he was elected into the elite society of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) – one of only 7 members in Georgia at that time. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Orthopedic Society (GOS). He has made numerous presentations at national and regional meetings, and he is on the clinical faculty of the Medical College of Georgia/Georgia Regents University. He has been an invited journal reviewer for ten different professional journals. He serves as a consultant physician for the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, and works as a volunteer team physician for the U.S. Ski Team.
As an athlete himself, Dr. Bushnell can relate to his patients with Sports Medicine problems. He is an accomplished triathlete, having completed 52 triathlons including two full Ironman and 14 Half-Iron distance races. He also enjoys snow skiing, hunting, fishing, and CrossFit. His favorite activity, however, is spending time with his family and friends in Rome.