Dr. Shearwood Junior McClelland

TEANECK - Shearwood J. McClelland, MD, MPH, FACS, FAAOS Dr. Shearwood J. McClelland was born in Gary, Indiana when it was a booming Midwest steel mill town. His father worked in the coke plants of the steel mills in Gary and his mother was a school crossing guard.

Dr. McClelland was the valedictorian of his public high school (Tolleston) and went on to attend Princeton University. He, too, went back to Gary Indiana and worked in the steel mills during his summers at college in order to earn money towards his tuition. In 1969, Dr. McClelland graduated with Sigma Xi honors from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed an orthopaedic residency at the New York Orthopaedic Hospital of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

Without any military obligation, Dr. McClelland and his wife volunteered for active duty in the U. S. Navy and were commissioned as Lieutenant Commanders, stationed at The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he served as Chief of Total Joint Surgery.

Dr. McClelland was Board-Certified in Orthopaedic Surgery and for 25 years was the Director of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Harlem Hospital Center and Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at Columbia University. In 1996, he and his wife earned an Executive Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. In addition to being a skilled surgeon in musculoskeletal trauma, Dr. McClelland completed a Fellowship in Joint Implant Surgery at The Ohio State University.

During his tenure at Harlem Hospital, Dr. McClelland was an active participant in numerous professional activities both within and outside the confines of Harlem Hospital. Within the hospital, he previously served as Chairman of the Case Management Committee as well as a prior Secretary and Vice-President of the Medical Board; and he served on the Board Of Directors of The Friends Of Harlem Hospital, Inc. Consultative positions outside the hospital include nine years of service (1989-1998) as a member of the New York State Board of Professional Medical Conduct, and for 25 years, he served as a Senior Oral Examiner for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. Other extramural profession-related activities include being a past President of the Alumni Association of Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons; and he continued to serve as member of the medical school Admissions Committee of Columbia University. In addition, he was selected to be a Health Policy Fellow of the National Association of Public Hospitals in 2005.

Since 1983, Dr. McClelland has served the underserved who seek medical care at Harlem Hospital. Many physicians want to make a lot of money, make connections, or make a name for themselves. Dr. Shearwood J. McClelland just wanted to make a difference. Throughout his career, he was a foot soldier for the poor and disenfranchised. It takes a special breed of man to have the understanding, compassion and dedication, combined with consummate surgical skills, to practice at an inner-city hospital, which is often shunned by many upwardly mobile practitioners. Unsolicited and without hesitation, Dr. Answorth Allen has remarked that, “Shearwood McClelland is one of the greatest arthroplastic surgeons of his time.”

A Life Member of Mensa, Dr. McClelland was also a member of the American Medical Association and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and a Life Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Other honors include perennial inclusion in the Castle & Connolly “Best Doctors in New York” guide, selection by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of America’s Leading Black Doctors, and the inclusion of his biography in Who’s Who In Medicine & Healthcare, Who’s Who In America, and Who’s Who In The World. In 2011, Dr. McClelland was named by U.S. News & World Report to its “Top Ten Percent” list of Orthopaedic Surgeons in the United States.

He is predeceased by his parents, Shearwood McClelland and Zenobia Pruitt McClelland, and a brother, Richard. Dr. McClelland is survived by his wife, Dr. Yvonne Thornton (McClelland), his two children, Dr. Shearwood McClelland, III, MD and Dr. Kimberly I. McClelland, MD and granddaughter, Ola.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, August 26, 2023 at 11:30 AM at The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10027. Interment to follow at Princeton Memorial Park & Mausoleum, Robbinsville, NJ. For more information or to visit Dr. McClelland’s tribute page, please visit www. volkleber.com