Growing up in Minersville, Pennsylvania, he knew early on that he wanted to become a doctor. “My father was a dentist,” he shares. “My mother wanted me to be an orthodontist, but I had my sights set on medicine.”
Two physicians helped to influence his decision. “My parents were good friends with Dr. Harold Cooper, a family physician who graduated from Jefferson in 1952,” he says. “He was absolutely convinced that the only medical school you could attend was Jefferson. He and our family doctor, Dr. Land, were influential on me deciding to go into medicine and that Jefferson was my only choice.”
Boran raves about his medical school experience at Jefferson. “They taught me that a good life lesson is to be a family doctor, to have a personal relationship with your patients, to relate to them, and do the best you can for them,” he shares. “Not everybody that comes into your office with a musculoskeletal ache and pain has a musculoskeletal problem. It could be something else. I learned how to be a clinician, get a good history from the patient, do a thorough examination, put together a differential diagnosis, and then proceed from that point. That’s the way family doctors work.”
Inspired by his clinical training experience and the orthopedic surgeons he met, Boran’s career path became clear. “When I started at Jefferson, I wanted to be a family doctor, but I fell in love with orthopaedics during my rotations,” he says. “I often kid myself, because I’m an orthopedic surgeon, but I’m a family doctor, because Jefferson trained me to be. So, I consider myself a family orthopedic surgeon.”
Boran interned with Richard H. Rothman, MD, PhD ’67, who later became Jefferson’s James Edwards Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and founded the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute. “He was a master surgeon,” he says. “It was a wonderful experience to see him operate.”
Following orthopedic residency at Jefferson, Boran returned to Pottsville, Pennsylvania near his hometown. “I always wanted to come home,” he shares. “There was, and still is, a need for high-quality orthopedists.” He practiced general orthopedic surgery, specializing in hip and knee replacement, and spent the majority of his career on staff at Pottsville Hospital and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, both of which merged in 2008 to form Schuylkill Health System before its merger with Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in 2016. The merging of his alma mater with LVHN was a full-circle moment for him. “It’s like being home again,” he says.
Following retirement in 2020, he remains a devoted and generous alumnus and has attended every reunion except one since he graduated. “I’ve always contributed to alumni giving,” he shares. “I usually earmark my gifts for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, most recently to the Richard H. Rothman Research Fund.”
Boran is proud of his legacy as a family orthopedic surgeon. “One of my professors during residency, Dr. James Hunter, taught me an important lesson,” he says. “He said, ‘The best referral that you could get is a patient who’s satisfied and happy, who then recommends you to their relatives and friends.’ Since I retired, a lot of patients have told me that they wish I was back in practice, because they wouldn’t want to go to anybody else.”