Thomas Highland, MD

Dr. Highland is an Illinois native. He earned his undergraduate degree from Lewis College in Lockport, Illinois. He then moved to Columbia, Missouri where he attended medical school at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

Following medical school, Dr. Highland completed his residency in general surgery and orthopaedic surgery at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Throughout his medical school training and residencies, Dr. Highland received numerous honors and awards and conducted a substantial number of research projects which resulted in publication in professional journals. He spent one year in fellowship training focused on spine surgery at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York. Following his spine fellowship, Dr. Highland returned to Wayne State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery where he continued to practice orthopaedics, teach, and conduct research.

Dr. Highland joined Columbia Orthopaedic Group in 1986 and specializes in spine surgery and cervical spine treatment. A conservative approach to treating patients is always used initially, saving surgery for failure of conservative treatment. He is very involved in clinical research and studies the latest developments in spine surgery and treatment.

Dr. Highland is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and a member of numerous societies including the American Medical Society, American Spinal Injury Association, Cervical Spine Research Society, North American Spine Society, and American Orthopaedic Association.

His medical career has taken him all over the nation but he is happy to call Columbia home with his wife and six children. In his free time he enjoys snowboarding, wakeboarding, golfing and traveling around different parts of the United States on his Harley Davidson.