Orthopaedic trauma surgeon providing comprehensive fracture care for adults and children at a Level II ACS trauma center, with a subspecialty interest in total and reverse shoulder arthroplasty. Research program centered on medical epistemology, cognitive psychology in surgical decision-making, and the philosophy of clinical evidence.

Professional Experience

• Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery, continuous since 2014
• Orthopaedic trauma surgery: adult and pediatric fracture care, complex periarticular fractures, polytrauma
• Total and reverse shoulder arthroplasty
• Elected to Board of Directors, Elliot Health System, 2026
• Named Elliot Hospital Physician of the Year, 2014
• Orthopaedic Trauma Association Clinical Member since 2013

• Orthopaedic trauma and fracture surgery; Level I trauma call coverage at Maine Medical Center
• Sports medicine: comprehensive shoulder surgery including total and reverse shoulder arthroplasty
• Orthopaedic surgeon for the Portland Pirates professional hockey team
• United States Ski Team physician; traveled with Men's team to World Cup event in Slovenia, 2007

Education & Training

• Advanced arthroscopic techniques, shoulder arthroplasty, reverse shoulder arthroplasty, and trauma
• Staff surgeon, Veterans Affairs Hospital system, Boston; teaching Harvard and BU orthopaedic residents
• Level I trauma call coverage at Brigham and Women's Hospital

• Chief Orthopaedic Resident, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2004
• Awarded Best Clinical Research Paper, Harvard Orthopaedic Chief Residents, 2004 (Barrett Family Prize)
• 99th percentile, ABOS qualifying examination, 2004

• Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society
• Syvertsen Scholar Award for Academic Excellence

Publications & Research

• Parisien R. The Unexamined Practice: Five Philosophical Concepts Embedded in the Orthopaedic Encounter. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 2026. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.26.00032
• Parisien R. Bayesian Reasoning Patterns Among Musculoskeletal Surgeons: A Survey Study. PLOS ONE. 2026. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0351694
• Janssen S, Teunis T, Ring D, Parisien R. Cognitive Biases in Orthopaedic Surgery. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 2021;29(14):624–633. doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-20-00620
• Teunis T, Janssen S, Guitton TG, Ring D, Parisien R. Do Orthopaedic Surgeons Acknowledge Uncertainty? Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. 2015 Nov.
• Doornberg J, Parisien R, van Duijn J, Ring D. Radial Head Arthroplasty with a Modular Metal Spacer to Treat Acute Traumatic Elbow Instability. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 2007;89:1075–1080.
• Cashen DV, Parisien RC, Raskin K, Hornicek FJ, Gebhardt MC, Mankin HJ. Survival Data for Patients with Malignant Schwannoma. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. 2004;426:69–73.
• Parisien RC, Ball PA. William Jason Mixter 1880–1959: Ushering in the Dynasty of the Disc. Spine. 1998;21:2363–2366.

• Parisien R. Epistemic Asymmetry Between Abstracts and Discussion Sections in the Orthopaedic Literature: A Corpus Analysis of 201 Publications. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. In press; DOI to follow.
• Parisien R. Does the Surgical Innovation Evidence Apply to You? Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. In press; DOI to follow.
• Parisien R, Teunis T, Ring D. How Prior Beliefs Shape the Interpretation of a Randomised Trial: A Bayesian Re-examination of CROSSFIRE. Journal of Hand Surgery: European Volume. Accepted August 2026; DOI to follow.

• Parisien R. Judgment as Discovery: A Corpus Study of Definitions and Reporting Language in the Fracture Healing Literature. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. [Revised and resubmitted August 2026]

• Parisien RC, Doornberg J, Ring DC. Fracture-Dislocations of the Elbow: Replacement of the Fractured Radial Head with a Modular Metal Prosthesis. Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, FL. October 2004.
• Parisien RC, Tomford WT, Zurakowski D, Patel DG. Long-Term Outcome of Allograft Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, Washington, DC. February 2005. [Poster]

• New England Orthopaedic Society, Boston — November 2016
• Harvard Orthopaedics Grand Rounds, Brigham and Women's Hospital — February 2017
• Johns Hopkins Orthopaedic Department Grand Rounds — 2018
• Elliot Hospital Grand Rounds, Manchester, NH — July 2022
• Lahey Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Burlington, MA — Fall 2022
• Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, PA — April 2023

• Parisien RC. Creative Classical Guitar. Creative Concepts Publishing Co., Ojai, California. 1993.

Research Interests

• Epistemology of medicine and surgery; philosophy of clinical evidence
• Cognitive biases and heuristics in orthopaedic decision-making
• Bayesian reasoning in clinical orthopaedics
• Philosophy of science as applied to medical practice and research design
• Vagueness and the Sorites Paradox as they apply to continuous biological phenomena (fracture healing)
• Epistemic asymmetry between published abstracts and full-text discussion sections

Honors & Awards

• Elliot Hospital Physician of the Year, 2014
• Barrett Family Prize — Best Clinical Research Paper, Harvard Orthopaedic Chief Residents, 2004
• Syvertsen Scholar Award for Academic Excellence, Dartmouth Medical School
• Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society
• 99th percentile, ABOS Qualifying Examination, 2004
• Maine Ski Hall of Fame, elected 2014

Licensure & Memberships

• Board Certified in Orthopaedic Surgery — American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (first certified 2007; recertified 2016 and 2025)
• Fellow, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (FAAOS); Diplomate, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
• Member: Orthopaedic Trauma Association, AO Trauma Association, New England Orthopaedic Society
• New Hampshire State Medical License

Athletic Career

• 1992 Winter Olympic Games, Albertville, France — 20th place, Men's Giant Slalom (best American finish)
• 1991 World Alpine Skiing Championships, Saalbach, Austria — 25th place, Men's Giant Slalom (best American finish)
• World Cup, Europa Cup, and North American series competitor
• 1st place, Canadian National Giant Slalom Championships, 1990
• 4th place, U.S. National Championship Giant Slalom, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, 1989
• 5th place, Pan American Games Giant Slalom, Las Lenas, Argentina, 1990
• 7th place, Junior World Championship Giant Slalom, Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, 1988
• 9th place, Junior World Championship Slalom, Alyeska, Alaska, 1989
• Elected to Maine Ski Hall of Fame, 2014

Other Interests

• Performance and recording of works by S.L. Weiss, J.S. Bach, and other Baroque-era composers
• Baroque lute design and construction; member, Lute Society of America
• Recording artist (album in production)

• Marathon PR: 2:49:50, Philadelphia Marathon, 2021 (age 51)
• Indianapolis Marathon, 2025: 2:50:26, 2nd place in age group (age 55)
• Half-marathon PR: 1:20:38, Wallis Sands Half Marathon, NH

• Private pilot license, 1988; instrument rating, 2023; high-performance and complex aircraft endorsements