2026 Northwestern Alumni Medalist
Dr. James A. Hill ’71, ’74 MD, ’79 GME (’12 P)
Dedicated orthopaedic surgeon, educator, and volunteer
Dr. James Hill is an orthopaedic doctor with Northwestern Medical Group, where he specializes in sports medicine and shoulder and elbow surgery. He is also a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Dr. Hill joined the Feinberg faculty in 1980 as an instructor and became a professor of orthopaedic surgery in 1994. He has held numerous leadership and service roles, including chief of staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He also served as a member of the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Foundation Board of Directors and participated in the Program Committee for Medical Ethics and Humanities at Feinberg. Dr. Hill was a board examiner for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and medical director of the Orthopaedic Education and Research Foundation.
A dedicated Northwestern volunteer, Dr. Hill was elected to Feinberg’s Medical Alumni Association (MAA) Board in 2004 and served as president from 2011 to 2013. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association (NUBAA) Hall of Fame in 2007 and received the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Service to Northwestern Award in 2024. Today, Dr. Hill continues to serve on the MAA Board and is a class representative for Feinberg.
Additionally, Dr. Hill has provided care and taught orthopaedics in Ethiopia and has treated amateur and professional athletes, including as a team physician for the 1988 US Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea. He was a founding member and second president of the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society, which is dedicated to increasing diversity in orthopaedic surgery, promoting culturally competent care, and eliminating musculoskeletal health disparities. In 2020, Dr. Hill received the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Diversity Award. He has served on the boards of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boys and Girls Club of Chicago and Talladega College.
Dr. Hill earned a BS in medicine and a medical degree from Feinberg and completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern. His late wife, Sandra D. Hill ’71, ’74 MA (’12 P)—whom he met at Northwestern—and his daughter, Melanie Hill ’12 MBA, also attended the University.