2016 Outstanding Alumnus Award Winner
Whiz-kid. Mentor. Humanitarian. Those are just a few words that come to mind at the mention of Paul Huffstutter’s name. While he dreamed of being Tarzan, Johnny Unitas, and an architect as a young boy in Dyersburg, Tennessee, by the time he was in eighth grade, Paul Huffstutter had settled on a career in surgery.
Paul Huffstutter was on a fast track. Following his graduating from Dyersburg High School, Dr. Huffstutter went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Tennessee Martin in only three years. During his senior year, he even managed to balance his course load and teaching duties as a biology instructor at the University. In 1973, again in just three years, Dr. Huffstutter graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He completed his internship at Baptist Memorial Hospital in 1975 and his surgical residency at the University of Tennessee in 1978. In just over a 10-year span, Dr. Huffstutter went from high school student to practicing physician and academic medical instructor.
Dr. Huffstutter began his career in academic medicine as an instructor in the department of surgery at the University of Tennessee, Memphis in 1978, and he served on faculty until 1982. During this time, he also maintained a thriving practice in West Memphis, Arkansas. In addition, Dr. Huffstutter served as the chief of surgery, the chief of staff, and chairman of the credentials committee with Crittenden Memorial Hospital until 2008.
Dr. Huffstutter retired from the practice of surgery in 2008 and, in what he describes as his most meaningful detour, decided to help build a medical simulation center at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville. Today, he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and as the Co-Director of the Medical Simulation Center as well as Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Dr. Huffstutter has also authored or co-authored numerous publications, conducted workshops and educational presentations, and sat on countless scientific panels throughout his career.
In addition to his responsibilities as a professional, Dr. Huffstutter is also a community advocate. Despite living in East Tennessee, he still maintains ties to West Tennessee and volunteers with the Eighth Street Mission for Jesus Christ, an outreach program for the homeless. Dr. Huffstutter is also active with the Families First Foundation and the Family Council of Arkansas.
UTHSC is the place Dr. Huffstutter says he’ll always come back to, and his volunteer efforts are to be commended. He is a past president of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Alumni Council and past member of the University of Tennessee Alumni Board of Governors.
In the words of Dr. R. Phillip Burns, a 2002 recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award, “Paul Huffstutter epitomizes the criteria for the Outstanding Alumnus Award for the University of Tennessee College of Medicine.”
View Past Medicine Award Winners