Steve Herbst
Surgeon
Dr. Herbst became interested in medicine at a young age and chose orthopedics for a few specific reasons. “As a high school student, I had a very good friend whose father was an orthopedic surgeon,” Dr. Herbst said. “As a summer job, instead of delivering pizzas and lifeguarding, which is what I was doing, he invited me to do orthopedic research for him. I decided to take a chance, and that experience gave me a huge head start into medical school and orthopedic residency.” Dr. Herbst shared that during rotation in medical school, he would always try to rule out orthopedics, but at the end of each rotation, he would say, “it’s not as fun as orthopedics.”
After residency, Dr. Herbst completed a foot and ankle surgery fellowship at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. This experience gave him in-depth training of the foot and ankle and how to assess complex foot and ankle conditions. A passion for research and innovation combined with his expertise in the foot and ankle led him to co-design and patent an ankle replacement implant, Zimmer Biomet Trabecular Metal™ Total Ankle. The product was developed after over 10 years of planning, and the result is an implant designed to reproduce the ankle’s natural flexibility and motion, complementing a patient’s natural anatomy. Read more about that innovation here.
Dr. Herbst’s most recent venture involves him performing the first BioPoly® Great Toe surgery in the United States at our Muncie outpatient surgery center. Dr. Herbst partnered with BioPoly LLC to create an orthopedic surgical implant for great toe (big toe) surgery. “Product development has been a passion of mine for a long time,” Dr. Herbst said. “BioPoly brings engineering expertise and an innovative material to a joint in the foot that needs a better surgical answer. I am confident this implant will bring long-term relief to my patients suffering from arthritis of the big toe, and I look forward to providing that relief!”.
Despite Dr. Herbst’s accomplishments, one of the things we love most about Dr. Herbst is his compassionate demeanor and desire to give back to those less fortunate. “One of my greatest joys comes from serving internationally in the mission field,” Dr. Herbst shared. “Once a year, I travel to Guatemala and do an orthopedic mission trip where we get to see patients, evaluate problems, operate and then get to come back later and see how they’re doing. That’s been as much fun as anything I’ve done in my career. Being able to participate in that kind of interaction with somebody is super special.”
Something patients should know about Dr. Herbst is he considers himself to be very persistent. “When evaluating patients, I may not always have the perfect answer the first time, but I’m going to work hard to find the diagnosis, and I won’t stop until we’ve achieved our goal,” Dr. Herbst said. “I’ll ask someone for help before giving up. I feel like I’m tenacious and won’t let go of something until we find out what we need to be doing.” Overall, Dr. Herbst wants to make sure his patients are satisfied with their outcome and experience with him as their physician, and that he’s improved their quality of life.