Dr. Bruce returned to practice in Chattanooga, joining the private practice of Chattanooga Bone and Joint Surgeons and the teaching staff of the UTCOM-Chattanooga Unit as an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. He has covered sports teams from multiple local schools, including Hixson, Signal Mountain, Notre Dame, Red Bank, Brainerd, Boyd Buchanan, Soddy Daisy, CCS, Baylor, and McCallie, as well as Covenant College. He is proud to say that he has been the team physician for Baylor School for 25 years and McCallie School for 15. One of his happiest memories is from his 50th birthday which happened to coincide with the annual Baylor McCallie football game. To his delight, the teams and fans sang “Happy Birthday” to him while he stood at mid-field. A very difficult decision confronted Dr. Bruce in 2012, The Hughston Clinic and Andrews institute offered him a return to his alma mater, Auburn University, as team physician. Although it had been his previous lifelong dream, Dr. Bruce realizes how fulfilled he is with his career taking care of the athletes of the Tennessee Valley. He knows that the decision to stay in Chattanooga was all part of God’s plan. In 2015, Chattanooga Bone and Joint Surgeons dissolved due to the changing practice of health care, and Dr. Bruce joined the staff at Erlanger Medical Center with several of his partners. He became, along with Dr. Bill Moore Smith, co-director of the Sports and Health Institute, and enjoyed his 5 years practicing within Erlanger Medical Group.

Throughout his career, Dr. Bruce has had a commitment to the Chattanooga community. He was the Medical Director for Ironman Chattanooga’s inaugural race and for nine more Ironman events including the 2017 70.3 World Championships for both men and women. For his service to the city in this capacity, Dr. Bruce was awarded the Volunteer of the Year award from the Chattanooga Visitor’s Bureau and the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Medical Association, both in 2017.


During the pandemic, Dr. Bruce leaned on his education having majored in microbiology in college. He and his wife, pediatric surgeon Dr. Lisa Smith, designed, and aided in the manufacture of thousands of protective gowns and disposable face-shields used all over the country, while keeping the doors open of two Tennessee companies. Drs Bruce and Smith served as advisors with weekly obligations to Pilot Flying-J, Lodge manufacturing, Unum Insurance, EPB, McCallie School, Baylor School, Hamilton County Schools (Mayor’s Pandemic Advisory committee) and Purdue University. He is proud of giving practical and safe advice, keeping the classrooms open with in-person instruction, and athletes safely competing throughout the chaos of the pandemic. He and his wife developed a scoring system used by Purdue University that allowed President Mitch Daniels to receive the largest freshman class in their university’s history, while maintaining classroom instruction and Athletic and intramural play. President Daniels profiled the success the University had, and credited the scoring system created by Drs Bruce and Smith while featured on all the major news networks. Drs Bruce and Smith were very involved in keeping companies, businesses, and schools open so much so that they were invited guests on the popular podcast, This Week in Virology, at the request of host Dr. Vincent Rachaniello on the episode “See It Can Be Done” to highlight their work in the region. Together they have two sons and two daughters and reside in North Chattanooga.

Board-certified in Orthopaedic Surgery since 2000, Dr. Bruce, is the co-founder of RiverRun Health (2020) along with his best friend in Medicine, Dr. Bill Moore Smith. He walks the sidelines for either Baylor or McCallie during the fall, however he cares for the athletes from many schools, and of all sports, year-round including weekend warrior adults. He continues to see patients three days a week at RiverRun Health, performing 5-10 cases in surgery each week.