K. Scott Malone (BS/MABE, ’85) wanted to pursue a career in the medical profession when he was growing up in Johnson City, Tennessee. Raised by a single mother who was a nurse, Malone was mentored by the doctor she worked for in town.
But the year before he graduated from Science Hill High School, Malone’s sister received a scholarship to the University of Tennessee’s Minority Engineering Scholarship Program (MESP). Malone received the same scholarship to the program and his mother encouraged him to follow his sister’s path.
“There were not any Afro-American physicians or engineers in Johnson City during my childhood,” Malone said. “My understanding of an engineer at that time was locomotion train engineers.”
Malone enrolled at UT and discovered biomedical engineering, which is the use of engineering and design to improve healthcare through medical devices, procedures, and patient care. After receiving his degree from UT, Malone eventually enrolled in medical school. 
Malone, one of the founders and the executive director of Middle Georgia Orthopedics in Warner Robins, Georgia, has been practicing nonoperative orthopedics and sports medicine in Middle Georgia for more than 20 years. He’s also been a team physician, medical consultant, or physician in training for NFL Europe, the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Rays, Grambling, Troy, Fort Valley State, and multiple high school teams in Middle Georgia.
Malone’s goal has always been to combine his technology engineering knowledge with his medical knowledge. He’s in the process of launching a big data company. Elite Athlete Data Global (EADG) is a healthcare technology startup with a vision to be the world’s leading data-mining solution regarding elite athlete injury impairments.
EADG has developed patented artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) solutions to define and refine relationships between risk factors, predictors, and their relational impact on injury impairments. EADG aspires to create more objective data-driven solutions with better accuracy than what is currently available.
The launch of EADG coincides with the rise of athletic compensation across all levels of sports. Name, image, and likeness (NIL) has allowed college athletes to be paid as endorsers for products and by collectives. Schools will soon be compensating athletes directly, and athletes could become employees in the future.
“Elite Athlete Data can look at athletes by their body and by position and then we can predict injuries and predict progression of injuries,” Malone said. “We can also predict the monetary value of the injury on the athlete’s brand or for a worker’s compensation assessment, and that’s becoming more and more significant, because of the money that’s come into play.”
Finding his path at UT
Malone remembers the MESP program at UT being “very regimented and disciplined.” He was a bit overwhelmed when he first arrived on campus coming from a smaller area of the state.
“I was fortunate to have Dr. Fred Brown guide my path and Dr. William Snyder as my advisor,” Malone said. “It took a couple of years for me to get an idea of which engineering discipline to pursue. Dr. Snyder was instrumental in helping me plan my coursework so I could ultimately finish in the biomedical discipline.”
Malone served a co-op with IBM in Florida and New Jersey, where he gained experience in industrial engineering, automation robotics, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering. 
“I was the first MESP student to work in the IBM biomedical division in Princeton, New Jersey,” he said. “The exposure I gained as a co-op student allowed me to understand engineering as a professional discipline.”
After he graduated from UT, Malone worked briefly for the Veterans Administration as an engineer. At the same time, he was attending Middle Tennessee State and Tennessee State University to complete prerequisites for medical school.
He attended the James H. Quillen College of Medicine and completed a residency in physical medicine rehabilitation at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. He served a sports medicine fellowship at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, under the tutelage of world-renowned surgeon James A. Andrews.
“There is definitely a connection to engineering in orthopedics. Orthopedic surgeons are like mechanics. They have to make sure that there’s a stability in what they fix and what they repair,” Malone said. “You can compare it to statics and dynamics. These are like basic fundamentals in engineering. But with dynamics, you’re looking at movement, you’re looking at velocity, acceleration, and when you when you repair a knee or ligament, you got to think about those things.”
Future biomedical Vols
Malone’s practice focuses on non-operative orthopedics, rehabilitation of orthopedic injuries, and workers’ compensation. He uses a blend of his engineering and medical education throughout his daily work. 
“Orthopedics now is moving to a new vastly growing area called orthobiologics, which is basically where you’re using your body to heal itself consisting of platelet rich plasma and stem cell treatments,” Malone said. “Orthopedics and musculoskeletal medicine, along with biomedical engineering, is going to pave the way for the future. We’re repairing things without having to use surgery. With stem cells, the body can regenerate and repair itself. I think that is going to be big in field of biomedical engineering.”
Malone believes biomedical engineering training at the college level is fundamental to understanding big data technologies like AI/ML. He was excited to hear that biomedical engineering (BME) will become its own department at UT. The new BME department will launch in August 2025.
“I met with Dean Matthew Mench and could feel his energy and enthusiasm for the college,” Malone said. “I am very grateful for my education and the foundational technology knowledge I gained at UT. I am confident future students will have the same transformative experience.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, rpotkey@utk.edu)