Dr. Joseph J. Biundo is in the private practice of Rheumatology in Metairie LA, and is affiliated with East Jefferson General Hospital. He also practices Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. He was Chief of the Section of Rheumatology at LSU Health Science Center from 1971 until 1990, and was director of the Rheumatology Clinical Laboratory during that period.
He also served as Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation from 1975 until 2002. He maintained a private Rheumatology practice while at LSU. He retired from LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans in 2002, after 31 years. He currently has an appointment as Clinical Professor of Medicine at Tulane Medical Center.
He obtained a BS degree in Pharmacy at the U. of Houston in 1960, and his medical degree at LSU School of Medicine in 1964. He then completed a rotating internship, followed by a three-year residency in Internal Medicine, with a concurrent traineeship in Rehabilitation Medicine at LSU/Charity Hospital. He completed a one-year fellowship in Rheumatology at Tulane Medical School and VA Hospital. Then he spent two years in fellowship training in Rheumatology and Immunology at Georgetown University Medical Center.
Upon joining LSU Medical Center as a faculty member in 1971 he began the first Rheumatology program. Then, in 1975, he became Director of the PM&R program, Director of the Louisiana Rehabilitation Institute, and started the combined Section of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation. From 1977 to 1980 he was the Project Director of a federally funded Multipurpose Arthritis Center at LSU, and from 1981 to 1985 he served as Project Director of one of the 17 Regional Model Spinal Cord Injury Centers.
He was a major influence in the development of Rheumatology as a specialty in Louisiana. He trained many Rheumatology fellows and taught many residents and students in the art of being an astute diagnostician. He also helped develop the specialty of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in Louisiana, directing that program for over 25 years. He initiated a musculoskeletal medicine fellowship in 1990 for physiatrists, which was one of the earlier fellowships in this field.
He was the founder and first President of the Louisiana Rheumatism Society. For a number of years he has written the chapter in the Primer on Rheumatic Diseases on the topic of Regional Rheumatic Pain Syndromes and has widely lectured on this topic and on shoulder problems. He has written chapters for Rheumatology and for Rehabilitation text books, including the Merck Manual. He is the feature Editor for Bursitis and Soft Tissue Rheumatism for the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology. Dr. Biundo has published over 80 medical articles and book chapters.
He has the unique distinction of being board certified in eight different Boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, and these include the following: Internal Medicine, Rheumatology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Allergy and Immunology, Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, Geriatrics, Pain Medicine and Sports Medicine. He was selected by his peers in 2004 as a Master of the American College of Rheumatology. Then in 2007 he was chosen to receive the Distinguished Clinician award by the American Academy of PM&R. He is the only physician who has been selected to receive both of these honors. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He is listed in Best Doctors in America, and he is an amateur cellist. He and his wife, Mary, have 3 girls, and 2 grandchildren.