Sports medicine emerged in the early 1970s, largely as a result of the development of arthroscopy by Dr. Robert Metcalf, team physician at Brigham Young University and later a University of Utah Medical School staff member. The procedure revolutionized knee surgery and is now used in shoulder surgery as well. Prosthetic replacement of hips and knees was also a major advance.

Among the many advances in general surgery, two innovations deserve special mention: the use of staples in place of sutures, and the use of the peritoneoscope, first to explore the abdomen and more recently in the performance of actual procedures such as removal of the gallbladder or uterus.

From the beginning of the computerization by Dr. Mark Skolnick of the genealogical library of the LDS Church, Raymond Gesteland, Ray White, and colleagues have been very successful in proving the genetic origin of many disease and in pinpointing specific locations of important disease genes. The Institute of Human Genetics houses three major programs: the Department of Human Genetics, the Human Molecular Biology and Genetics Program, and the Center for Human Genome Research, one of six such centers in the United States.