Dr. Ricky E. Harrell is a 1979 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. After serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service in the Navajo Area Indian Health Service for three years, he returned to the University of Alabama and completed his residency in orthodontics in 1984. He was in the private practice of orthodontics in Westminster, CO from 1984-2006. Upon leaving private practice in 2006, Dr. Harrell joined the faculty at the University of Colorado. He earned an MA in education from the University of the Pacific in 2014. Dr. Harrell served as Program Director and professor in the Department of Orthodontics at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Harrell was the Program Director at the Georgia School of Orthodontics and retired in April 2024. His clinical teaching interests include temporary anchorage devices, diode laser treatment, the role of extractions in orthodontic treatment, and surgical orthodontics. Dr. Harrell continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department at Emory University and is an adjunct faculty member at the CTOR orthodontic residency program.

In retirement Dr. Harrell has been working with the Rotafeliz cleft palate team in Santa Cruz Bolivia. In this role Dr. Harrell works with local orthodontists to ensure that children receive appropriate orthodontic care in preparation for their grafting and orthognathic surgeries. Dr. Harrell has continued to speak domestically and internationally in retirement.

Dr. Harrell is a Life Member of the American Association of Orthodontists (1984) and the American Dental Association. He is a fellow in the American College of Dentists and is also a certified Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics (2010).

When out of the office, he enjoys music, fishing, skiing, hiking, yard work, reading, and spending time with his wife, Melanie, and their family.