Suken Shah, MD, is Vice Chair of the department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division Chief of the Spine and Scoliosis Center, and Clinical Fellowship Director at Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware.
He is also Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.
His clinical interests include adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, early onset scoliosis, complex spinal deformities, kyphosis, spondylolisthesis and other problems of the spine, minimally invasive techniques for surgery, osteogenesis imperfecta, and cerebral palsy.
Dr. Shah is an innovator, researcher, and key opinion leader in spinal deformity surgery. He performs advanced correction techniques, such as vertebral column resection and vertebral body tethering – and trains residents, fellows, and visiting observers in these techniques.
Dr. Shah is an active member of international specialty societies, serving on the Scoliosis Research Society board, currently as Education Council chair and previously as chair of its committees on education, programs, growing spine, and safety and value. A member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, he has chaired its committees on Industry Relations and One-Day Courses. He is Director of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium, a member of multiple research study groups, and a board member of the Setting Scoliosis Straight Foundation, and the Harms Study Group’s Executive Committee.
SSN: What drove you to choose your career in orthopaedics – and spinal disorders in particular?
SS: Orthopaedics brings together surgery and biomechanics as well as relatively quick gains in relief of pain and restoration of function. Spine surgery is complex, and there is constant technologic innovation, creating a challenging dynamic to bring responsible iterations of improvement that actually bring value or improved outcomes to the patient.
SSN: It is clear that the healthcare industry has been greatly impacted by the pandemic, what has been the greatest impact for you within your research and the industry as a whole? How has your working practice changed over the past few years?
SS: The pandemic changed a lot of things: how we think about health care delivery, quality, value, and experience – the experience on both sides of the equation: patient and provider.
Research production and published manuscripts were up in 2020. However, if you were trying to recruit patients for a clinical trial, well, that wasn’t so good.
We learned that virtual meetings could work in many arenas – case conferences and resident/fellow education – but not in others. Large scientific meetings organized by societies are better in-person for the human interaction, networking, and hallway conversations that are so important for collaboration, outside-the-box thinking and intellectual fulfillment.
Tel