Francis H. Shen, MD is Co-Director of the UVA Spine Center, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division Head of the Orthopaedic Spine Service and Director of the Spine Fellowship at the University of Virginia Health System Spine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also serves as part of the Scientific Staff of Shriners Hospitals for Children, is a member of AO North America’s Faculty, and Consultant Spine Surgeon in the Department of Sports Medicine at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Dr. Shen is a co-author of The Cervical Spine; Arthritis and Arthroplasty: The Spine; and Orthopaedic Surgical Approaches.

After receiving his medical degree and completing his residency at the University of Virginia, Dr. Shen performed a combined spine fellowship at Rush University and a pediatric spinal deformity fellowship at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Chicago.

Dr. Shen’s clinical practice focuses on providing care for patients with spinal pathology through a combination of both operative and nonoperative means. His areas of expertise include surgery of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral spine; management of degenerative conditions, spinal deformity, trauma, tumors, and infections of the spine; traditional open surgery; and minimally invasive surgery, image guided spine surgery, and microsurgery. Dr. Shen’s laboratory uses tissue engineering principles to develop techniques for the management of spinal fusions and treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration.

Dr. Shen has been honored with many distinctions including America’s Top Orthopaedist (two consecutive years), member of the Academy of Distinguished Educators by the University of Virginia, Cervical Spine Research Society Award in Clinical Research, North American Spine Society Clinical Traveling Fellowship Award, North American Spine Society Outstanding Award in Basic Sciences, Young Investigator Award in Spine, and the Scoliosis Research Society’s Traveling Fellow Award.

Dr. Shen has presented and published his research in peer-reviewed journals and contributed chapters to textbooks. He is on several editorial boards including The Spine Journal, SpineLine, Radiology Rounds (SpineLine), European Spine Journal, and international reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Rehabilitative Tissue Engineering Research. Dr. Shen is an ad hoc journal reviewer for Spine, the Journal of Orthopaedic Research and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Related Author: Mark D. Miller, MD