John Paul Dormans MD
Dr. Dormans spent the majority of his career at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He served as Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at the CHOP from 1996 to 2015, held the Richard M. Armstrong Endowed Chair in Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery, and was Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He then served as the Chief and LE Simmons Chair of Orthopedic Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital and was tenured Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Orthopedic Surgery. During his time in Houston, he expanded the orthopedic faculty at TCH from 6 to 26 MD attending pediatric orthopedic surgeons and the program improved in the USN and WR from 38 to 10th in the USA. Starting July 1, 2018, he returned to his native home state of Indiana to assume the new role of Chief of Riley Children's Hospital Orthopedic Surgery, Garceau Chair in Orthopedic Surgery and tenured Professor at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. He is originally from Fort Wayne Indiana and graduated from Indiana University Bloomington undergrad in 1979 and IU School of Medicine in 1983.
Dr. Dormans served as President of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA) from 2009-2010 and President of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), presiding over the SRS 2015 50th anniversary meeting in Minneapolis, MN. Dr. Dormans won the SRS Hibbs Award for Best Basic Science Paper in 2011 and Best Clinical Paper in 2006.
Dr. Dormans began a two-year term as President of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie (SICOT), the largest orthopedic organization in the world, starting this October 2018. He also served as the Treasurer of the SICOT Foundation.
Dr. Dormans has a long-standing interest in promoting musculoskeletal and value-based care in low and middle income countries and has worked or volunteered in over 50 countries. He is also a past Chairman of the Board of Directors Orthopedics Overseas, and President of the World Orthopedic Concern.
Dr. Dormans helped create and expand programs at several major children’s hospitals and has had various leadership roles including President of the Combined Medical Staff of CHOP from 1999 to 2001 and President of Children's Surgical Associates (CHOP surgical group) for four three-year terms. He was the recipient of both the CHOP and University of Pennsylvania Jesse T. Nicholson Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from Penn in 1995. He was an American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and American Orthopedic Association Kashewagi Suzuki traveling fellow to Japan in 1996.
Dr. Dormans has over 500 publications; he has published over 350 scientific articles, more than 145 chapters and written/edited 11 books. He has participated as an invited lecturer in nearly 60 countries and has trained over 50 clinical fellows and 100 research fellows.