39th Annual E. Shannon Stauffer Spring Visiting Professor

SIU Division of Orthopedic Surgery presents the 39th Annual E. Shannon Stauffer Spring Visiting Professor with Dirk Alander, MD

Dr. E. Shannon Stauffer was the founding chairman of the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at SIU School of Medicine in 1975. He retired from medical practice in 1998. His contributions to the field of orthopedics and, in particular, to the Division of Orthopedics & Rehabilitation at SIU School of Medicine are greatly appreciated. Dr. Stauffer passed away in 2002. The division honors him with the Spring Visiting Professor lectureship that bears his name.

This year's visiting professor, Dr. Dirk Alander, graduated from the University of Illinois Medical School and completed his orthopedic residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He started a solo orthopedic practice in Grand Rapids and pursued a spine fellowship with Dr. Shannon Stauffer at Southern Illinois University Medical School in 1992. After his fellowship, he joined the SIU faculty and was with the University for three years. He went on to St. Louis University as a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery. Then he joined the Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania as a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Geisinger Commonwealth Medical School and Chief of Quality for the Musculoskeletal Institute.

During his time in Missouri, Dr. Alander became involved in the Missouri State Orthopaedic Association and served as an AAOS Board of Councilors representative for Missouri (2005-2011). He represented the American Spinal Injury Association on the Board of Specialties (BOS) from 2013 to 2017 and served as the Chair of the Board of Specialty Societies (2019-2020). He served on the Board of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2017-2020).

Dr. Alander has worked primarily in academic institutions as a spine surgeon with an interest in trauma and minimally invasive spine surgery. He has participated in both clinical care and instruction in China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guatemala. Those experiences and the leadership roles at Saint Louis University led to a master’s in Health Administration in 2017. In 2021, Dr. Alander left his spine practice at Geisinger Medical Center and transitioned to the FDA as a Medical Officer in the Center of Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Orthopaedics, Division of Spinal Devices.