E. Shannon Stauffer, MD Spring Lectureship

Overview

Dr. E. Shannon Stauffer was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 30, 1931. He attended Temple University Medical School, graduating in 1959. He did his orthopedic residency at the University of Pittsburgh and a fellowship in orthopedic rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey, California.

Dr. Stauffer practiced in Los Angeles until 1975, at which time he came to Springfield to become the Founding Chairman of the Division of Orthopaedics as well as the Residency Program Director. For twenty years, he was Director of the Spine Fellowship Program, which he founded in 1978.

Among other activities, he held memberships with the Association of Orthopaedic Chairmen, where he served as President in 1989, and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, where he participated as a Board Examiner. Dr. Stauffer was also a founding member of the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association and the Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Association. In addition, he developed the Risky Business Program and was Medical Director for the Spinal Cord Injury Unit at Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Stauffer has also published extensively, largely on conditions of the spine.

Dr. Stauffer retired from medical practice in 1998. His contributions to the field of orthopedics and, in particular, to the Division of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine are greatly appreciated. Dr. Stauffer passed away on May 16, 2002. We honor him with the Spring Visiting Professor lectureship which bears his name.

Orthopaedic Research Symposium

To carry on the tradition of academic excellence held by the Division of Orthopaedics we began holding an Orthopaedic Research Symposium as a part of the Stauffer Visiting Professor in 2019. We highlight the hard work and quality research the SIU Orthopaedic residents do year round. Residents are given the opportunity to submit abstracts which are then reviewed and selected for poster and podium presentations. A panel of judges from our university and community teaching faculty, led by the visiting professor, select and announce the winning podium & poster presentation at the completion of the lecture.

E. Shannon Stauffer, MD Visiting Professors 1976-Today

39th Annual E. Shannon Stauffer, MD Spring Lectureship

Dirk Alander, MD on June 23, 2023, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

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 went on to pursue 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.  After his time at St. Louis University as a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, he joined the Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania as a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Geisinger Commonwealth Medical School and as 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 interests 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.