proposals.Dr. Robert Campbell, 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree
Dr. Robert M. Campbell, Jr. is Director of the Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (CTIS) and an Attending Physician in the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He is best known as the inventor of the Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) device. Developed for the treatment of rare syndromes and disorders involving a malformed rib cage or missing ribs, this device was created by Dr. Campbell, then a pediatric orthopedist at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, with the help of his colleague, Melvin Smith M.D. Drs. Campbell and Smith, directors of the Thoracic Institute at Santa Rosa, performed the first of many titanium rib implant surgeries in 1989. The device has been life-saving for many children.