About Keith Bridwell, MD
The Asa C. and Dorothy W. Jones Professor
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Chief, Orthopaedic Spine Surgery
Co-Director, Pediatric/Adult Spinal Deformity Service
Founder, Pediatric/Adult Spinal Deformity Service at Washington University (1985)
Founder, Washington University Spinal Fellowship (1991)
Washington University School of Medicine
Dr. Keith Bridwell is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. He is the founder and Director of the Washington University (St. Louis) Spine Fellowship program, which was initiated in 1991 and to-date has trained 24 fellows, with 3 currently in training. Dr. Bridwell is Chief of Spine Surgery in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and is the Asa C. and Dorothy W. Jones Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. He holds hospital appointments at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, and St. Louis Shriners Hospital for Children.
Following a medical degree at Washington University Medical School in 1977, Dr. Bridwell did his orthopaedic internship and orthopaedic surgery residency at Washington University School of Medicine. In 1982, he completed a spinal deformity research fellowship at Rush Medical College, the University of Illinois, and Chicago Shriners Hospital for Children. Since that time, Dr. Bridwell has limited his practice to spinal surgery, mostly complex spinal disorders and spinal deformity surgery. In 1985, Dr. Bridwell received board certification from the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Dr. Bridwell is an active member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the North American Spine Society, the Scoliosis Research Society and the American Orthopaedic Association. He was the local host for the Scoliosis Research Society meeting in St. Louis in 1997. He has been the Chairman of the Program and the Membership Committees for the Scoliosis Research Society and has served on its Board of Directors. He is the immediate Past President of the Scoliosis Research Society. The Scoliosis Research Society is the leading international society for the study of spinal deformity and the oldest orthopaedic specialty society in North America.
Since 1982, Dr. Bridwell has been an active researcher in the spine field. He has contributed 40 chapters to medical textbooks, 130 articles to scientific peer-reviewed journals, and 200 scientific abstracts/ presentations. He is a deputy editor for Spine. Dr. Bridwell is co-editor-in-chief with Ronald L. DeWald, MD of The Textbook of Spinal Surgery, editions 1 and 2. The third edition of The Textbook of Spinal Surgery is currently under development.
Dr. Bridwell's clinical practice includes all aspects of spinal surgery, both pediatric and adult. However, the emphasis has been spinal deformity, in particular idiopathic adolescent scoliosis and adult idiopathic scoliosis with superimposed degenerative changes, fixed sagittal and coronal imbalance syndromes and high-grade spondylolisthesis.
Dr. Bridwell is listed in The Best Doctors in America.
