The Abramson Family Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery

Established in 2024, the Abramson Family Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery supports a faculty member in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

In 2002, the Cancer Center was renamed the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania to recognize the extraordinary generosity and support of the Abramson family. To enhance cancer care for families and patients throughout the Philadelphia region, the family has established several endowed professorships, founded a cancer research institute, and annually funded additional research and care programs at Penn Medicine. Their philanthropy and service have been instrumental in the development of the Abramson Cancer Center into a position of national leadership.

Leonard Abramson is the Founder of U.S. Healthcare and a major philanthropist in the Philadelphia region. Madlyn K. Abramson received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Penn. She served as a Trustee Emerita of the University of Pennsylvania; Member Emerita of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women; Honorary Chair of the Abramson Cancer Center Director’s Leadership Council; and served on the Penn Medicine Board of Trustees 1986 until her passing in 2020.

Current Chairholder
Neil P. Sheth, MD, FACS

Neil P. Sheth, MD, FACS, is the Abramson Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Vice Chair of Clinical Operations for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Sheth is Board-certified in Orthopaedic Surgery and sub-specializes in Adult Hip and Knee Reconstruction.

Dr. Sheth earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania after which he went to Wall Street to join Salomon Smith Barney’s Healthcare Investment Banking Division.  He returned to medicine and received his MD from Albany Medical College.   He completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and received his fellowship training in Adult Hip and Knee Reconstruction at Rush University and the Endo Klinik in Hamburg, Germany.

Dr. Sheth’s research focuses on clinical outcomes following primary and revision total joint replacement, healthcare economics and costing of revision surgery, biomechanics and the basic science of enhancing biologic fixation of porous implants, and the role of orthopaedic surgery in global health. He actively participates in many international and national professional societies and associations.  He co-edited a textbook on the Treatment of Acetabular Bone Loss and Chronic Pelvic Discontinuity with one of the pioneers on the subject.   His work in the arena of acetabular bone loss has led to cutting-edge techniques to treat patients with this extremely challenging clinical problem.  His clinical expertise has resulted in his induction into the prestigious Hip Society, Knee Society, and International Hip Society. 

Dr. Sheth started a non-profit organization, Global Orthopaedics, through which an orthopaedic center excellence has been constructed in Tanzania, East Africa.  This center delivers democratized care through university collaborations across the globe, provides operations for patients in need regardless of their ability to pay, and educates local surgeons, nurses, and trainees from the next generation.