Center for
Global Health

Scholar

Languages: English (native)

Bio statement

Dr. David Spiegel works as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, specializing in neuromuscular diseases, trauma, and spinal deformities, and is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds the Denis S. Drummond endowed chair in pediatric orthopaedics. He is a Penn Center for Global Health (CGH) Scholar and a member of the Penn chapter of the AOA honor society. He attended Duke University for college, medical school, and orthopaedic surgical residency training, and then completed both research and clinical fellowships in pediatric orthopaedics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Dr. Spiegel has been active in surgical care in low- and middle-income countries for over 30 years, serving as an Honorary Consultant in Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children in Banepa, Nepal, and as an Honorary Professor at the University of Basrah and the University of Baghdad in Iraq. He has served on numerous national committees, including Children's Orthopaedics in Underdeveloped Regions of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), the Bone and Joint Decade committee (POSNA), the Global Courses Committee (POSNA), and the International Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, where he directed the international scholars program. He has also served on the Advisory Board of Orthopaedics Overseas, Global-HELP, the Ponseti International Association, Miracle Feet, and the Global Clubfoot Initiative.

He has served as a consultant for the World Health Organization in Mongolia and Somalia and was on the steering committee for the WHO's Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. He has delivered nearly 500 invited lectures, mostly at international venues including Nepal, Iran, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Tanzania, Mongolia, and Somalia. He has also co-edited a textbook titled Global Orthopaedics: Caring for Musculoskeletal Conditions and Injuries in Austere Settings.

Dr. Spiegel has received numerous national and international humanitarian awards over the course of his career, including the President's Call to Service Award (2006) from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation for 4,000 hours of community service, the Golden Apple Award from Health Volunteers Overseas (2009), an AAOS Achievement Award (2014), the Humanitarian Award from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (2013), the Walter P. Blount Humanitarian Award from the Scoliosis Research Society (2016), the Humanitarian Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2017), and the Duke Medical Alumni Association Humanitarian Award (2026). He was inducted into the POSNA Hall of Fame in 2026 and received the William P. Potsic MD Mentorship Award at CHOP in 2025.

Recent global health projects

Long term follow-up of clubfoot treated by Ponseti method in Nepal, as a follow-up to a project that my friends and I started in 2004. The paper is unique in being the only long term follow-up of this treatment method from a low income country, and also the only long term follow-up in patients treated after walking age. The paper is under review.

Evaluated surgical service availability and readiness in 8 African countries, which was WHO project and published in 2017 in BMJ open (see below)

Selected publications

Premkumar A, Ying X, Mack Hardaker W, Massawe HH, Mshahaba DJ, Mandari F, Pallangyo A, Temu R, Masenga G, Spiegel DA, Sheth NP (2018). Access to Orthopaedic Surgical Care in Northern Tanzania: A Modelling Study. World J Surg. 2018 Apr 25. doi: 10.1007/s00268-018-4630-x.

LeBrun DG, Talwar D, Pham TA, Banskota B, Spiegel DA (2017). Predictors of healthcare seeking delays among children with chronic musculoskeletal disorders in Nepal. J Epidemiol Glob Health. 2017 Dec;7(4):299-304. doi: 10.1016/j.jegh.2017.10.002.

Spiegel DA, Droti B, Relan P, Hobson S, Cherian MN, O'Neill K. Retrospective review of Surgical Availability and Readiness in 8 African countries (2017). BMJ Open. 2017 Mar 6;7(3):e014496. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014496. 

Johnson RR, Friedman JM, Becker AM, Spiegel DA (2017). The Ponseti Method for Clubfoot Treatment in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Barriers and Solutions to Service Delivery. J Pediatr Orthop. 2017 Mar;37(2):e134-e139. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000000723.

Gupta S, Groen TA, Stewart BT, Shrestha S, Spiegel DA, Nwomeh BC, Groen RS, Kushner AL (2016). The spatial distribution of injuries in need of surgical intervention in Nepal. Geospat Health. 2016 May 31;11(2):359. doi: 10.4081/gh.2016.359.

Banskota B, Shrestha S, Rajbhandari T, Banskota AK, Spiegel DA (2015). A Snapshot of 1001 Children Presenting with Cerebral Palsy to a Children's Disability Hospital. J Nepal Health Res Counc. 2015 Jan-Apr;13(29):31-7. PMID: 26411710.

Shawar YR, Shiffman J, Spiegel DA (2015). Generation of political priority for global surgery: a qualitative policy analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2015 Aug;3(8):e487-e495. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00098-4.

Spiegel DA, Nduaguba A, Cherian MN, Monono M, Kelley ET (2015). Deficiencies in the availability of essential musculoskeletal surgical services at 883 health facilities in 24 low- and lower-middle-income countries. World J Surg. 2015 Jun;39(6):1421-32. doi: 10.1007/s00268-015-2971-2.

Spiegel DA, Misra M, Bendix P, Hagander L, Bickler SW, Saleh CO, Ekeke-Monono M, Baah-Odoom D, Caldwell A, Irons B, Amir S, Taylor R, Layne M, Hailu H, Awais SM, Price RR, Crockett S, Islam M (2015); Health Systems Strengthening Working Group of the Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. Surgical Care and Health Systems. World J Surg. 2015 Sep;39(9):2132-9. doi: 10.1007/s00268-014-2928-x.

Moroz PJ, Spiegel DA (2014). The World Health Organization's action plan on the road traffic injury pandemic: is there any action for orthopaedic trauma surgeons? J Orthop Trauma. 2014;28 Suppl 1:S11-4. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000000105.

Last Updated: 27 July 2026