Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital recently announced Michael W. Shrader as its new division chief for cerebral palsy.
Shrader is a graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic and his fellowship in pediatric orthopedics and scoliosis at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas. He is board certified in orthopedic surgery.
Prior to joining Nemours, Shrader was a professor and chief of pediatric orthopedic surgery and medical director of children’s rehabilitative services at Children’s of Mississippi, University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he focused his practice on the treatment of children with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and similar developmental disabilities. Previously, he was the director of the CP Program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and he is currently on the board of directors of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. His undergraduate degree was in aerospace engineering from Mississippi State University, and he worked as an engineer at NASA before entering medical school.
The hiring of Shrader comes after the announced retirement of Freeman Miller, who came to duPont Hospital for Children 30 years ago to start the Cerebral Palsy Center.
Miller transformed the Nemours Cerebral Palsy Center into a center where more than 3,000 children receive care each year. He established one of the few accredited Gait Analysis Laboratories in North America and advanced protocols for orthopedic screenings and surgical corrections that are now accepted as best practices in the U.S. and internationally.
Miller received a lifetime achievement award for the treatment of children with cerebral palsy from the Royal College of Surgeons of Scotland. He also was bestowed the Mentorship Award from the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, given for his leadership and mentoring of trainees and colleagues in the field of childhood-onset disabilities. Miller has written a textbook on CP for professionals and a guidebook for families dealing with CP.
Shrader’s current research efforts are focused on investigating pain control, scoliosis, hip dysplasia and the family dynamics of children with special health care needs. He is married to his college sweetheart, Carol, and they are parents of four children, two of whom have cerebral palsy.