Hall of Fame

The POSNA Hall of Fame provides an enduring history to honor those POSNA members who have displayed dedication to the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, teaching and mentoring, studying musculoskeletal conditions in children and caring for children with musculoskeletal conditions. Nominations for inductees are taken each fall by the POSNA membership and selected by the Awards Committee and members of the Hall of Fame.  

Hall of Fame Categories: Leadership, Diversity, Teacher, Humanitarian, Hero, Triumph over Adversity, Pioneer, Contributions to Literature, Home Person (one who does the real work while others go to meetings), Fox-Hole Buddy (reliable person when the stakes are high), Exceptional Clinician, POSNA Service

Eligibility:

• POSNA member for at least 15 years
• Minimum age of 60 years
• Inaugural Class (2019) includes all previous Distinguished Achievement Award recipients

Behrooz Akbarnia, M.D. graduated from Tehran University and continued his Orthopaedic Surgery residency at Albany Medical Center including a year of Pediatric Orthopaedics under Dr. Howard Steel in Philadelphia. He then completed a Scoliosis Fellowship at Twin Cities Scoliosis Center with Dr. John Moe and colleagues. Dr. Akbarnia was Professor/Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Louis University and Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital for 10 years before relocating to San Diego in 1990. There, he established his academic practice, created the San Diego Spine Fellowship Program and founded the San Diego Spine Foundation to support educational and research programs.

Dr. Akbarnia’s interest has been focused on spinal deformity, especially Early Onset Scoliosis which started with POSNA Growing Rod Tutorials at Children’s Hospital, San Diego. He then worked with other colleagues to establish the Growing Spine Study Group. GSSG recently merged with CSSG to become Pediatric Spine Study Group (PSSG), creating the largest database of young children with spine deformity. In 2007, he established International Congress on Early Onset Scoliosis (ICEOS), which just held its 13th Annual Meeting. He has published several books including 2 editions of The Growing Spine Textbook (3rd Ed. in progress). His efforts have significantly affected the lives of young children with spinal deformity around the world.

He has helped many children globally with his innovations, developing new means for treating young children with EOS. His efforts comprise over 200 peer-reviewed publications, many book chapters, and presentations nationally and internationally. He has received the AAP Distinguished Service Award, SRS’s Blount Humanitarian and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He is past president of Scoliosis
Research Society and currently a Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at University of California; San Diego.

He and Nasrin married in 1968 and now reside in La Jolla, California. He is both proud father of three children and grandfather of five.

Biography written by Dr. Jay Shapiro, on behalf of the Hall of Fame Committee. 2021.