Hank Chambers, MD, is the current Medical Director of the Southern Family Center for Cerebral Palsy and the Motion Analysis Laboratory and Center for Human Performance at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego.   Dr. Chambers graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado in 1978, majoring in Biochemistry and History. He graduated from the Tulane University School of Medicine in 1982, where he was class president.  After an orthopedic residency at Brooke Army Medical Center, he completed a pediatric orthopedic fellowship at San Diego Children’s Hospital under the tutelage of one of the founders of modern gait analysis, Dr. David Sutherland.  After serving as the Residency Director of Brooke Army Medical Center Orthopedic Program, he joined his other mentors, Dr. Scott Mubarak and Dr. Dennis Wenger, in an academic practice at San Diego Children’s Hospital and Health Center and the University of California at San Diego (currently Professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery) in 1992.  

Dr. Chambers was the Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery at Rady Children’s Hospital from 1997 to 2001, Chief of Surgery from 2001 to 2002, and Chief of Staff from 2004 to 2006. In addition, he was the Medical Affairs Officer and started the Sports Medicine program at Rady, now called 360 Sports.  He also created the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Program at Rady and worked closely with that department daily.

He is active in many different local and national organizations.  He was the vice president and board member of the San Diego Chapter of United Cerebral Palsy from 1992 to 2017. He was on the Board of Directors of POSNA as Member-at-Large and currently serves as the Council Chair for Health Care Delivery.  Dr. Chambers had been on the board of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine for 14 years, first as Member-at-Large. Treasurer and then served as the President from 2008-2009.  He was a c0-founder of PRiSM (Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine) and served as the President from 2013-2016.  He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy National Organization.

He is very interested in International Health and has been in surgical and teaching programs worldwide.  He most recently worked with the CP program in Jamaica; he has also worked in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. In addition, he is working with the UCSF International Program and Coleen Sabatini to carry on the legacy of Lynn Staheli’s Global Help publishing program.

The author of over 140 publications, Hank has written and lectured extensively on orthopedic subjects such as cerebral palsy, botulinum toxin used to manage spasticity, trauma, and pediatric and adolescent sports medicine topics.  He is the Vice-Chair of the Editorial Board of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, is on the editorial board for Gait and Posture and the Journal of Children’s Orthopedics, and serves as a reviewer for many other orthopedic, physiatry, and basic science journals.

Hank grew up as the son of a Marine.   His father joined the Marine Corps during the Korean War and advanced from Private to Colonel over a 35-year career.  Moving every two years or so all over the United States, his move to San Diego in 1992 was his 29^th address.  Hank joined the Army in medical school and left the service as a Lieutenant Colonel before joining the practice in San Diego.

Dr. Chambers has been married to his high school sweetheart, Jill, for 44 years. They have two sons.  Sean (40) has total body involvement cerebral palsy. He lives in his own supported living home in San Diego, and Reid (39) is a pediatric orthopedic spine surgeon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH.  He and Jill have two grandsons: Jack (4) and Henry (1)