Steven Theiss, MD has been named the first chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the UAB School of Medicine.

Theiss is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and is member of the North American Spine Society, AOSpine and the American Orthopaedic Association. He is regularly listed as one of the Best Doctors in America and has won several teaching awards, including the Kurt Niemann Faculty Teaching Award at UAB in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2009. He has also directed numerous national and international educational programs.

Theiss earned his medical degree from Northwestern University. He completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at University of Pennsylvania Hospital, where he served as chief resident. He followed that with a fellowship in spine surgery at the Minnesota Spine Center before joining UAB's School of Medicine as an assistant professor in 1995.

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery consists of 28 full-time clinical faculty performing more than 8,000 orthopaedic surgical procedures each year at UAB Hospital, UAB Hospital Highlands and Children's of Alabama.