Dr. Gary Shapiro is a regional leader in the care of athletes of all ages. He was recently named one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the state of Florida by U.S. News and World Reports. Since starting his practice in 1993, he has helped numerous athletes return from potentially career ending injuries to achieve their goals. From youth sports, high school, college and beyond injured athletes turn to Dr. Shapiro for his expertise in Sports Medicine. When physicians, their family members, coaches, golf and tennis pros get injured they turn to Dr. Shapiro to get them back on the court or field. His interest in Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine started after a career ending injury as a senior in high school in Cleveland.

Dr. Shapiro is one of the few statewide surgeons routinely performing advanced knee preserving surgeries such as meniscal transplantation and autogenous cartilage transplantation. He is also one of the few local surgeons performing quadriceps sparing, minimally invasive, computer assisted knee replacement- resurfacing surgery.

Dr. Shapiro is a board certified Orthopaedic Surgeon. Who after his standard training spent one year at Stanford University in a sports medicine fellowship. There he was able to learn from some of the best surgeons in the world while taking care of some of the best athletes in the world. While at Stanford University, Dr. Shapiro perfected arthroscopic laser techniques in the early 1990’s and published results on arthroscopic lateral release in the knee using the Holmium laser. He also performed the first meniscal transplant at Stanford University.

He pursued his goal of becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon by studying Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at The Ohio State University. At OSU he was elected to the National Mechanical Engineering Honorary Society, the National Engineering Honorary Society and the Pre-Medicine Honorary Society. He earned his medical degree at Wright State University School of Medicine. There he was awarded the Silver scalpel award as the best surgical senior student as well as membership to the Medical Honorary Society, Alpha Omega Alpha.

Dr. Shapiro completed his Orthopedic Residency at the Wright State University, Miami Valley Hospital program in Dayton Ohio. While there he published a study on results of two graft choices for ACL reconstruction.

Dr. Shapiro is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery, the Florida Orthopedic Association, the Florida Medical Association and the Sarasota Medical Society. He has been in practice in Sarasota since 1993. He is married and has two boys. Dr. Shapiro has been very active in local youth sports. He has volunteered his time at Booker High School for over 10 years as their medical director. In addition, he has coached little league, AAU baseball, and is an active High School baseball official. He has officiated the State All-star Game, as well as state wide regional and district championship games. His hobbies include saltwater fishing and horseback riding.

* Dr. Shapiro is one of only a few surgeons that performs meniscal allograft surgery. To view a video of his expertise with this procedure click here.