World-renowned surgeon. Devoted teacher. Champion for every child's first steps.
For more than 25 years, Dr. Matthew Dobbs has helped children born with clubfoot and other foot and leg conditions take their first steps. Families from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, across six continents, have brought their children to him. Today he leads the Dobbs Clubfoot Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He is known around the world as a leading expert in clubfoot. To the families he treats, he is simply the doctor who helped their child walk, run, and play.
Why This Is Personal
Dr. Dobbs grew up traveling with his father, an eye surgeon who brought care to people who had no other way to get it. That experience shaped his perspective as a doctor.
As a young doctor, he trained under Professor Ignacio Ponseti, creator of the gentle, non-surgical Ponseti method for clubfoot. There he saw that most children don't need major surgery; they need a doctor who knows the right technique. When Ponseti prepared to retire, he asked Dr. Dobbs to carry his work forward.
He has spent his career doing just that. His "Train the Trainers" program brings leading surgeons from other countries to learn from him. They return home and teach others, amplifying one visit into care for an entire country. He has now brought the Ponseti method to surgeons in more than 50 countries.
Dr. Dobbs is just as committed to research, because better treatment means fewer surgeries and better lives for children.
“Every child deserves the chance to walk, no matter where they're born. When we remove the barriers to care, a child's whole world changes.”
Dr. Matthew Dobbs
Life-Changing Innovations
The Dobbs brace: A brace that keeps clubfoot corrected after treatment, while letting children move and build strength. Because it’s easier to wear, kids are more likely to stick with it, which is the key to preventing relapse. It’s now used in more than 100 countries and has helped thousands of children avoid additional surgeries.
Personalized clubfoot care: Dr. Dobbs created a system for classifying clubfoot that helps doctors tailor treatment to each child, often shortening the time they need to wear a brace.
Help for the toughest cases: His research into the biology of clubfoot has improved treatment for the most difficult types, giving more children a path to correction without major surgery.
The Dobbs method for vertical talus: Corrects a rigid flatfoot that once meant major surgery, using gentle stretching, casting and a small procedure. It’s now used worldwide.
New hope for cerebral palsy: Working with a neurosurgeon, he pairs a procedure that relieves muscle stiffness with small tendon-lengthening procedures, so children walk sooner and better.
Avoiding surgery whenever possible: His gentle approaches to knee dislocation and torticollis spare most young children an operation.
Recognized Internationally
Dr. Dobbs's work has been recognized around the world, for both his skill and his heart.
Kappa Delta Award (2017 Ann Doner Vaughn Award) , often called orthopedic surgery's Nobel Prize
Nicolas Andry Lifetime Achievement Award (2017) from the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons (ABJS)
Honored for compassion: the Guardians of Childhood Award and the Shujaa Award for compassionate care of immigrant families
Named a top orthopedic surgeon by US News & World Report
A teacher to the world: he has taught in more than 60 countries and heads several international orthopedic organizations