Chuck Thigpen PhD, BSc

Dr. Thigpen is the Director of Observational Clinical Research in Orthopaedics with the Center for Effectiveness Research in Orthpaedics at the University of South Carolina. He also a research scientist for ATI Physical Therapy. He holds adjunct appointments with Duke University Division of Physical Therapy, University of South Carolina Department of Physical Therapy, and Clemson University Bioengineering. He completed his PhD in Human Movement Science from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill in 2006. Dr. Thigpen is an expert is the construction, implementation, and management of large clinical databases. He leads the development of the CERO orthopedic core registry including patient reported, clinical, surgical, non-operative, and health care utilization resources. He is leads the analysis and benchmarking for ATI’s Patient Outcomes Registry

He has been funded by the MIT research endeavor (MITRE) for health innovation in development of clinical pathways for back and neck pain. He has over 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in leading scientific journals including American Journal of Sports Medicine, Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy, and British Journal of Sports Medicine and his work has been cited more than 500 times. Thigpen is a national leader in the design, implementation and use of patient outcome measures in registries serving on the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Outcomes Taskforce.