Babak Shadgan

October 5, 2020

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Division:
Orthopaedic Research

Hospital Site:
Vancouver – Blusson Spinal Cord Centre

Dr. Babak Shadgan, MD, MSc, PhD, FSPIE, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is also an Associate Faculty Member in the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, a Faculty Member in the UBC Neuroscience Graduate Program, a Principal Investigator at the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), and Director of the Implantable Biosensing Laboratory.

Dr. Shadgan completed his medical degree in 1994 and specialized in Sports and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary University of London. He earned his PhD in Experimental Medicine – Muscle Biophysics at UBC, completed an AO/ASIF Fellowship in Osteosynthesis in Freiburg, Germany, and undertook fellowship training in Diffuse Optical Tomography at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Harvard Medical School and MIT.

His research focuses on developing implantable, wearable, and non-invasive biosensing technologies to monitor tissue and organ physiology and supports advances in diagnosis, surgical care, rehabilitation, and recovery across musculoskeletal, neurological, and sports medicine.

A major area of his research is physiological monitoring for spinal cord injury. In collaboration with Dr. Brian Kwon and colleagues at ICORD, his team has developed implantable sensing technologies to monitor spinal cord oxygenation. He also invented techniques to monitor neural conduction in the spinal cord, providing tools to better understand spinal cord physiology and to support future therapeutic approaches. Dr. Shadgan also collaborates with orthopaedic surgeons to develop technologies for musculoskeletal conditions, including cerebral palsy, acute compartment syndrome, chronic exertional compartment syndrome, and acute limb ischemia. His laboratory has also developed optical monitoring systems to assess tissue perfusion and viability during reconstructive surgery and organ transplantation.

Another focus of his research is precision rehabilitation and human performance. His team develops wearable sensing technologies that integrate optical, electrophysiological, cardiovascular, and motion-based measurements to assess muscle function, fatigue, recovery, and metabolism. They also investigate rehabilitation strategies, including blood flow restriction exercise, for individuals with spinal cord injury and other neuromuscular disorders.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Shadgan has served as a Sports Physician and Medical Director for wrestling competitions at every Olympic Games since Athens 2004. He currently chairs the Medical, Prevention and Anti-Doping Commission of United World Wrestling (UWW) and serves on the Medical and Science Consultative Group of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

Research Interests & Publications

Research Interests:

  • Musculoskeletal Medicine and Orthopaedic Research
  • Sports and Exercise Medicine
  • Implantable and Wearable Medical Devices
  • Physiological Monitoring and Biosensing Technologies
  • Clinical Biophotonics and Biomedical Optics
  • Tissue Perfusion, Organ and Tissue Viability Monitoring
  • Reconstructive Surgery and Organ Transplantation
  • Rehabilitation Engineering and Targeted Therapeutic Technologies
  • Translational Clinical Research and Medical Device Innovation

Selected Publications:

Shadgan B, Amani Tehrani I, Khosravi S, Askari Z, Pirhadi Rad AP, Bashashati A. Regional tissue perfusion index (RTPI): a new optical-based metric for quantifying regional tissue perfusion. J Clin Monit Comput. Published online February 24, 2026. doi:10.1007/s10877-026-01424-0

Nourizadeh M, Juricic M, Begin J, Bektash L, Miller S, Mulpuri K, Shadgan B. Non-invasive assessment of muscle spasticity in children with cerebral palsy undergoing botulinum toxin treatment using near-infrared spectroscopy. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2025;22(1):265. Published 2025 Dec 22. doi:10.1186/s12984-025-01853-z

Shadgan B, Burden A, Bégin J, Lu M, and Askari S. Dynamic epidural monitoring of spinal cord neural conduction using a novel implantable electrodiagnostic sensor: A pre-clinical study. Neurotrauma Reports 2025:6(1): 999–1013.

Shadgan B, Nourizadeh M, Saremi Y, Baktash L, Lazarevic S. Enhancing upper extremity muscle strength in individuals with spinal cord injury using low-intensity blood flow restriction exercise. J Rehabil Med. 2024;56:jrm40608. Published 2024 Sep 24. doi:10.2340/jrm.v56.40608

Shadgan B, Molavi N, Abaeva E, Falahati S, Sikimic S, Konstantinou L, Molnar S. Wrestling injuries during the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Br J Sports Med. 2024 Jul 25;58(15):818-825. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-108056. PMID: 38889958.

Shadgan B, Macnab A, Fong A, Manouchehri N, So K, Shortt K, Streijger F, Cripton P, Sayre E, Guy D, Pagano R, Kim K, Kwon BK, Optical Assessment of Spinal Cord Tissue Oxygenation Using a Miniaturized Near Infrared Spectroscopy Sensor. J Neurotrauma. 2019;36(21):3034-3043. doi:10.1089/neu.2018.6208

Shadgan B, Pereira G, Menon M, Jafari S, Darlene Reid W, O’Brien PJ. Risk factors for acute compartment syndrome of the leg associated with tibial diaphyseal fractures in adults. J Orthop Traumatol. 2015;16(3):185-192. doi:10.1007/s10195-014-0330-y

Shadgan B, Reid WD, Harris RL, Jafari S, Powers SK, O’Brien PJ. Hemodynamic and oxidative mechanisms of tourniquet-induced muscle injury: near-infrared spectroscopy for the orthopedics setting. J Biomed Opt. 2012;17(8):. doi:10.1117/1.JBO.17.8.081408

Lefaivre KA, Shadgan B, O’Brien PJ. 100 Most Cited Articles in Orthopaedic Surgery. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. 2011;469(5):1487-1497.

Shadgan B, Menon M, Sanders D, et al. Current thinking about acute compartment syndrome of the lower extremity. Can J Surg. 2010;53(5):329-334.

Shadgan B, Menon M, O’Brien PJ, Reid WD. Diagnostic techniques in acute compartment syndrome of the leg. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. 2008;22(8):581-587. For a complete and up-to-date list of publications, please visit Dr. Shadgan’s Google Scholar

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests:

  • Sports Injuries, Prevention, Treatment and Functional Rehabilitation.
  • Clinical Optics and Biophotonics
  • Fundamentals of Applied Pathophysiology in Biomedical Engineering
  • Implantable Medical Devices

Academic Background

  • PhD, The University of British Columbia, 2011
  • Dip, Football Medicine, UK Football Association, 2003
  • MSc, Sports Medicine, University of London, 2001
  • MD, Tehran Azad University, 1994