Dr Dominique-François Gazielly
Shoulder specialist for 40 years
Since 1986, I have devoted my surgical career exclusively to shoulder disorders. I have seen more than 24,000 patients in consultation and operated on over 8,000. Arthroscopic surgery, shoulder replacements and sports injuries (instability) are the main areas of my practice.
I have published numerous scientific articles on shoulder surgery and rehabilitation, as well as three books: The Cuff (Paris, 1997), L’épaule au quotidien (1999), and Rééducation et chirurgie de l’épaule au quotidien (2006). I have organised and chaired three international congresses in France (in Saint-Étienne in 1996, then in Paris in 2000 and 2005).
From 1999 to 2011, I developed several specialised shoulder units in the Middle East: in Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
From 2012 to 2019, I held a position as a specialist shoulder surgeon at the Genolier Clinic, between Geneva and Lausanne, in an international environment, while continuing my research activities.
Currently, since November 2020, I have been Shoulder Consultant at the Lozère Hospital in Mende (48000).
My career
Medical training
Secondary education at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon (1954-1967)
Graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lyon (1968-1974)
Former Resident of the Lyon Hospitals (1976-1981)
Hospital Assistant–Chief of Clinic in Orthopaedic Surgery (1981-1985) in Lyon, in the department of Professor Georges de Mourgues, and in Saint-Étienne, in that of Professor Gilles Bousquet.
Military service
In 1975, I spent 18 months as a volunteer aid worker in Gabon. As Chief Physician of the medical centre in Akiéni, a bush village near the Congolese border, I was at once physician, anaesthetist, surgeon and obstetrician… An unforgettable humanitarian adventure in which the daily life of a bush doctor teaches humility…
Specialisation in shoulder surgery
My second adventure after Africa. In 1986, on the advice of my mentor, Professor Albert Trillat, I completed a self-funded shoulder fellowship in Toronto, Canada, then in New York, in the United States.
There I learned shoulder surgery, still almost non-existent in Europe at the time. I also trained in shoulder rehabilitation under Charles Neer II, the world’s undisputed master of the shoulder, and his students Peter Welsh and Richard Hawkins.
The shoulder never left me again.
Founding in Saint-Étienne of the first private unit specialising in shoulder surgery in Europe (1986-1999)
Between 1986 and 1999, another extraordinary human adventure began, shared with general practitioners, rheumatologists, radiologists and physiotherapists.
I wrote my first scientific publications and continued my training across the Atlantic, where I learned arthroscopic shoulder surgery in the early 1990s, alongside Harvard Ellman and Stephen Snyder.
International exchanges
Elected a Member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Society in 1986, then of the European Society in 1994, I organised a congress on the Rotator Cuff in Saint-Étienne in 1996, bringing together 700 specialists from around the world. The proceedings of this congress were published in a book, « The Cuff », written with two colleagues, Pascal Gleyze and Thierry Thomas.
I then trained my first students, an Italian and an Israeli, who have since become leading shoulder specialists in their countries. It was a period of exchange during which I welcomed many colleagues, French and European, who came to learn « modern » shoulder surgery.
Return to Paris, my hometown
Before leaving Saint-Étienne in 1999, I recorded all the work carried out over 13 years in the book « The Shoulder in Daily Practice ». In Paris, I joined the world-renowned Institut du Membre Supérieur (Upper Limb Institute), which allowed me to train young surgeons from Europe, Lebanon, Egypt, South America, Japan, China, and beyond.
In 2000 and 2005, I organised two congresses in Paris bringing together the world’s leading specialists in shoulder replacement and more than 1,000 participants. In 2006, I published a third book, « Shoulder Rehabilitation and Surgery in Daily Practice ».
Discovering China
In 2006, I was appointed Associate Professor at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, where I had the privilege of giving a series of lectures on shoulder surgery.
Founding of shoulder units in the Middle East
From the 2000s onwards, I established units specialising in shoulder surgery at the request of the authorities of the various countries where I was invited to lecture: Doha (Emirate of Qatar), Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).
Another fascinating opening, allowing me to pass on my knowledge and practise my craft in a culture imbued with tolerance and friendship.
Establishment of a Shoulder Centre at Dubai Hospital (2004-2013)
Associate Physician from 2006 to 2011 in the Orthopaedics Department of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG)
Another period of mentorship began: working with the young Swiss surgeons of a major university department led by my friend Professor Pierre Hoffmeyer, I developed arthroscopic shoulder surgery and published scientific articles.
Shoulder surgeon in Switzerland at the Genolier Clinic (Swiss Medical Network Group)
Since 2012, after Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Paris and many other destinations around the world, I have had the joy of practising my profession in a prestigious, internationally renowned institution, set in an exceptional location above Lake Geneva, facing Mont Blanc.
Currently, since November 2020, I have been Shoulder Consultant at the Lozère Hospital in Mende (48000).