Abhinav Chhabra, MD
Hand Surgery
Additional Locations
Bio & Overview
A. Bobby Chhabra, MD, is the Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the David A. Harrison Distinguished Educator.
He is the director of the UVA Health Orthopedic Center and a team physician for the UVA Athletics Department. He has served as chair of the UVA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery since 2013.
His expertise includes hand, wrist, and elbow trauma and arthritis, as well as sports injuries and congenital hand surgery.
He was the physician lead and driving force in the development and construction of the UVA Hand Center and the 200,000-square-foot comprehensive UVA Health Orthopedic Center that opened in 2022.
Dr. Chhabra is a nationally recognized educator and the recipient of the UVA School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the UVA Master Educator Award, and the David A. Harrison Distinguished Educator Award, the highest teaching honor at the School of Medicine.
He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and 40 book chapters. He has edited 5 textbooks, given 170 national and international presentations, and been invited as a visiting professor at 35 prestigious institutions.
For the last six years, Dr. Chhabra has had a weekly show on local ESPN/WINA radio. On “The Best Seat in the House Injury Report” and “Real Athletic Conversations” he discusses everything from college sports to the latest in the NFL, NBA, and other professional sports. He and cohost Jay James received the Associated Press of Virginia Best Sports Show Award in 2017–2018 and 2020–2021.
Dr. Chhabra attended Johns Hopkins University where he studied biology. He completed medical school and his orthopaedic surgery residency at UVA and received fellowship training in hand and upper extremity, microvascular, and congenital hand surgery at the Hand Center of San Antonio and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.
Organizational Involvement/Memberships
- American Society for Surgery of the Hand, vice president, president in 2025–2026
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, fellow
- American Society for Surgery of the Hand
- American Orthopaedic Association, fellow
- Virginia Orthopaedic Society, past president
Academic Information
- Department
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Academic Role
- Professor
- Division
- Orthopedics-Hand
- Research Interests
- Tissue engineering for flexor tendon repair, distal radius fracture fixation techniques
Conditions & Treatments
- Carpal tunnel syndrome (cts)
- Carpal tunnel syndrome surgery
- Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Dupuytren contracture
- Epicondylitis
- Gamekeeper's thumb
- Hand arthritis
- Hand fracture
- Hand tendon injury
- Lateral collateral ligament repair
- Medial epicondylitis
- Tennis elbow surgery
- Triangular fibrocartilage complex repair
- Ulnar collateral ligament repair
- Wrist arthritis
- Wrist fracture
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Residency
- University of Virginia Medical Center
- Fellowships
- Hand Center of San Antonio, University of Virginia Medical Center
- Certification
- American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (Surgery of the Hand), American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (Orthopaedic Surgery)
- Appointment
- Chairman - Orthopaedic Surgery, Director - UVA Health Orthopedic Center Ivy Road
- Additional Specialties
- Elbow Orthopedic Surgery
Highlights
Dr. Bobby Chhabra profile video
BOBBY CHHABRA: My name is Bobby Chhabra. I'm a hand, wrist, elbow surgeon at the University of Virginia in the Department of Orthopedics. I became drawn to hand surgery, because some of the most complex anatomy in the body is in the hand. And I truly was fascinated by the anatomy and the intricate intricacies of the function of the hand and how preserving that anatomy and fixing problems related to that anatomy could help improve someone's overall function. My biggest areas of interest is congenital hand surgery, so babies who are born with congenital hand differences and problems. I have fellowship training in that area, and it is one of the most gratifying parts of my practice. I've been at the University of Virginia for 25 years, from medical school, from training, and I chose to come back here on faculty, because of the high level of care provided, the level of collaboration among the people who work here, and the opportunities to teach the next generation of physicians. Making a difference in not only the people you treat for clinical problems, but having an impact on future doctors and trying to mentor them and be a good role model to them during these very difficult changing times in health care is a challenge. But if you're committed to it, like my faculty are, and so many faculty here at the University of Virginia, we're really going to make a difference in the future in terms of training people, so that they can provide the best quality of care to me and to my family members and my grandkids and to future generations.
Awards
- 2022, David P. Green Mentorship Award from the American Society of Surgery of the Hand
- 2022, UVA Master Clinician Award
- 2021, Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Virginia Orthopaedic Society
- 2018, 2019 Best Bedside Manner Awards, OurHealth Charlottesville and Shenandoah Valley Magazine; Second Place, Surgery: Hand
- 2014, inducted into the Raven Society, most prestigious honorary society at the university
- 2011-2020 Best Doctors in America® List
- 2010-2011 President, Virginia Orthopaedic Society
- 2010 Charles W. Miller Chief Resident Teaching Award, University of Virginia, Department of Orthopaedics
- September 2009 Appointed to the Executive Council of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, Board Member at Large
- June 2009 Charles J. Frankel Endowed Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery
- May 2009 President-Elect, Virginia Orthopaedic Society June 2008 Induction into the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA)
- 2007-2013 "Best Doctors in America" Award
- 2007 Recipient of the University of Virginia Master Educator Award
- 2006 Recipient of the University of Virginia School of Medicine Award for Excellence in Teaching
- 2006 Inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Educators
- 2006 Charles W. Miller Chief Resident Teaching Award, University of Virginia, Department of Orthopaedics
- 2006 Best Lecturer Award, Colorado Orthopaedic Review Course
- 2006 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, Career Development Award
- 2004 Robert Pruner Resident Teaching Award, University of Virginia, Department of Orthopaedics
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