About Me

Dr. Shprintzen is Director of several programs at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, including the Communication Disorder Unit, The Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome International Center, and the Center for Genetic Communicative Disorders. He is Professor of Otolaryngology and Professor of Pediatrics at Upstate. Dr. Shprintzen’s research career has covered many areas, including clinical and molecular genetics, speech physiology, radiographic studies of the speech and swallowing mechanism, fiberoptic endoscopy, cleft palate and craniofacial disorders, the genetics of psychiatric disorders, feeding disorders, and research methodology. He is author or co-author of more than 190 peer reviewed papers and chapters in many scholarly journals and texts. He has published six books including his recent comprehensive volume on velo-cardio-facial syndrome. He is widely credited for delineating four genetic disorders, all of which bear his name in the medical literature including velo-cardio-facial syndrome (often called Shprintzen syndrome), Shprintzen-Goldberg craniosynostosis syndrome, Shprintzen-Goldberg omphalocele syndrome, and Goldberg-Shprintzen syndrome. He is a member of seven professional societies and has held high office in three. He served as President of the Society of Craniofacial Genetics and also served as Editor for that Society. He was also President of the Society of Ear, Nose, and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC). He is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and received ASHA’s Outstanding Clinical Achievement Award in 1992 and the Distinguished Achievement Award in 1992 from the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Dr. Shprintzen has been awarded many grants, including both research and service grants. He has traveled extensively at the invitation of foreign hospitals and governments in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Republic of China, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland. He has made more than 1,000 presentations at the annual meetings of 50 professional societies and has been an invited speaker or consultant at over 200 hospitals in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. He has been the keynote speaker at many national and international society meetings in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. He has appeared on national and international television, including The Today Show (NBC), The Doctor is In (PBS), NBC Nightly News, and on the Australian Broadcasting network. He has been featured in articles in Family Circle Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Baltimore Sun. He served as a Consultant to the New York City Department of Health and was on the Advisory Board to the Bureau of Families with Special Needs and the Bureau for Handicapped Children for 23 years. In 1990, Dr. Shprintzen was one of four expert witnesses to testify before a Congressional Committee on the care of children with craniofacial disorders. In 1995, Dr. Shprintzen was a founding member of The Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome Educational Foundation, Inc. and served as that organization’s Executive Director from 1995 through 2003. Most recently, Dr. Shprintzen has been active with the Canadian-American International Scientific Exchange Program, a grass roots organization of North American, Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian scientists whose goal is to bring peaceful relations between scientists and students in the Middle East as an active part of the overall peace process.