Dr. Susan Stephens is an orthopaedic spine surgeon who currently serves as the President of the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society. She recently closed her 30-year private practice as a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area to focus on executing her passion for social justice through health equity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. 

She graduated from Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, the University of Southern California - LosAngeles County Orthopaedic Surgery Residency (first Black woman), and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Spine Fellowship Program (first Black and first woman). The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons selected her as a Leadership Fellow in its inaugural class. Dr. Stephens served on the StateMedical Board of Ohio by appointment from the state's governor. 

Dr. Stephens is a second-generation orthopaedic surgeon. She was proud to be one half of the first father-daughter orthopaedic practice in the country with Dr. Timothy L. Stephens, Jr. (the first Black orthopaedic surgeon in the State of Ohio). Dr. Susan Stephens is the fifth Black woman orthopaedic surgeon in the country and the second Black woman orthopaedic spine surgeon.   

Dr. Stephens is fiercely involved with her community and participates in many social service organizations. Her mission carries the torch for her mother, Consuelo M. Sousa, MD, MPH, MBA, who was a distinguished, dynamic, and dedicated pediatrician and health care administrator. 

She is the enormously proud mother of Timothy (a graduate of Dartmouth College), who works in finance in Silicon Valley, and Connie (a graduate of the University of Southern California), who works on Wall Street in business development. Dr. Stephens' husband, Ronald D. Holman II, is a partner at the corporate law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister.