Dr. Matthew A. Halanski serves as the division chief of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Phoenix Children's and is the Herbert J. Louis Endowed Chair in Orthopedics. He is also a professor/clinical scholar at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix.

Before joining Phoenix Children's in 2022, Dr. Halanski served as director of Pediatric Orthopedic Research and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then went on to serve as the division chief of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha and served as the vice chair of Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was later promoted to full professor.

Dr. Halanski earned his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit and completed an orthopedics residency at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopedic surgery and spinal deformity at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Dr. Halanski is board certified in orthopedic surgery.

Dr. Halanski has been involved in numerous professional committees and initiatives that further patient care, education, and research. Some activities have been hospital-based, while others have been national, including his service on the Biomedical Engineering Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Growing Spine Committee of the Scoliosis Research Society and several committees with the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), including chairing the membership committee. He also participates in outreach activities to educate patients and families about such conditions as cerebral palsy.

Dr. Halanski has been successful in research, publishing numerous articles on orthopedic conditions, including clubfoot, spinal muscular atrophy, and spinal deformities. He has been awarded grant funding from numerous foundations, including POSNA, the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF), OMeGA and The Hartwell Foundation, as well as the National Institutes of Health (R13, S10 and R21 grants). As one of the nation's leading experts on casting, Dr. Halanski holds several patents on systems and devices that prevent cast-related injuries. He co-invented a brace that he hopes will personalize the care of children treated for clubfoot. In addition, Dr. Halanski is currently leading studies designed to find minimally invasive surgical methods to straighten deformed spines and accelerate limb growth to treat skeletal deformities.

Dr. Halanski has created unique exhibits and multimedia learning experiences that captured the attention of AAOS, and he was selected to represent POSNA as a visiting fellow. He shared his work throughout Europe. Collaborating with engineers at the University of Michigan, Dr. Halanski and his team at the University of Wisconsin are developing a knifeless technique to cut the periosteum noninvasively to accelerate growth.

Dr. Halanski and his wife, a pediatrician, have three daughters. He particularly enjoys fly fishing and bow hunting when he has any free time.