Editor’s Note: Every year, the national medical group Castle Connolly produces a list of the best doctors in America. In the Memphis area, the 2026 Top Doctors List comprises more than 400 physicians representing 60 different specialties. Here, we introduce you to one of the care-givers who have been named a Top Doc time and again.
photograph by Greg Campbell / Campbell Clinic
He didn’t realize it at the time, but a lacrosse injury would put Dr. Chad Campion on his career path as a spine surgeon with Campbell Clinic. “I was on my high school team and injured my arm,” he says. “It just never got better; whenever I tackled somebody, it would get dislocated. My father — a general surgeon himself — introduced me to an orthopaedic specialist he had done his residency with. He got my arm working again, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
After graduating from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, Campion earned his M.D. from New Jersey Medical School (today part of Rutgers University). During his fellowship, he trained with neurosurgeons and orthopaedic specialists at the Norton-Leatherman Spine Center in Louisville, and came to Memphis for his residency at Campbell Clinic. He’s been part of the spine care team here since 2021.
“I was drawn to the spine because obviously it’s very complex, dealing with nerves and the spinal cord itself, and requires a lot of thinking about where the problem is, and how do we repair it,” he says. “So from an intellectual standpoint, it was appealing to me.”
He mentions another benefit of his specialty. “When you address that problem correctly, the patient gets significantly better,” he says. “So it’s also nice to get that immediate gratification.”
At the same time, Campion explains that surgery is often the last option he recommends. “The human body is an amazing machine,” he says, “and it naturally tries to heal itself. Here at Campbell, we can offer diverse treatments — medications, injections, physical therapy — prior to surgery, so the body can get through the pain and recover on its own. I’m really lucky to have partners who have sub-specialized in those areas.”
“We are now able to provide relief to patients who previously would be unable to do so. If they were experiencing severe pain before, it’s great to see them wake up and immediately feel better.” — Dr. Chad Campion
If surgery turns out to be the best option, Campion is pleased with the advances he’s seen in endoscopic surgery. In the past, traditional spine procedures to repair fractures or correct disk problems required long incisions, and a lengthy (and often painful) recovery period.
Endoscopic surgery, however, involves making a small, one-centimeter incision in the back. The scope itself is a hollow tube, fitted with a camera and light. Campion doesn’t cut into muscles or drill away bone to reach the damaged area; instead, using the scope, he dilates the area, and then working through the tube, removes any bulging portions of the disk that are causing the problem.
“It’s a much less destructive approach,” he says, “and we don’t have to worry so much about back pain caused by the actual surgery itself.”
Other benefits of endoscopic surgery include decreased blood loss, less damage to nearby muscle or bone, and a significantly reduced risk of infection risk. Because of the smaller incision, the recovery period is short — a matter of weeks, instead of several months for traditional surgery.
“Patients generally don’t need pain medications afterwards,” he says, “and it’s safer for them to resume normal lifestyles, even sports, without worrying about causing further damage to their spine.”
Even so, endoscopic surgery isn’t for everybody. Because the surgeon is working through such a narrow opening, it’s not suitable for procedures involving fractures or total disk replacement. “But it’s very good at addressing specific pathologies,” he says, “such as a disk pushing on a specific nerve, causing pain, weakness, or numbness in a certain area, such as the leg or arm.”
There’s another benefit as well. Since the procedure is simpler, doctors can perform it with the patient under milder sedation, instead of the full anesthesia required for more complex operations, which often carries risks. “This means we can do spine surgery on people who would normally have to avoid it because they’ve had problems with anesthesia,” he says. “We are now able to provide relief to patients who previously would be unable to do so. If they were experiencing severe pain before, it’s great to see them wake up and immediately feel better.”
