Bio
Raised on a farm in the Catskill region of upstate New York, Dr. Steven Hughes’ parents instilled in him a love for learning and a disciplined work ethic. He used those skills to graduate summa cum laude and achieve junior admission to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Rochester. In addition, he was selected for early admission to Alpha Omega Alpha while completing his medical degree with honors from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Hughes worked as a surgical intern at Bethesda Naval Hospital and was later honorably discharged after serving as a Commander in the United States Navy. Following his internship, he completed an orthopedic surgery residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester where he was honored with the Zimmer achievement award for excellent scientific research. Dr. Hughes completed his formal medical training with a fellowship in spinal surgery at Case Western Reserve Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked under the renowned spinal surgeon, Dr. Henry Bohlman.
With a passion for developing personalized treatment plans based on two-way communication and individualized rehabilitation, Dr. Hughes delights in seeing his patients reach their full recovery potential. As a spine specialist, Dr. Hughes primarily focuses on operative and non-operative spinal care. He is trained in microsurgery of the whole spine with a special emphasis on cervical spine care.
An active member of numerous professional medical organizations, Dr. Hughes is one of only two members of the Cervical Spine Research Society in Northern Virginia. He is also involved in academia having served as an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Bowman-Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, and as a Clinical Instructor at Howard University in Washington, DC.
Dr. Hughes is married and has a son and a daughter. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling with his wife and spending time with his family and two golden retrievers. An FAA certified pilot, Dr. Hughes’ extra-curricular interests also include bird watching, scuba diving, and medico-legal research.
Patient Testimonials
“In December 2019 I slipped on my deck and from that incident I started having a lot of back pain which gradually got worse. I was prescribed medicine and physical therapy which did not touch the pain. I had gotten to the point to where I could barely walk or stand up straight or do much of anything. My regular doctor gave me a referral to have a MRI and a referral for OrthoVirginia, Dr. Hughes. While Dr. Hughes was reviewing my MRI he discovered a large mass on my spinal cord that was causing me to have paralysis in my legs and sent me right away to Fairfax ER. I was admitted in the hospital on 5/12/2020, surgery was done the evening of 5/13/2020 to remove the mass of arthritis. I was up that night around 9:00pm standing straight and walking without any pain just some soreness from the surgery. I was so happy and excited that I called and woke up my sister just to talk the next morning at 4:30. Dr. Hughes and his team did such an awesome job at giving me my legs and essential my life back.” – Thomas F.