Frazier Frantz, MD

Dr. Frantz is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he distinguished himself as a varsity football letterman and Brigade Commander. He received his medical degree from the Duke University School of Medicine. He completed general surgery residency at the Medical College of Virginia (now VCU School of Medicine) and pediatric general surgery fellowship at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

After completing fellowship, Dr. Frantz served as the Division Head of Pediatric Surgery at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA, until his retirement from the Navy in 2009. While there, he developed the largest minimally invasive Pectus repair practice in the military, treating both dependent and active-duty military patients from around the world with the Nuss Procedure.

Like his partners on the CHKD Pediatric Surgery team, Dr. Frantz has established himself as an expert in primary and re-do minimally invasive pectus repair. He was featured on an episode on The Doctors in January of 2015 to discuss treatment of a young woman with severe pectus excavatum. A little over 18 months later, the young woman's progress was reviewed in another episode of The Doctors.

In addition to minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair, Dr. Frantz utilizes open repair for patients with complex chest wall deformities (concurrent pectus excavatum and carinatum) and those with pectus carinatum deformities who have failed bracing therapy or who have stiff chest walls. He has innovated the techniques of open repair by utilizing titanium plating for stabilization and alignment of bony rib-to-sternal gaps during costal cartilage re-growth, which has been particularly effective in patients with asymmetric pectus carinatum.

Dr. Frantz appreciates the challenges of treating unique disorders of the chest wall and the potential for developing new treatment techniques.  He collaborated with Biomet in developing a custom titanium implant for a patient with “floating” sternum and flail chest which had resulted from previous failed attempts at pectus excavatum repair. The very first of its kind, this implant was inserted in March 2015 and has resulted in significant improvement in the patient’s pulmonary mechanics and quality of life.

An author or numerous scientific manuscripts and book chapters, he has received special recognition for teaching and clinical accomplishments at the local and national levels. His current research projects include optimization of post-operative pain management after pectus repair with incorporation of regional anesthetic techniques. 

Dr. Frantz was named Medical Director and Chief of Pediatric Surgery for the Children’s Surgical Specialty Group at CHKD in January 2015.  He is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery and Pediatrics at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is married to his wife, Stephanie, and has 5 children, ages 10 to 27.