Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program

Jersey City Medical Center

Jersey City Medical Center

About Us

The Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program at Jersey City Medical Center began in July of 2015 thanks to the help of Doctors Steven Shamash, Frank Liporace, and John Capo. The program accepts 3 residents each year and is approved for a total of 15 residency positions. It is our goal to train outstanding orthopaedic surgeons who are committed to excellence in orthopaedics and embody a compassion for the community and a dedication for the advancement of medical education.

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Program Director
John T. Capo, MD

John T. Capo, MDDr. John Capo was born and raised in New York City. He completed his undergraduate education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, where he studied engineering. Dr. Capo is a graduate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Penn State University Hospital. After completing his residency, Dr. Capo spent time at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center where he completed his fellowship in Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery. Following his formal hand fellowship, Dr. Capo completed an AO Traveling Fellowship, where he studied complex conditions of the wrist and hand at the University of Berne, in Berne, Switzerland with Diego Fernandez, MD and Ueli Buchler, MD. Finally he spent additional training in Toronto, Canada at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Capo is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and an active member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Orthopaedic Association, the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand, and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association. Additionally, he served as President of the New York Hand Society in 2019. He has authored over 200 articles, book chapters and presented at multiple national and international academic meetings. He has served as editor of the Upper Extremity Section of Orthopaedic Knowledge Update Trauma 4, and as an author for the Orthopaedic Knowledge Update 11 and is a reviewer for numerous orthopaedic journals including the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Dr. Capo has special interest in fracture surgery of the elbow, wrist and hand.

Associate Program Director
Nicole Montero-Lopez, MD

Nicole Montero-Lopez, MDA native of Hudson County New Jersey, Dr. Nicole Montero Lopez completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology at New York University (NYU) College of Arts and Sciences in New York and London and completed her medical education at NYU School of Medicine. While there, she developed a specific interest in orthopedics and she completed a clinical research fellowship in Orthopedic Trauma Research at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. Additionally, Dr. Lopez completed a fellowship in Hand, Upper Extremity and Microsurgery at University of California-Irvine. Dr. Lopez has published and submitted numerous articles, and has presented at the Eastern Orthopedic Association Annual Conference and the American Association for Hand Surgery Annual meeting. After starting in private practice, Dr Lopez returned to academic medicine joining the BHMG Orthopedic department. She is passionate about collaborative patient care, resident education, and community outreach to the high school and college level students of Hudson County and the surrounding area.

Fluent in English and Spanish, Dr Lopez enjoys taking care of patients in a comfortable setting and setting an example for the next generation of orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Lopez specializes in upper extremity surgery and microsurgery with a special interest in hand, wrist and elbow surgery, as well as fracture care.

Program Consultant
Steven Shamash, DO

Steven Shamash, D.O.Dr. Steven Shamash completed his undergraduate training at the Binghamton University of The State University of New York receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He then received his Masters of Science degree from the University at Buffalo of The State University of New York, while performing clinical research in colorectal cancer. He is a graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine where he graduated in the top 15% of his graduating class. Dr. Shamash completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, during which he also served as the Chief Orthopaedic Resident and received the Henrietta and Jack Avart Memorial award; given only to the orthopaedic surgery resident who has exhibited exceptional competency in orthopaedics during their training program. Upon his graduation, Dr. Shamash went on to complete an additional fellowship in hand, upper extremity and microvascular surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Shamash has focused his orthopaedic practice to the care of fractures of the hand, wrist and elbow as well as the surgical and nonsurgical treatment of tendon, ligament and nerve injuries within the upper extremity. Dr. Shamash enthusiastically served as the Program Director of the previous Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program and now serves as the Program Consultant of RWJBarnabas Health's Jersey City Medical Center Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program. Dr. Shamash was the founding program director of the Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program at Jersey City Medical Center, from 2015 to 2018. Dr. Shamash is reputed for his dedication and commitment to resident education.

Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery
Frank Liporace, MD

Frank Liporace, M.D.Dr. Frank Liporace was born and raised in the New York City area. He attended the State University of New York at Binghamton for his undergraduate degree and then continued on to New York Medical College for his medical degree. After this, he completed the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program at New York University /Hospital for Joint Diseases. He then completed an Orthopaedic Traumatology Fellowship at Tampa General Hospital under the tutelage of Dr. Roy Sanders and the Florida Orthopaedic Institute's Orthopaedic Trauma and Reconstructive Service. His interests include pelvic and acetabular surgery, complex orthopaedic trauma reconstruction, hip and knee reconstruction, and treating complications associated with orthopaedic trauma. For the last decade he has been clinically active and teaching residents and students. He has won numerous teaching awards within his institution and nationally. He is currently Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma & Reconstruction at Jersey City Medical Center. He is also Director of the Orthopaedic Institute at Jersey Medical Center. Additionally, he is the Director of Orthopaedic Trauma Research at New York University / Hospital for Joint Diseases. Dr. Liporace has made multiple scientific presentations nationally and internationally and has over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 10 chapters in orthopaedic textbooks. He has done over 300 invited lectures pertaining to orthopaedic Trauma and Joint Reconstruction worldwide. He is currently a reviewer for the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma as well as Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. He is also the editor for the Lower Extremity section of Orthopaedic Knowledge Update 11, which is used around the world as one of the standards for information for orthopaedic surgeons.

Rutgers Health

Residency and fellowship programs training at RWJBarnabas Health benefit from the resources and interprofessional opportunities available through the Rutgers Health institutional sponsorship. Learn more about all of the Rutgers Health sponsored graduate medical education programs on our sponsoring institution webpage.