Dr. Shoja’s expertise as a clinical anatomist incorporating translational clinical research is founded on his rare double specialization in the fields of clinical anatomy and medicine. His extensive research has produced numerous cutting edge findings including the discovery of the laterality of central respiratory control, the introduction of a new surgical approach for reinnervation of the paralyzed phrenic nerve in patients with high cervical spinal cord injury, the introduction of a new classification for the branching pattern of the renal artery, introduction of a novel laboratory model for neurosurgical training that simulates intraventricular endoscopic surgery, and the discovery of a new syndrome composed of hereditary gelsolin amyloidosis and retinitis pigmentosa and named “Ardalan-Shoja-Kiuru syndrome” after him and his research team. Dr. Shoja has published more than 500 research articles in internationally renowned biomedical journals including Clinical Anatomy, Critical Reviews in Toxicology, Bioscience, Life Sciences, Journal of Neurosurgery, International Journal of Cardiology, and Neurosurgery to name a few. Currently, his h-index is 50. His research findings have been cited more than 10,000 times by independent scientists in the scientific community worldwide.

He has served on the editorial board of several internationally prestigious biomedical journals including Clinical Anatomy, as well as being invited to be an ad-hoc reviewer for over 50 peer-reviewed journals. He is also one of three main international editors of Bergman’s Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Human Anatomical Variation, the new edition of which is considered to be the most comprehensive, gold-standard, and up-to-date account of human anatomical variations by the scientific medical community. His new book, A Guide to the Scientific Career: Virtues, Communication, Research and Academic Writing, is an interdisciplinary text that provides medical students and residents with the most commonly encountered topics in the academic and professional career, teaching them all of the practical nuances that are often only learned through experience.

Dr. Shoja was also chosen as a member of the team of experts to prepare the 41st edition of Gray’s Anatomy, the most comprehensive anatomical reference book available to date. He has collaborated on numerous biomedical research projects and co-authored with many scholars and scientists from leading national and international institutions.