The Saddleback Valley Surgical-Medical Group was established in 1971 by Thomas E. Shaver MD FACS.  Dr. Shaver's passion for patient care was the driving force behind the creation of Orange County's regional trauma system, as well as our ongoing commitment to keeping Mission Hospital at the forefront of compassionate and aggressive surgical care.  Dr. Thomas Shaver retired in 2007, but his values and legacy live on in the group he developed.

We are committed to the surgical care of our community, taking pride in treating both the general surgical and trauma patients at Mission Hospital - South Orange County's only regional trauma center.  Since this takes away considerable time from our elective surgical practice, we deeply appreciate the understanding of our patients.  As further expressions of our commitment the community, we were instrumental in starting the Mission Tumor Board at which we present our cancer patients to ensure the greatest opportunity for excellent care, and participated in the national study of sentinal lymph node biopsy which has now become the standard of care for breast cancer treatment.

Currently, we are a partnership of five surgeons: Drs. Stephen DeSantis, Ralph Maeda, Kenneth Kushner, John Shaver (son of founder Thomas Shaver), and Marvin Atchison.  All are Board Certified by the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and Fellows in the American College of Surgeons (FACS).