Dr. Nelson Saldua is an orthopedic surgeon with sub-specialty training in spine surgery. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of California Los Angeles for his undergraduate studies. He joined the United States Navy and completed medical school at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Saldua served for 14 years in the United States Navy with duty stations that included General Medical Officer onboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and Orthopedic Surgery Department Head of the NATO Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He completed a combined neurologic and orthopedic spine surgery fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Vancouver Clinic, he was an attending spine surgeon at Naval Medical Center San Diego. Dr. Saldua has authored several publications and book chapters on orthopedic surgery and spinal surgery.

Dr. Saldua believes that honesty and communication are essential to the doctor-patient relationship. Surgery on the neck or back is a serious consideration and surgery should only be entertained after a thorough discussion of the risks and benefits of surgery. In this way, he believes that surgery can result in reliable and predictable clinical outcomes.

Dr. Saldua is a father of 4 (including twin girls), so his spare time involves anything that includes his wife and children. The entire family is excited about joining Vancouver Clinic and the Vancouver community.