Photo by Madison Kirkman Theodore Firestone

ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON

Name of medical school:
State University of New York/Brooklyn

Years in practice:
21

Who is your personal health care hero?
Dr. Russell Warren at Hospital for Special Surgery, NYC. He reconstructed my knee after a serious basketball injury when I was a 21-year-old medical student. He did a great job on me then and still can be found running onto the field as team surgeon to the New York Giants.

“I decided to become a doctor when...”
As an undergrad at Johns Hopkins I discovered how uniquely challenging and rewarding the life of a surgeon could be.

What made you choose orthopedic surgery specifically?
As an undergraduate, I spent time with Dr. Steven Kopits at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was the world’s foremost orthopedic surgeon for achondroplastic dwarfism. Talk about changing lives. He was an amazing surgeon and even more amazing human
being.

“If I weren’t a doctor, I’d be...”
Considering a career in politics.

“When I’m not working, I like to...”
Enjoy what Arizona offers. From an early tee time to a desert sunset, it’s a beautiful place.

Name a personal habit, vice or activity of YOURS that you would advise yourself NOT to do if you were your own doctor.
Don’t stress the things, people, and events you cannot change.

What’s the best thing you ever did for your own health?
Engage nutritional specialists who helped me find the diet that’s right for me.

If you could change one thing about the U.S. health care system, what would it be?
Have doctors treat patients more like family members, and have patients take more responsibility for their own health and well being.

What innovation, invention or new technique would you most like to see in the medical field in the next 10 years?
An implant bearing surface (i.e. cartilage) that more closely duplicates the one we’re born with.

Peyton Manning: Full recovery or no?
Football is a brutal sport. Once you sustain a significant injury, especially to your neck, there’s no such thing as a “full recovery.”