From leadership appointees to award recipients, here are 20 power players to know in orthopedics:
Paul Tornetta III, MD, PhD: Dr. Tornetta was named the new president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He is the director of orthopedic trauma at Boston Medical Center and will serve for the 2024-2025 term.
Annunziato (Ned) Amendola, MD: Dr. Amendola was recently appointed first vice president of the AAOS and is next in line to be president of the organization in 2025. He currently serves as chief of sports medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Wilford Gibson, MD: Dr. Gibson was appointed second vice president of the AAOS and is in line to lead the organization in 2026.
Duane Anderson, MD: Dr. Anderson earned the 2024 Humanitarian Award from the AAOS for his work treating patients as an orthopedic surgeon in Ethiopia.
Joshua Jacobs, MD: Dr. Jacobs, former CEO of the AAOS and chair emeritus of Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center's orthopedic surgery department, was awarded the 2024 William W. Tipton Jr., MD, Leadership Award from the organization.
Boris Zelle, MD: Dr. Zelle was awarded the 2024 Diversity Award from the AAOS for his work treating an underserved patient population as vice chair of research and chief of orthopedic trauma at UT Health San Antonio.
Tomas Pevny, MD: Dr. Pevny, a Glenwood Springs, Colo.-based orthopedic surgeon, became the first physician in the region to offer Iovera, an FDA-approved osteoarthritis knee pain treatment.
Bryan Kelly, MD: Dr. Kelly serves as the president and CEO of New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery, in addition to serving as surgeon-in-chief emeritus and chief emeritus of the Sports Medicine Institute for HSS.
Jay Savage, MD: Dr. Savage, a Gulf Orthopaedics surgeon, performed the first total knee replacement at Infirmary Health's Daphne (Ala.) Surgery Center.
Neal ElAttrache, MD: Dr. ElAttrache, an orthopedic surgeon, performed knee surgery on T.J. Hockenson, a tight end for the Minnesota Vikings.
Cato Laurencin, MD, PhD: Dr. Laurencin, an orthopedic professor, is the first recipient of the Augustus A. White III Founders Award from the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society.
Kevin Meister, MD: Dr. Meister, director of sports medicine at the Texas Metroplex Institute for Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery in Arlington, performed shoulder surgery on Kendall Graveman, a pitcher for the Houston Astros, in Dallas.
Jeffrey Dugas, MD: Dr. Dugas serves as the associate medical director of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Kevin Fitzgerald, MD: Dr. Fitzgerald was appointed managing director of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Nova Ortho and Spine.
Brad Sparks, MD: Dr. Sparks became the first surgeon in Alaska to offer the Jiffy Knee procedure for joint replacements.
Dharmesh Vyas, MD, PhD: Dr. Vyas is the head team physician for the Pittsburgh Penguins and performed laparoscopic knee surgery on Matt Nieto, a forward for the NHL team.
Nicholas Bernthal, MD: Dr. Bernthal, an orthopedic specialist with University of California Los Angeles Health, teamed up with Duke University biomedical engineer Tatiana Segura, PhD, and a team of UCLA engineers to develop a preventive strategy for postoperative orthopedic surgical infections.
Gary Michelson, MD: Dr. Michelson, a retired orthopedic and spinal surgeon, has a net worth of $1.8 billion and was included in Forbes' annual list of the richest people in the world.
Marcus Ford, MD: Dr. Ford, an orthopedic surgeon with Germantown, Tenn.-based Campbell Clinic, received the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons' Clinical Research Award
Benjamin Ma, MD: Dr. Ma was appointed chair of the orthopedic surgery department at UCSF Health.