Faculty
Our Leadership
Dr. Mark Vrahas, Chairman
“We are committed to supporting each other to improve the lives of our patients, our staff, and our physicians and to educating the next generation of outstanding orthopaedic surgeons.”
Dr. Mark Varhas joined the Cedars-Sinai Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as Chairman after serving as the Chief of Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He brought with him the tradition of annual ski retreat, bimonthly Breakfasts with the Chairman and a number of world-renowned speakers for ground rounds. He regularly scrubs trauma cases with residents and works closely with Dr. Paiement and resident representatives to make the program even better.
Dr. Steve Shin, Executive Vice Chairman
“The mission of our residency program is simple: to produce the finest orthopaedic surgeons in the country. We are very proud of the superb quality of our residents and our faculty's unwavering dedication to resident education. "
Dr. Steven Shin is a board-certified hand surgeon with over a decade of experience treating patients at the famed Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic. His clinical practice features recreational and professional athletes, including the LA Clippers, Dodgers, Lakers and Rams. Dr. Shin joined the Cedars-Sinai orthopaedics department in July 2019 as Executive Vice Chair and Director of the Orthopaedic Center. In addition to directly teaching residents on the hand rotation, he is an outstanding mentor and resident advocate.
Educators and mentors
At Cedars-Sinai we are fortunate to have a diverse group of faculty that spans all orthopaedic disciplines. The Department consists of eight subsections: Adult Reconstruction, Trauma, Pediatrics, Foot and Ankle, Hand and Upper Extremity, Spine, Oncology, and Sports Medicine.
Faculty are dedicated to resident education and in addition to providing instruction during operative cases and in clinic also mentor residents on research projects, lead didactic and dissection sessions, and facility extracurricular learning opportunities through conferences and industry sponsored events.
All residents choose a faculty mentor in second year for both career guidance and personal advice during residency.
Charles Moon, MD - Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery
Carol Lin, MD
Milton Little, MD - Fellowship Director, Orthopaedic Trauma
Mark Vrahas, MD - Chair Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Geoffrey Marecek, MD
John Garlich, MD
Foot and Ankle
Glenn Pfeffer, MD
David Thordarson - Fellowship Director, Foot and Ankle Surgery
Timothy Charlton, MD
Max Michalski, MD
Ryan Dellamaggiora, MD
Eugene Tsai, MD, Residency Program Director
Stuart Kuschner, MD
Steven S. Shin, MD, Executive Vice Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery
David A Kulber, MD, FACS, Fellowship director, Hand Surgery
Ryu Yoshida, MD
Meghan McCullough, MD
Justin Koh, MD
Joint Reconstruction
Guy Paiement, MD
Andrew Spitzer, MD
Robert C Klapper, MD
Brad Penenberg, MD - Co-Fellowship Director Adult Reconstruction
Sean Rajaee, MD- Co-Fellowship Director Adult Reconstruction
Mark Wu, MD
Rebecca Burr, MD
Oncology
Earl Brien, MD - Director of Sarcoma Surgery
Daniel C Allison, MD - Oncology, Adult Reconstruction
Joseph H Schwab, MD - Oncology, Spine
Spine
Terrence Kim, MD - Fellowship Director Orthopaedic Spine Surgery
Sang Kim, MD
Leonel Hunt, MD
Ted Goldstein, MD
Edward Nomoto, MD
Hyun Bae, MD
David Skaggs, MD
Christopher Mikhail, MD
Kenneth Illingworth, MD, Associate Residency Program Director
Sports
Eric Millstein, MD
Suketu Vaishnav, MD
Natasha Trentacosta, MD - Pediatric Sports Medicine
Sonu Ahluwalia, MD
Michael Stone, MD - Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
Michael Banffy, MD - Director, Sports Medicine
John Itamura, MD
Michael Pearl, MD
James Tibone, MD
Pediatrics
(Faculty affiliates from Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Shriners Hospital for Children)
Robert Kay, MD - Pediatrics, CHLA
Natasha Trentacosta, MD - Pediatric Sports Medicine
Selina Poon - Pediatric Spine, Shriners for Children Medical Center
Nina Lightdale-Miric, MD - Pediatric Hand and Upper Extremity, CHLA
Rachel Goldstein, MD - Pediatrics, hip preservation, CHLA
Bob Cho, MD - Chief of Staff, Shriners Hospital for Children
David Skaggs, MD
Amelia Lindgren, MD
Kenneth Illingworth, MD-Associate Program Director
Basic Science and Research
Melodie Metzger, PhD - Biomechanics
Hyun Bae, MD - Spine Surgery
Dmitriy Sheyn, PhD - Cell Biology
Wafa Tawackoli, PhD - Micro Imaging