Hollywood’s Top Doctors 2015: Best Orthopedic Surgeons in Los Angeles

This story first appeared in the Sept. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Health and drama go together like air and water for Hollywood — the industry needs both to sustain itself. Just ask Seth MacFarlane, whose 2013 Oscar hosting gig was rescued by ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr. Shawn Nasseri, or So You Think You Can Dance producer Nigel Lythgoe, whose grandson was saved by pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Krieger, or Charlie Sheen, whose shoulder injury was prevented from derailing a money-minting career by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raj (yes, that’s his name — this is Hollywood, after all). For its second annual Doctors Issue, The Hollywood Reporter elicited stories of drama, trauma and triumph over both by surveying 2,000 professionals in the film, television, movie, music, sports and media fields to find out who are the most beloved, trusted and go-to physicians in L.A.

THR also scored an exclusive interview with former NBC medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, who was excoriated for supposedly violating her Ebola quarantine, as well as her cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who did indeed contract the dreaded disease and lived to tell about it. THR also asked this haunting question: What happens to the patients when a beloved doctor dies? In the case of Dr. Fredric Brandt, the celebrity dermatologist who commanded eight figures in annual billing before committing suicide in April, the answer is: a gold rush among prominent doctors to grab what they can from the dermatological diaspora. THR found out how to live to be 100 and still work in Hollywood (centenarian Norman Lloyd recently appeared in Trainwreck) and, in perhaps the world’s first Hollywood-oriented DSM-V, catalogued the dominant dysfunctions and diagnoses of the industry’s top jobs, from studio exec to screenwriter (producers win the top prize for anxiety, by the way). Finally, if you’ve ever wondered if you’re as narcissistic as people say everyone in Hollywood is, there’s a quiz for that.

As for the official Hollywood’s Top Doctors list for 2015, to identify the 469 elite physicians who qualified for it, THR’s editors partnered with the physician-led research team of Castle Connolly, the U.S.’ preeminent medical-database authority, to identify the highest-rated practitioners in their specialties, all of whom are nominated by their peers in an extensive survey process of thousands of U.S. doctors each year. The listed doctors rank in the nation’s top 10 percent and are among the very best in their specialties and communities. Castle Connolly screens these doctors’ medical educations, training, hospital appointments, disciplinary histories and much more. Doctors do not and cannot pay to be included.

Read more from The Hollywood Reporter‘s Top Doctors Issue:

Hollywood’s Top Doctors 2015

Hollywood DSM: Industry Shrinks Reveal What’s Wrong With Actors, Producers, Agents and More

Stars and Their Doctors: Seth MacFarlane With the Man Who Saved His Voice for the Oscars

Stars and Their Doctors: A ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Producer and the Man Who Knows Him Inside Out

Producer Nigel Lythgoe Pays Homage to the Doctor Who Saved His Baby Grandson

Stars and Their Doctors: Charlie Sheen and the Man Who Gives Him Stem Cells

How a Showtime PR Exec’s Daughter Was Cured of Debilitating Scoliosis

Yes, You Can Turn 100 in Hollywood and Still Work

Former CAA Partner: Why I Became an Agent for the Sick (Guest Column)

Dr. Fredric Brandt’s Suicide Sparks Frantic Scramble for His Celebrity Patients

Nancy Snyderman Breaks Silence on Ebola Nightmare, NBC News: “People Wanted Me Dead” (Exclusive)

Hollywood Psychologist on Reasons Why A-List Couples Fail

Hollywood’s Top Doctors 2015: The Dentist List

Want to Get “Expensive Urine”? Look at the Hollywood History of Health Fads

L.A.’s Westside Mystery: Higher Cancer Rates in One Zip Code, Longer Lives in Another

Manopause and Male Aging: Gavin Polone Says Just Say No to Those Drugs (Guest Column)

Ken Jeong: How to Ditch Medicine for a Career in Comedy and Diagnose Castmates (Guest Column)

Why There’s a Medical Crisis for Transgender Youth (Guest Column)

Sonu S. Ahluwalia
2080 Century Park East
Los Angeles 90067
310-430-1310

Robert M. Bernstein
Cedars-Sinai
444 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles 90048
310-423-5224

Earl Warren Brien
Cedars-Sinai
8700 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles 90048
310-423-9887

Susan Bukata
UCLA Health System
1250 16th St.
Santa Monica 90404
310-319-1234

Lawrence D. Dorr
Keck Medicine of USC
1520 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles 90033
323-442-5762

Neal S. ElAttrache
Kerlan-Jobe Clinic
6801 Park Terrace Drive
Los Angeles 90045
310-665-7200

Thomas J. Grogan
Pacific Coast Sports Medicine
11710 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles 90025
310-873-4414

Eric E. Johnson
UCLA Health System
100 UCLA Medical Plaza
Los Angeles 90095
310-206-1169

Robert M. Kay
Children’s Hospital L.A.
4650 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles 90027
323-361-2142

Jay R. Lieberman
Keck Medicine of USC
1520 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles 90033
323-442-5860

James V. Luck Jr.
403 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles 90007
213-749-8255

Bert R. Mandelbaum
Santa Monica Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Group
2020 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica 90404
310-829-2663

Joel Matta
Providence St. John’s
2001 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica 90404
310-582-7475

Lawrence R. Menendez
Keck Medicine of USC
1520 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles 90033
323-442-5830

Eric S. Millstein
2080 Century Park East
Los Angeles 90067
310-595-1030

M. Ramin Modabber
Santa Monica Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Group
2020 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica 90404
310-829-2663

Daniel A. Oakes
Keck Medicine of USC
1520 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles 90033
323-442-5860

William L. Oppenheim
UCLA Health System
1250 16th St.
Santa Monica 90404
424-259-6593

Scott E. Powell
Stetson Powell Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
191 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank 91505
818-848-3030

Justin Saliman
Cedars-Sinai
444 S. San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles 90048
310-423-9898

Thomas P. Schmalzried
Joint Replacement Institute
2200 W. Third St.
Los Angeles 90057
213-484-7600

David Skaggs
Children’s Hospital L.A.
4650 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles 90027
323-361-2142

Jason C. Snibbe
Snibbe Orthopedics
120 S. Spalding Drive
Beverly Hills 90212
310-860-3048

William B. Stetson
Stetson Powell Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
191 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank 91505
818-848-3030

Bert J. Thomas
UCLA Health System
1250 16th St.
Santa Monica 90404
424-259-9882

David B. Thordarson
Cedars-Sinai
444 S. San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles 90048
800-233-2771

Jeffrey C. Wang
Keck Medicine of USC
1450 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles 90033
323-442-5565

Robert G. Watkins III
Watkins Spine
4640 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey 90292
310-448-7890

Andrew G. Yun
Sports & Spine Center
13160 Mindanao Way
Marina Del Rey 90292
310-574-0400