C. Benjamin Ma, MD

Dr. C. Benjamin Ma is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine, arthroscopic shoulder surgeries to repair rotator cuff tears and ligament instability, shoulder replacements, knee ligament reconstruction, and procedures to address meniscus and other cartilage injuries. From 2007 through 2019, he was the chief of sports medicine and shoulder service at UCSF, where he assembled an outstanding group of clinicians, scientists and athletic trainers. He currently serves as the chair of orthopedic surgery at UCSF.

Ma became the Dr. Peter and Sophie Pappas Endowed Chair in 2025 and has been the V-Nee Yeh Endowed Professor since 2021. He is involved in research on cartilage imaging and dynamic MRI scans of knees with injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). His work has focused on early detection of cartilage injuries following ACL reconstruction surgery and improving ACL reconstruction outcomes. He has published extensively on the improvement of outcomes following rotator cuff surgeries and replacements.

Ma earned his medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, where he also completed a fellowship in musculoskeletal research. He subsequently completed a fellowship in shoulder and knee surgery and sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Ma has received many awards for his patient care, teaching and research, including the UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award; UCSF Excellence in Teaching Award; O'Donoghue Award from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine; Patellofemoral Research Excellence Award from the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine; and New Investigator Recognition Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society. Also, his peers have placed him on the Top Doctors list in San Francisco and Marin counties for the past 10 years. He is a member of the prestigious American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons society, which honored his research with the Charles S. Neer Award.

Ma is part of the San Francisco Giants and UCSF Health's partnership to provide players and staff with top-tier medical care and promote community well-being.