Dr. Derek Ward is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in caring for adults who need hip or knee reconstruction for arthritis. He treats all types of degenerative hip and knee diseases, as well as complications from past joint replacement.
He takes a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and managing hip and knee pain, incorporating the latest advances in pain management during every stage of surgery and recovery. His expertise encompasses the direct anterior approach (a minimally invasive hip replacement technique), outpatient surgery for hip and knee replacement, partial knee replacement, complex revision surgery (surgery to restore joint function when an implant has failed or developed complications) and robotic surgery.
He is affiliate faculty at UCSF’s Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. His research interests include health care policy and cost effectiveness, peri-operative risk assessment and optimization, medical education, and revision hip and knee replacement.
After completing his bachelor's degree, he spent several years working in health care policy in Washington, DC, and a year volunteering in Africa. He then earned his medical degree at UCSF, where he devoted an extra year to health care policy research. He remained at UCSF to complete a residency in orthopedic surgery. He completed a fellowship in adult reconstruction at the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and then returned to UCSF as faculty.
He serves in multiple leadership roles at UCSF, including as the executive medical director for MarinHealth Orthopedic Care and the orthopedic medical director for the Hip Fracture Protocol. He is dedicated to educating the next generation of physicians and is actively involved in all levels of medical education. He is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, California Orthopaedic Association and Western Orthopaedic Association.
4.9