Find a Top Orthopedic Surgeon Near Me in West Covina, CA – Book an Appointment Instantly

Dr. Kristofer J. Jones is a board certified, fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in sports-related musculoskeletal injuries of the knee, shoulder and elbow. As a former intercollegiate athlete, Dr. Jones understands the unique demands and concerns faced by athletes at all levels of participation (from professional to recreational) and his goal is to return patients back to their regular activities using evidence-based medicine to guide his treatment plan. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, where he was a four-year letter winner and All-Conference tailback for the varsity football team. He was awarded the Howell-Murray Alumni Medal upon graduation. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he received the Jonathan Rhoads Prize for Surgical Scholarship. Dr. Jones completed his orthopaedic residency training at the prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, frequently recognized as the #1 Hospital for Orthopaedic Surgery by US News & World Report. He subsequently completed a traveling fellowship and acquired further expertise in shoulder and cartilage surgery at specialized centers across Europe, including Lyon & Paris France. Dr. Jones returned to HSS to complete another fellowship in Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery. During this time, he served as assistant team physician for the Brooklyn Nets (NBA), New York Red Bulls (MLS), and Iona College Athletics as well as an orthopaedic consultant to the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and US Open Tennis Tournament. He is currently the Head Team Physician and Director of Orthopaedic Surgery for the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) and a Team Physician for the UCLA Bruins athletic teams.

Dr. Jones is accomplished in both clinical and laboratory research and has authored more than 100 scientific manuscripts and textbook chapters that have received national recognition and awards within the field of sports medicine. He is frequently invited to teach and lecture on these topics both nationally and internationally. Dr. Jones is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), a diplomat of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and has been recognized as an "Emerging Leader" within the field of orthopaedic surgery/sports medicine by the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA). He also holds memberships and committee positions in several professional organizations including the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), S.T.O.P (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sports Injuries Outreach Committee, the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA), the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), the NBA Team Physicians Society, and the NFL Musculoskeletal Injury Committee. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am). 

Dr. Jones currently provides care at the UCLA Orthopaedic Center in Westwood on the main hospital campus, as well as the UCLA Orthopaedic Center in Downtown Los Angeles. 

Brandon A. Ortega, MD, is a fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon who provides comprehensive and personalized spinal care to adults in Torrance and Long Beach, California. His dedication to helping each patient regain mobility, reduce pain, and improve their quality of life has earned the respect of everyone in the community struggling with neck and back pain.

Dr. Ortega received his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. He stayed at USC to complete his orthopedic surgery residency, where he served as chief resident.

He pursued specialized training in spine surgery, completing a fellowship at the prestigious University of California, Davis. During his fellowship training, he learned traditional, minimally invasive, and image-guided techniques for treating complex adult and pediatric spinal deformities.

Dr. Ortega specializes in diagnosing and treating all cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), and lumbar (lower back) conditions. His areas of interest include motion-preserving and minimally invasive surgery and using advanced technologies like navigation, robotics, and endoscopy to improve patient safety and outcomes.

He has published many peer-reviewed articles and textbook chapters and presented his research at national and international medical conferences. 

Taking a compassionate and patient-centered approach, Dr. Ortega believes in treating each patient as a person and tailoring treatment to meet their specific needs and goals. 

He creates treatment plans that integrate nonoperative interventions, including lifestyle and activity changes, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and pain management. His whole-person approach addresses each patient’s spine condition, optimizing conservative treatments and helping them avoid surgery whenever possible.

Dr. Ortega welcomes new patients and looks forward to providing ongoing care to his current patients, working with them to restore an active, healthy life.

About Andrew Bulczynski

Andrew Bulczynski, MD, is a board-certified sports medicine orthopedic surgeon and founder of the surgery practice that bears his name in Marina del Rey, California. He has been a practicing physician for nearly 20 years.

A graduate of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Dr. Bulczynski earned his doctorate in medicine in 1999. Always interested in orthopedic medicine, he went on to receive special orthopedic surgery training during his residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.

Since completing his residency in 2004, Dr. Bulczynski has been fellowship trained in both sports medicine and orthopedic surgery, which he received from Lake Tahoe Orthopaedic Institute, treating patients of all ages — including more than 65 Olympic gold and silver medalists, Red Bull athletes, and other sports professionals.

As a sports medicine specialist, Dr. Bulczynski crafts individualized treatment plans that typically involve a combination of at-home remedies; physical therapy; revolutionary injection methods such as stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy; and minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Dr. Bulczynski’s goal is to return injured athletes to their peak performance levels while alleviating chronic pain and improving their range of mobility.

Depending on the condition at hand, Dr. Bulczynski may recommend anti-inflammatory medication, therapeutic exercises and stretches, injection therapy, and more. He tailors each treatment plan to his patients, ensuring that his recommendations suit each patient’s lifestyle and goals.

Above all else, Dr. Bulczynski sets his practice apart from the rest by educating and informing patients of their treatment options and recovery outlook every step of the way. This ensures that athletes and chronic pain patients alike have realistic, positive expectations for their recovery.

ABOUT DR. THOMAS KREMEN

Thomas J. Kremen, MD is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with additional subspecialty certification in Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery. He has served as team physician all over the country, and around the world, helping athletes across the globe stay at the top of their game. He has served as team physician for numerous organizations including Duke University Intercollegiate Athletics, US Men's National Team Soccer, LA Galaxy (MLS), USA Basketball, and the USA Olympic Swimming Team. He currently serves as a team physician for the UCLA Bruins NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams, the chair of USA Swimming's Sports Medicine and Science Committee, the head team physician for the South Bay Lakers (NBA G-League), and an associate team physician for the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA).

Dr. Kremen has devoted his career to helping patients of all sports levels maintain active lifestyles. Using the latest orthopedic techniques and science, Dr. Kremen helps athletes in Los Angeles recover quickly from injury, getting them back into the game stronger than ever. With his eyes on the future of sports medicine, Dr. Kremen is a federally-funded clinician-scientist who is actively involved in translational research aimed at improving the treatment of soft tissue musculoskeletal injuries (tendons, ligaments, cartilage, etc.).

From shoulder problems to debilitating knee injuries, Dr. Kremen understands the added stresses that active lifestyles place on the human musculoskeletal system. His goal is to not only help his patients overcome their injuries, but also provide essential preventive care to avoid re-injury down the road.

Dr. Kremen earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1998 where he was also captain of the NCAA Division I men’s swimming team. He earned his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2006 and then continued at UCLA where he completed his Orthopedic Surgery Residency Training in 2012. 

Between 2008 and 2009, Dr. Kremen honed his research knowledge as a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Clinical Fellow and in 2013, he completed an Orthopedic Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery fellowship at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Following his fellowship at Duke, Dr. Kremen accepted a position at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and their newly formed orthopaedic program where he worked for 5 years prior to returning to UCLA in 2018.

Dr. Kremen stays up to date in his field through memberships in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Arthroscopy Association of North America, and the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, to name just a few.

In his pursuit of finding the best treatments, Dr. Kremen regularly participates in research studies, and he has published and presented dozens of research papers at both national and international meetings. His research interests include biomechanical studies of shoulder and knee reconstruction procedures as well as innovative biologic therapies to enhance tissue healing and regeneration after musculoskeletal injuries.

Dr. Kremen is currently a full-time faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles where he provides his patients with state-of-the-art care.

Ramin Rabbani, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with a subspecialty as a fellowship-trained spine surgeon. He provides comprehensive spine and orthopedic care to patients in Los Angeles at Rabbani Orthopedic Spine Institute in Marina del Rey, California.

At Rabbani Orthopedic Spine Institute, his patients have access to a full range of treatments for back pain, neck pain, herniated discs, sciatica, shoulder pain, knee pain, and other orthopedic and spine conditions. Dr. Rabbani is known for his expertise in microscopic and minimally invasive spine surgery, and his patients also benefit from cutting-edge therapies.

After graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in physiological sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Rabbani earned his medical degree at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, where he graduated in the top 15% of his class.

Dr. Rabbani then completed his orthopedic surgery residency at New York Medical College. As a resident, he trained at nationally-recognized hospitals including Westchester Medical Center, Saint Vincent’s Hospital, Hospital for Special Surgery, and NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. He finished his training with a spine surgery fellowship at the prestigious Cedars-Sinai Institute for Spinal Disorders.

Board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, Dr. Rabbani has completed research for various orthopedic and spine conditions.

Dr. Rabbani is in network for Cigna, Medicare, Aetna, Health Net, and Anthem Blue Cross.

Dean Matsuda, MD is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and one of the top hip arthroscopy specialists in the world. His practice at Premier Hip Arthroscopy in Marina Del Rey, California, is fully dedicated to arthroscopic surgeries of the hip and pelvis. Not only does Dr. Matsuda treat patients throughout the Los Angeles region, his two convenient Locations near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) enables easy access for his national and international patients.

Dr. Matsuda uses his extensive 30+ years of experience and surgical skills to perform state-of-the-art minimally invasive procedures to help get his patients back to their active lifestyles, whether professional athlete or weekend warrior.

Dr. Matsuda has developed many innovative surgeries and instruments that have changed the way minimally invasive hip surgery is performed worldwide. He has authored the multimedia instructional program on Hip Arthroscopy for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), teaches and performs surgical demonstrations at top national and international venues, and is a prolific researcher and senior member of the MASH Hip Arthroscopy national study group.

Dr. Matsuda obtained his medical degree at the University of California at Davis, earning top Alpha Omega Alpha honors. He completed his internship and orthopedic surgical residency at the prestigious Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

He is an active member of the AAOS, where he was chairman of Sports Medicine, and now serves on the AAOS Hip committee. He is an educational committee member for the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy (ISHA) and is on the editorial board of Orthopedics Today, the largest orthopedic newspaper. He also teaches regularly as a member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the Western Orthopaedic Association.

Dr. Matsuda has volunteered for over 25 years with Orthopaedics Overseas, is the Director of their Travelling Fellowship Program, and also volunteers with the Alliance of Jamaican and American Humanitarians (AOJAH).

As a former football running back, Dr. Matsuda understands the goals and unique needs of the athlete. Moreover, he enjoys running, golf, surfing, and spear fishing which keeps him in synch with his active patients. Dr. Matsuda has experience from both sides of the scalpel, having had hip arthroscopies for both of his own hips. This gives him a truly unique insight into what his patients experience which is exceeded only by his skills and compassion as a world-renowned hip surgeon.