It seems that some of the biggest names in sports and Hollywood have appointed an orthopedic surgeon to the top of the medical world. New Yorker Dr. El-Attrache is Dr. Neal El-Attrache of Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. “Most surgeons are known for one specialty,” writes Zach Helfand: shoulders, elbows, knees, Achilles tendons, for example. “Dr. El-Attrache's fellow surgeons consider him one of the best surgeons in the world in many areas.” Consider Tom Brady winning yet another Super Bowl after undergoing Dr. El-Attrache's knee surgery in 2008, or the Los Angeles Dodgers betting hundreds of millions of dollars on pitcher Shohei Ohtani just months after Dr. El-Attrache operated on Ohtani's elbow.
El Atrache's patient list includes A-list actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio (“I'm so grateful he fixed my knee”). In his office, autographed photos are read aloud. In fact, “for some in Hollywood, being connected to El Atrache is a status symbol on a par with membership at the Riviera Country Club (of which El Atrache himself is a member, with a handicap of 10),” Helfand writes. The article details the various surgeries as well as El Atrache's transformation from surgeon to friend with these stars at gatherings at his Beverly Hills home. “I think it's very personal,” El Atrache says. “You could say they share their souls with him,” says one anonymous friend who has been with El Atrache, Brady and NBA star Stephen Curry. Read the full profile. (Or check out other longer summaries.)
