Bio


Dr. David Oji is a board certified and fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeon specializing in the operative and non-operative treatment of all aspects of foot and ankle disorders. After finishing his orthopaedic surgery residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, he did his fellowship at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland under the leadership of Dr. Lew Schon, the former president of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. There he underwent advanced training in the forefront of foot and ankle surgery including total ankle replacements, use of stem cells to promote healing of acute and chronic conditions, non-fusion techniques of great toe arthritis, and complex ankle and foot reconstruction.

During his training, he assisted in treating the Baltimore Orioles and amateur ballet dancers. Dr. Oji also took part in conducting advanced biomechanical and clinical research and has written chapters in textbooks with topics ranging from arthroscopic treatment of talar cartilage defects to the diabetic foot.

After fellowship, he was in private practice working closely with the community as the team physicians for many of the local high school sports teams.

In June of 2017, Dr. Oji joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine as a Clinical Assistant Professor. In addition to his usual clinical and educational responsibilities, he is also one of the team physicians for Stanford University Athletic programs.

Since starting at Stanford, he has been on the forefront of ankle and foot surgery. He has performed the first out patient total ankle replacement and the first total talar replacement at Stanford. He is an advocate of minimally invasive ankle and foot surgery performing one of the first MIS (minimally invasive surgery) bunion surgeries in the Bay Area. Whenever possible, the smallest incision and the least invasive approach will be done to allow the patient to heal faster including tendosopy, small joint arthroscopy, endoscopic Haglund's resection, minimally invasive osteotomy, and minimally invasive great toe cheilectomy.

He has a special focus in the treatment of ankle and foot orthopaedic sports injuries such as chronic ankle instability, cartilage injuries, Achilles injuries, using surgery only as a last resort to return the patient to peak athletic form.

In addition, he has extensive experience in complex ankle and foot reconstruction such as ankle replacements, flatfeet reconstruction, fusions of the foot and hindfoot, and Charcot foot/ankle reconstruction.

Clinical Focus


  • Foot and Ankle Reconstruction
  • Sports Medicine
  • Minimally invasive surgery
  • Foot and Ankle Surgery

Academic Appointments


Administrative Appointments


  • Team Physician, Stanford University Athletic Department (2017 - Present)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Fellow, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2012 - Present)
  • Member, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (2014 - Present)
  • Diplomate, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2015 - Present)
  • Member, Physician Resource Committee - AOFAS (2016 - Present)
  • Editor, FootEducation.com (2017 - Present)
  • Reviewer, Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2018 - Present)

Professional Education


  • Residency: Johns Hopkins University Hospital Dept of Orthopaedic Surgery (2012) MD
  • Board Certification: American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery (2015)
  • Fellowship: Medstar Union Memorial Hospital (2013) MD
  • Medical Education: Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (2007) OH

All Publications


  • Short-term outcomes following dehydrated micronized allogenic cartilage versus isolated microfracture for treatment of medial talar osteochondral lesions. Foot and ankle surgery : official journal of the European Society of Foot and Ankle Surgeons Allahabadi, S., Johnson, B., Whitney, M., Oji, D., Chou, L., Lau, B. C. 2021

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND: Osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLTs) have been traditionally treated with bone marrow stimulation techniques such as microfracture. However, conventional microfracture results in a biomechanically weaker repair tissue of predominantly type I collagen. Acellular micronized cartilage matrix (MCM) serves as a bioactive scaffold to restore hyaline cartilage. The purpose was to compare short-term outcomes after microfracture with and without augmentation with MCM for medial-sided OLTs.METHODS: A retrospective review was performed between 2010-2019 for medial-sided OLTs undergoing treatment with either microfracture augmented with MCM or isolated microfracture. The MCM was hydrated with either bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) or platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Outcomes included visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores, Foot and Ankle Activity Measure (FAAM) scores, return-to-daily activities, and return-to-sport.RESULTS: 48 patients (14 MCM with PRP, 6 MCM with BMAC; 28 isolated microfracture) with average age 35.5 years (range: 13.8-67.2 years) and mean follow-up 4.0±3.4 years (range,.13-10.7) were included. There was no difference in average lesion size between MCM and microfracture groups (64.0±49.4 mm2 versus 57.3±44.2 mm2, P=.63) and a trend toward larger lesion size for BMAC compared to PRP (106.5±59.2 versus 45.9±32.1 mm2, P=.056). There was no difference in time to return-to-activity (83.5±18.8 versus 87.3±49.1 days) or return-to-sports (151.9±62.2 versus 165±99.2 days) with MCM versus isolated microfracture. However, the MCM group had a significantly greater improvement in VAS pain score at final follow-up (4.9±2.2 versus 2.7±2.6, P=.0032) and significantly higher post-operative FAAM-Activities of Daily Living subscale scores (97.2±8.2 versus 79.7±32.8, P=.033).CONCLUSIONS: Augmenting microfracture with MCM hydrated with PRP or BMAC may result in beneficial changes in pain scores and activities of daily living, but similar return-to-activities and return-to-sport times compared to microfracture alone in management of medial OLT.LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.fas.2021.07.012

    View details for PubMedID 34366249