Alex Gornitzky, MD

Dr Alex Gornitzky is a clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Michigan in the division of Pediatric Orthopaedics. He specializes in treating all pediatric orthopaedic conditions, including trauma and fractures, congenital limb anomalies and limb length discrepancies, neuromuscular conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, and foot and ankle disorders such as clubfoot. He is particularly interested in complex hip problems in growing children, including hip dysplasia, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, and Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE). He has extensive experience treating hip dysplasia across the full spectrum of ages from infants to young adults, and also has additional sub specialized training focused on open hip preservation procedures such as peri-acetabular osteotomy and surgical hip dislocation. He is happy to see young adults older than 18 interested in hip preservation surgery for non-arthritic hip pain.

Dr Gornitzky earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Yale University followed by medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. He then went on to orthopaedic residency at the University of California, San Francisco before returning to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a clinical fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr Gornitzky joined the clinical faculty at the University of Michigan in 2022. He is excited to collaborate with colleagues across the department to continue building the University of Michigan as a center of excellence for orthopaedic hip care in children and young adults.

Dr Gornitzky’s philosophy of care is to get to know each family as individuals, and then to develop a customized plan addressing their specific needs. He enjoys getting to know his patients and their families, and working together to get them back to the things they love doing.

In addition to his clinical role, Dr Gornitzky is involved with a variety of research projects looking at clinical outcomes following pediatric fracture and hip surgery. He is part of the international SCFE study group (SLIP), and is actively participating with colleagues across the country researching new and exciting ways to diagnose and treat hip dysplasia. He is particularly interested in better understanding the individual psychosocial circumstances that impact a patient’s surgical experience, including how to use that knowledge to then customize treatment to their exact needs.

Pain control after pediatric orthopaedic surgery, including alternative strategies to augment post-operative analgesia
Clinical outcomes in pediatric hip conditions such hip dysplasia, SCFE and Perthes disease
Psychosocial optimization and risk stratification prior to elective pediatric orthopaedic surgery