OHIP-Funded Joint Replacement at OV Surgical

Dr. Sebastian Rodriguez-Elizalde is an Adult Hip and Knee Reconstruction surgeon in Toronto, Ontario. He has a special interest minimally invasive Direct Anterior Approach Hip Replacement and Robotically Assisted Total Knee Replacement. He is involved in teaching advanced surgical techniques and mentors’ surgeons, students and residents with industry support. He is also the current Fellowship Director for Humber Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Program at Humber Hospital, offered through the University of Toronto.

His Orthopaedic Surgical Residency training was completed at the University of Ottawa, after which he was accepted for Fellowship training at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York. There he completed his Hip and Knee Reconstruction Fellowship at the world’s largest total joint replacement hospital. In addition, he was also the recipient of the Phillip D. Wilson Award for his research while in New York (the only Canadian to ever win the award).

After returning to Canada, he completed a second Fellowship in Advanced Orthopaedic Trauma reconstruction at Sunnybrook Hospital, under the tutelages of Dr. Kreder and Dr. Stephen. Dr. Rodriguez-Elizalde then further completed another Fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in Lower Limb Extremity Reconstruction under the guidance Dr. Backstein, before moving his practice to Humber Hospital.

Early in his clinical practice, Dr. Rodriguez-Elizalde completed his Masters in Health Administration at the University of Toronto, and has a special interest in optimizing hospital resources and patient care pathways.

Dr. Justin Chang is an orthopaedic surgeon at Humber River Health specializing in adult hip and knee replacement and sports medicine, with a particular interest in robotic-assisted total knee replacement, partial knee replacement, complex knee revision, direct anterior total hip replacement, and knee arthroscopy and ligament reconstruction.

Dr. Chang earned his medical degree (MBBS) from St. George's, University of London, and completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Toronto, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. He is currently accepting new patients for elective hip and knee replacement at Humber River Health.

Dr. Jesse Wolfstadt is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon and the Division Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, specializing in complex primary and revision hip and knee replacement, as well as outpatient joint replacement and rapid-recovery protocols.

He earned his MD from the University of Toronto and completed his orthopaedic surgery residency there, along with a Master of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. His fellowship training includes complex adult lower extremity reconstruction at Mount Sinai Hospital and traumatology and arthroplasty at St. Michael's Hospital.

Dr. Paul Kuzyk specializes in hip and knee reconstruction and orthopaedic trauma at Mount Sinai Hospital's Granovsky Gluskin Division of Orthopaedics. He is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and supervises the Granovsky Gluskin Biomechanics Lab at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, with a research focus on orthopaedic biomechanics and biomaterials. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Oleg Safir, MD, FRCSC, is an Orthopaedic Surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) and a Professor at the University of Toronto. He has a special interest in minimally invasive primary hip arthroplasty, complex hip arthroplasty, hip revision, and reconstruction of the hip abductor mechanism. Dr. Safir utilizes different surgical approaches based on the complexity of the procedure and patient characteristics, including the anterior, lateral, and more extensile approaches as needed.

He graduated from the Medical Academy in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. In 2002, Dr. Safir completed his training in Orthopaedic Surgery at Tel Aviv University in Israel. He has extensive experience treating both pediatric and adult patients. In 2006, he completed two years of clinical fellowship and one year of research fellowship in Adult Lower Extremity Reconstruction at MSH. He also completed a Master’s degree at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and a fellowship at the Wilson Centre for Research in Education at the University of Toronto in 2009.

Dr. Safir currently maintains a full-time clinical practice in Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital. In addition, he serves as the D.H. Gales Director of the Surgical Skills Centre.

His clinical research interests include lower extremity reconstruction, with a focus on revision hip arthroplasty and restoration of bone stock, young adult hip disorders, abductor mechanism reconstruction, osteotomies, and osteochondral allograft transplantation around the knee and hip. In 2015, Dr. Safir, in collaboration with surgeons from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, established the first pediatric hip replacement program in Canada. In the area of education, Dr. Safir’s primary interests include self-directed learning in the acquisition of surgical skills, as well as curriculum design and competency-based medical education.

Dr. Seper Ekhtiari is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon who joined Mount Sinai Hospital's arthroplasty team in 2025, specializing in complex primary and revision hip and knee replacement, including outpatient and robotic-assisted joint replacement. He has a particular interest in caring for young, active adults with early to moderate arthritis.

Dr. Ekhtiari completed a Bachelor of Kinesiology with High Honours and his orthopaedic surgery residency and MSc in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. He went on to complete the Hip Society's M.E. Muller European Fellowship in Hip Reconstruction at the Helios ENDO Klinik in Hamburg, Germany, and at Cambridge University Hospitals in the United Kingdom, followed by a Complex Arthroplasty and Lower Extremity Reconstruction Fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital. He has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications and serves on the international committee of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS).