Patient Reviews
Experience and Education
Dr. Osterman grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia before attending Yale College where he majored in photography and graduated Summa Cum Laude. After graduation, he traveled on a Guggenheim Fellowship photographing original stained glass in Europe. Subsequent to that, he traveled to Tanzania where he photographed physicians working with the Wagogos and the Masai on an UNESCO project that eventually became a book, Jungle Doctor Panorama. That experience, combined with a family medical background, set him on a course to medical school.
He spent the next 10 years of training at the University of Pennsylvania where he attended medical school, completed his Orthopaedic Residency and also his Hand Fellowship under the guidance of Dr. F. William Bora. He then continued his specialty training with a Microvascular Fellowship at Duke University.
He returned to the University of Pennsylvania where he became a tenured Associate Professor and where he remained in practice until 1993. The opportunity then arose to join The Philadelphia Hand Center and The South Jersey Hand Center, a practice that encompasses the full gamut of upper extremity problems, from fingertip to shoulder and everything in between. Dr. Osterman is the current President of Philadelphia Hand to Shoulder Center as well as the current Director of the Hand Fellowship program-a 7 person, ACGME accredited program which is co-hosted by Philadelphia Hand to Shoulder Center and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
A Leading Clinician, Educator, Author and Researcher
Dr. Osterman is a Full Professor of Hand and Orthopaedic Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and has received a number of awards and honors including: The DeForrest Willard Seal Prize, the Lanier Kappa Delta Award, the Summer L. Koch Award, and the Vargus Award. He is consistently recognized by Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Doctor - Castle Connolly, and as a Top Doctor by Philadelphia Magazine, Main Line Life and Philadelphia/Suburban Life Magazine.
Dr. Osterman divides his time as a clinician, as a professor, and as an author. Dr. Osterman's practice focuses on the hand, wrist, arm and elbow, as well as some shoulder conditions. When he’s not treating patients, Dr. Osterman not only teaches locally but around the world, having been a visiting professor at over 50 institutions and taught in over 180 countries. As an author and editor, Dr. Osterman has edited one of the most popular hand surgery texts, Rehabilitation of the Hand just released in its 6th edition, as well as Fractures and Injuries of the Distal Radius and Carpus: The Cutting Edge. He has also authored or coauthored over 300 articles and publications and continues his research endeavors with active grants from multiple sources.
Professional Leadership and Research
Dr. Osterman has served in many leadership roles. He is an active member and a past President of the American Association for Hand Surgery (AAHS) and is the current Chairman of the Hand Fellowship Directors for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH). He is also a current member and the past President of the Eastern Orthopaedic Association.
Dr. Osterman has received a number of grants, both scientific and commercial. He has done basic scientific research of electrical stimulation of healing, Schwann cell regeneration in peripheral nerve healing, anti-scar drugs, and distal radius fractures. He has pioneered innovative surgical techniques, including small joint and wrist arthroscopy. He is currently involved in clinical research for scapholunate injury reconstruction, ligament stabilization, wrist fusion, allograft nerve regeneration, Dupuytren’s Contracture, and upper extremity joint replacement. He has patented several devices, including plates for elbow fractures.