Dr. Tariq Nayfeh is a board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon with a sterling academic and professional record. What impresses many of his patients, however, is his empathy and caring for their individual ailments – “a surgeon who truly listens to his patients.”
Perhaps these traits can be traced back to his family's unlikely journey to America. Dr. Nayfeh’s father was a Palestinian refugee, the son of illiterate parents. Despite exceedingly difficult circumstances, he and his three siblings managed to find their way to America, where hard work and determination paid off. All four earned their PhDs in engineering. Dr. Nayfeh’s father, Ali Nayfeh, is world-famous: he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award – the Nobel Prize equivalent for engineers – in 2014. He taught at Virginia Tech in southwest Virginia, where Tariq grew up.
Given his family’s rigorous engineering focus, it was almost preordained for young Dr. Nayfeh to pursue an engineering path too. He graduated from Virginia Tech magna cum laude and was working on his master’s degree in engineering when a fluke accident reawakened a childhood desire to practice medicine. A college power lifter, he severely injured his knee. Sitting on the sidelines, unable to work out, he realized that his true calling was to be an orthopedic surgeon, specializing in treating hips and knees. It turned out that his engineering and weightlifting background were perfectly applicable.
Infused with a new sense of purpose, Dr. Nayfeh started taking premed classes and enrolled into the prestigious dual MD/PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. After graduating with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering along with an MD in 1998, he completed his residency at Ohio State University and his fellowship in Adult Reconstruction at the Missouri Bone and Joint Center. His specialty in joint replacements was a natural result of his engineering background.
Following his family’s academic footsteps, Dr. Nayfeh began his career as an assistant Professor of Orthopedics at Johns Hopkins College of Medicine. Afterwards, he served as the chief of joint replacements at MedStar Harbor Hospital in Baltimore for six years. In 2018, he elected to operate in his own independent environment, joining with two other doctors in private practice at Metro Orthopedics and Sports Therapy (MOST) in Potomac.
MOST provides a full spectrum of care for the treatment of all musculoskeletal issues that prevent individuals from living healthy and active lifestyles. The practice also uses regenerative medicine techniques to spur the natural healing process – an approach that replaces, repairs and promotes tissue regeneration. Besides Dr. Nayfeh, Dr. James Gilbert, an Orthopedic Surgeon, and Dr. Usman Zahir, a Spine Surgeon, work in the practice along with Physician Assistant Jodie Stone and a number of physical therapists.
Dr. Gilbert focuses his medical practice on treating sports and orthopedic injuries and is the former head team physician for the DC United, Washington Freedom and Washington Spirit soccer teams. He specializes in repairing injuries to the ACL and collateral ligament (CL), which occurs when the ligaments are stretched or torn, along with rotator cuff repair and knee arthroplasty.
Dr. Zahir is a leading endoscopic spine specialist, one of the few in the region qualified and experienced enough to perform this procedure. He teaches and trains other surgeons from around the country on this technique. He previously served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital for five years before joining HCA Virginia Physicians. In 2019 he entered private practice.
In addition the many members of his multi-cultural staff who speak Spanish including Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Zahir speaks Urdu and Dr. Nayfeh speaks Arabic.“We pride ourselves on getting to know our patients," Dr. Nayfeh says of his team. "We want them to know they are a part of our family.”
Family is everything to Dr. Nayfeh. He and his wife Lama are the proud parents of four hard working children: a Harvard law student, a student in industrial systems engineering and finance at Virginia Tech, and a high school student who also wants to go to medical school. His youngest daughter has her own unique aspirations of being a Formula 1 race car driver!
The majority of Dr. Nayfeh's operations involve hip and knee replacements and over his career he estimates he has performed more than 4,000. From simple, minimally invasive replacements to the most complex revisions, he has operated on a wide spectrum of joint replacements. His repertoire includes partial and total robotic knee replacements as well as custom (Conform MIS) and cement-less knee replacements. Moreover, Dr. Nayfeh’s experience and skill have made him a master of correcting previously failed operations; he is a renowned expert in infected and failed joint replacements, with an established referral service for such situations.
In 2006, Dr. Nayfeh was among the first surgeons in the area to begin performing anterior hip replacements. Since then, he has performed thousands. Besides performing custom (Conform MIS) hip replacements he is among the earliest surgeons in the region to perform outpatient joint replacements. His patients run the gamut from young adults suffering from osteoarthritis or hip and joint diseases to older adults suffering from arthritis and hip fractures. He is currently Chief of the Orthopedic section at Holy Cross Hospital in Germantown.
Because of his reputation as an expert in joint replacements, Dr. Nayfeh has lectured and operated on patients all over the world, including patients in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Abu Dhabi. Dr. Nayfeh also makes time for charity work by traveling to impoverished areas, including the towns of Ramallah and Nablus in the West Bank, to perform pro bono surgeries.
The most challenging cases he sees are patients who have been operated on by multiple doctors and have developed severe infections. “I take it personally when I can’t make a patient better,” he says.
To contact Dr. Nayfeh or to learn most about MOST's practice and COVID-19 precautions visit his website at www.mostsportsmedicine.com or call 301-588-7888.
Patients Sound Off
"He is a very caring, honest surgeon who listened to what my problems were, diagnosed them, and gave me the best possible solution. He also recommended physical therapy and Vincent, my therapist, is wonderful."
Terry Degennaro
"My co-worker referred me to Dr. Nayfeh. He has a great bedside manner and cares for his patients and their well-being. He prolonged my surgery to make sure I was ready instead of rushing it. He came to the hospital every day to see how I was doing. I referred my mom to him and she is now his patient."
Elston Green