Joseph Yu, MD
Joseph Yu, MD grew up in Southern California and originally planned to become an engineer. He attended UC Berkeley and majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, because solving complex equations seemed perfectly reasonable at age eighteen. After sustaining a sports injury and realizing he was far more interested in the surgeon fixing him than the homework waiting at home, he pivoted to medicine and earned his medical degree at the University of Southern California.
He completed his orthopaedic residency at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, where he learned two important things: how to fix bones and how to function on minimal sleep. He then completed a fellowship at UC San Diego focused on minimally invasive joint replacement surgery, followed by a Sports Medicine fellowship at Duke University, where he was basically best buds with Coach K... at least from a respectful distance across the practice court. Because fifteen years of education clearly was not enough, he later earned an Executive MBA from UNLV.
From 2006 to 2021, Dr. Yu served as the Orthopaedic Team Physician for UNLV Athletics, providing care and performing surgery for student-athletes who are significantly more athletic than he ever was. He traveled with the football team and spent many Saturdays reminding himself why he chose medicine instead of attempting a professional sports career.
From 2022 to 2026, he served as the Orthopaedic Advisor for the Las Vegas Aviators, continuing his sports medicine involvement while remaining safely on the sidelines.
Dr. Yu treats the full spectrum of orthopaedic conditions but focuses on shoulders, hips, and knees, mostly because they tend to cause the most trouble. His goal is to return patients to sport and activity as safely and efficiently as possible. Joint replacements are performed using minimally invasive techniques with an outpatient mindset. ACL reconstruction is approached with the assumption that the patient has bigger athletic dreams than he ever did.
He still maintains that engineering was the "safe" backup plan.
TOP DOCS 2023, 2022, 2021
https://knpr.org/desert-companion/2023-08-01/top-doctors-2023
https://knpr.org/magazine-desert-companion/2022-08-03/top-doctors-2022
https://knpr.org/magazine-desert-companion/2021-08-11/top-doctors-2021
Sports Team Affiliations:
- UNLV Team Physician
- CSN Team Physician
- NBA Summer
- The Las Vegas Maaco Bowl
- USA Basketball (in Las Vegas)
Dr. Yu specializes in:
- Shoulder dislocations, Labral injuries
- Rotator cuff tears, Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair
- Clavicle fractures
- AC joint injuries
- Shoulder replacements (reverse shoulder replacement and total shoulder replacement)
- Biceps tendon injuries
- Hip arthritis, rapid recovery hip replacement
- Knee arthritis, rapid recovery knee replacement, partial knee replacement
- Meniscus tears
- ACL injuries
- Ankle fractures
- Achilles tendon ruptures
