Dr. Pellegrini graduated from Dartmouth College summa cum laude with a double major in Biology and Economics, and received his medical degree from the Dartmouth Medical School with award of the Dean’s Valedictory Medal. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honor societies. After two years of general surgery at Hartford Hospital, he completed an orthopaedic surgery residency and a postgraduate fellowship in surgery of the hand and upper extremity at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Surgery of the Hand and Upper Extremity.
He was previously on the faculty at Stanford University and the University of Rochester, and for the past 21 years he has chaired Departments of Orthopaedics at academic health centers. From 1992-2001 he served as the C. McCollister Evarts Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and from 2001-2012 he was the James L. Kernan Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In April 2013 he assumed the position of Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dr. Pellegrini's clinical interests and expertise include adult reconstructive and total joint replacement surgery of the hip and knee, as well as hand/upper extremity surgery. His research interests include venous thromboembolic disease, heterotopic ossification, mechanisms of fracture repair, osteonecrosis, and osteoarthritis at the base of the thumb. He is a passionate educator and mentor of students, residents, and junior faculty colleagues.
Dr. Pellegrini is currently President of the Hip Society and has served as President of the American Orthopaedic Association from 2009-2010, the Maryland Orthopaedic Association from 2008-2009, and President of the Medical Staff of the University of Maryland Medical Center from 2011-2012. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and a member of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Osteoarthritis Research Society, Hip Society, Knee Society, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, American Society for Surgery of the Hand, and the Council of Academic Societies of the Association of American Medical Colleges where he represents the specialty of orthopaedics. He has received numerous professional awards, including the North American Traveling Fellowship of the American Orthopaedic Association, the Sterling Bunnell Traveling Fellowship of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the John Charnley Award (twice) and the Stinchfield Award from the Hip Society, the Nicolas Andry Award from the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons for career research contributions, and the Coventry Award from the Knee Society. Pellegrini served as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery from 2005 to 2010, and is presently an examiner for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, a member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee in Orthopaedic Surgery, and serves on the administrative board of the Council of Academic Societies of the AAMC. His research is funded by the Department of Defense and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; he has published over 125 original peer-reviewed articles and has been an invited lecturer at professional meetings nationally.