Dr. Don Buford

Dr. Buford has been in practice for 14 years and has been voted by local physicians in the D magazine "Best Doctors" Issue as one of the best local orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Buford grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University. While at Stanford, he was a member of the baseball team and had a double major in economics and pre-med. He then transferred to USC where he continued his athletic and academic pursuits. In 1988 he was named the Woody Hayes NCAA Division I Academic All-American Award recipient which recognized the outstanding NCAA Division I male student-athlete. After graduation from USC, he signed his first professional baseball contract with the Baltimore Orioles and also enrolled at UCLA Medical School. Dr. Buford played professional baseball as a second baseman and outfielder in the Baltimore Orioles organization for 4 years. Dr. Buford's father, Don Sr., played for the Chicago White Sox ('63 -'68) and the Baltimore Orioles ('68-'72) and played in 3 World Series, winning in 1970 over the Cincinnati Reds. Don Sr. is in the Orioles Hall of Fame. Dr. Buford's younger brother, Damon, had an 8 year major league career which included 2 years as the starting center fielder for the Texas Rangers. After graduating from the UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Buford completed a 5 year orthopaedic residency at the University of Texas, Southwestern in Dallas. Dr. Buford also completed a one year sports medicine fellowship at the prestigious Southern California Orthopaedic Institute (SCOI) in 1999 where he learned advanced arthroscopy techniques and started to focus on arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Dr. Buford specializes in arthroscopic shoulder and knee surgery and is very involved in surgeon education and in new product development. He lectures nationally and internationally on arthroscopic shoulder surgery topics.