Dr. Zuckerman is Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases and is the Walter A. L. Thompson Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at NYU School of Medicine.  A graduate of Cornell University, he received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.  He completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals in Seattle followed by a fellowship in Adult Reconstructive Surgery/Arthritis Research at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He was then a Visiting Clinician in shoulder surgery at the Mayo Clinic. 

Dr. Zuckerman joined the faculty of the Hospital for Joint Diseases in 1984.  In 1990 he was appointed Vice-Chairman and Director of the Orthopaedic Residency program.  In 1994, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief.  In 1997, he became Professor and Chairman of the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and initiated the process of merging the two departments.

Dr. Zuckerman is recognized internationally as an expert in shoulder surgery and hip and knee replacement and as an orthopaedic educator.  During his tenure, he has been instrumental in developing and overseeing one of the largest and most renowned orthopaedic programs in the country, providing orthopaedic care at five different hospitals including Tisch Hospital, the Hospital for Joint Diseases (now known as NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases), Bellevue Hospital Center, the Manhattan Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and Jamaica Hospital.  He served as the Director of the NYUHJD Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program, which trains over sixty residents in a five-year program from 1990-2006.  This is the largest orthopaedic surgery residency program in the country.  Dr. Zuckerman has received a number of distinguished awards including the Clinical Research Award from the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) and the Mel Post award from the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons.  In 1991, the American Orthopaedic Association selected him as an American-British-Canadian Traveling Fellow.  Dr. Zuckerman has received the “Teacher of the Year” award from the NYUHJD orthopaedic residents on five occasions.  In 2004, he was recognized as  “Alumnus of the Year” by the Medical College of Wisconsin and in 2005 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

Dr. Zuckerman is often called upon by local and national media for his expertise in the field of orthopaedic surgery and as a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).  He currently serves as an editorial board member of several prominent orthopaedic and medical journals and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Journal of  Shoulder and Elbow Surgery.  He is the author and editor of 14 orthopaedic textbooks and over 260 scientific articles.  In addition, he maintains an active role in several national organizations.  He is the past President of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons.  He has also served as Chair of the Council on Education for the AAOS and in this position completed a six-year term as a member of their Board of Directors.  Dr. Zuckerman currently serves as the 2008-2009 AAOS President.

Over the past twenty years, Dr. Zuckerman’s research initiatives have focused primarily in the area of outcomes research with a particular emphasis on hip fractures and shoulder surgery.  In 1986, he established the Hip Fracture Research Group at HJD with the goal of increasing our understanding of the problem of hip fractures, as well as developing improved treatment programs to improve outcomes.  These efforts have significantly improved our understanding of recovery from this important injury in the elderly.  In 1991, he established the Shoulder Research Group which has focused on the study of fractures about the shoulder, rotator cuff problems and the treatment of shoulder arthritis.  He has been active in the design of a new prosthesis used to treat glenohumeral arthritis and complex shoulder fractures. 

In addition to Dr. Zuckerman’s educational, research and administrative responsibilities, he maintains an active clinical practice specializing in shoulder surgery and hip and knee replacements, performing over 250 operative procedures each year.

He is married to Janet Rivkin Zuckerman, a clinical psychologist.  They have two sons, Scott, age 22, a first year medical student at Vanderbilt University and Matthew, age 19, a sophomore at Yale University.  Their home is in Mamaroneck, New York.