Dr. Aham E. Onyike, M.D.

Expert Publications

• Sickling in vitro at venous and arterial oxygen tensions of reticulocytes from patients with sickle cell disease.
• Sickling in vitro of reticulocytes from patients with sickle cell disease at venous oxygen tension.

Media Releases

Get to know Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Aham E. Onyike, who serves patients in Maryland. 

Dr. Onyike, a member of the MedStar Orthopaedic Institute, is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in hip and knee replacement. His areas of special expertise include complex joint problems, hip and knee replacement revision, sickle cell-related joint problems, avascular necrosis, and other presentations in young people.

His approach to treating patients focuses on tailoring treatment and providing the best evidence-based care for each patient’s specific problem. Dr. Onyike listens carefully to all of his patients so he can understand how their orthopaedic problems affect them and involves them in choosing the treatment path that offers the best proven option to achieve the best outcome.

His hospital affiliations include MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Born in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. Onyike returned with his parents to Nigeria at the age of 3, where he completed his primary and secondary education. He returned to the U.S. in his final year of high school and then attended Penn State University for his undergraduate education. He subsequently obtained his medical degree at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark in 1999. He completed his residency at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he was awarded the title of Resident of the Year in his final year. He then completed his fellowship training in adult reconstruction at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Subsequent to his training, he attained board certification in orthopaedic surgery through the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS). The ABOS is an organization with the goal of establishing educational and professional standards for orthopaedic residents and surgeons as well as evaluating the qualifications and competence of orthopaedic surgeons. 

In the first phase of his career, Dr. Onyike served as an assistant professor in orthopaedic surgery at Howard University Hospital, and as an orthopaedic surgery consultant at the VA Medical Center and Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. In these capacities, he was involved in medical student and resident education and research as well as patient care. He developed tremendous experience in treating extremely complex problems of the hip and knee joints, as well as in revising complications after previous surgery. 

In 2013, Dr. Onyike established Avante Orthopaedics as a private practice in Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. He used this as a hub to independently continue his orthopaedic services in the United States and Nigeria. During this period, he and colleagues established a practice in Lagos, Nigeria, named the Center for Advanced Specialty Surgery (CASS). The practice subsequently expanded to include a boutique hospital practice and a second location in Owerri, Imo State.

In 2017, Dr. Onyike was recruited by the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center to build an orthopaedic practice from the ground up. He embraced this new opportunity and developed a state-of-the-art practice for the hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He provided complex orthopaedic care for hundreds of patients in the mid-Virginia corridor while building a new practice for the hospital system. 

Upon completion of this work, he returned to the Washington, D.C., area and accepted a position at the Georgetown Medstar Orthopaedic Institute, where he currently sees patients out of the offices in Brandywine and Waldorf, Maryland. 

Active in numerous professional and social organizations, Dr. Onyike is President of the Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia branch of the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas. He is also a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society, the National Medical Association, and the Nigerian Orthopaedic Association.

Outside of the United States, Dr. Onyike has led and participated in orthopaedic teams on medical missions to Africa, particularly Nigeria. During these trips, he and his team have performed advanced orthopaedic care for trauma victims and for children with deformities.  

In 2019, he was named a Humanitarian Award winner by the Healthcare Corporation of America for this work.

Orthopaedic surgery is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopaedic surgeons use both surgical and non-surgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors, and congenital disorders.

Widely known for his excellence as a “Patient’s Choice” physician, Dr. Onyike has presented at U.S. and international conferences and is widely published in peer-reviewed orthopaedic journals. He is also a reviewer for Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research and a frequent presenter at medical conferences. 

Very involved with humanitarian work, he founded and leads a non-profit foundation, Operation Stand-Walk-Run. 

A resident of Washington, D.C., he lives there with his wife and two sons. His extracurricular interests include soccer, basketball, disc jockeying, cooking, and traveling.

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