Dr. Richard Southgate, MD

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Get to know Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Richard Southgate, who serves patients in Illinois.

An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Southgate is on medical staff at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, a community-based hospital in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Namely, he offers his services within the Lake Forest Hospital Orthopaedics Practice (which offers care and treatment for a wide range of orthopedic and spine conditions); the Lake Forest Hospital Neurosciences Practice (which provides patients with comprehensive, highly specialized neurological expertise, including access to related subspecialists, neurosurgeons and clinical trials); and Northwestern Medicine Orthopaedics at Grayslake Outpatient Center (which is one of the nation’s premier destinations for musculoskeletal services).

Restoring quality of life, Dr. Southgate specializes in hip replacement surgery through the anterior, posterior, and lateral approaches; total and partial knee replacement; and complex revision surgery. He has special interests in partial knee and anterior hip replacements as well as geriatric hip trauma.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Southgate was educated at Carleton College and went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2010. He then performed his residency at the University of Rochester in 2016, followed by his fellowship in hip and knee replacement at the University of California, San Francisco in 2017.

Board-certified in orthopedic surgery, he is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery (ABOS). The ABOS is an organization with the goal of establishing educational and professional standards for orthopedic residents and surgeons as well as evaluating the qualifications and competence of orthopedic surgeons.

From a young age, Dr. Southgate had developed a love for science and a desire to help others, so medicine was a natural career choice.

“What attracted me to orthopedic surgery and joint replacements was their pronounced effect on the quality of life. My main goal is to get patients back to their hobbies and be as independent as possible” expressed the doctor. 

He believes that the precise treatment varies based on the patient, and shared decision-making is paramount in determining a plan of care.

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

Having spent part of his childhood in his mother’s native country of Ecuador, Dr. Southgate has native fluency of Spanish which has led him to be involved in several medical missions throughout Latin America. Most of his volunteer time is now focused on Operation Walk, an organization dedicated to providing orthopedic surgeries to those most in need of life-changing procedures, ensuring that they have the ability to work, move, and engage in life.

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