Background
Albert Aboulafia, M.D., F.A. C.S., M.B.A., is a nationally and internationally recognized leader as a clinician, researcher and educator in orthopaedic oncology. Dr. Aboulafia specializes in treating adults and children who have benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors. He is active on editorial boards and in academics, research, teaching, and national and international speaking engagements.
Dr. Aboulafia attended the University of Michigan Medical School, and he performed a general surgery internship and subsequent residency training in orthopaedic surgery at the Los Angeles County, University of Southern California Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship in orthopaedic oncology through a combined program at the Washington Hospital Center, the Children’s National Hospital and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Aboulafia served as an attending staff physician at the Washington Hospital Center and the Children’s National Hospital Center and consulted for the surgery branch at the NIH as an associate professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He then joined the faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine before moving to Baltimore, where he worked at Sinai Hospital and became a clinical professor of orthopaedics at the University of Maryland. There, he worked with residents from several orthopaedic programs and with students.
Dr. Aboulafia received a master’s degree in business administration from the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School in 2006. He then became the medical director of the Baltimore region’s cancer program and the chief of orthopaedic oncology at MedStar Health, where he also served as acting chief of surgery. Dr. Aboulafia joined the orthopaedic surgery department at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November 2022.
As an academic physician, Dr. Aboulafia has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and served as course director and/or faculty member for over 60 courses. He has also been an invited speaker for more than 150 local, national and international presentations, and he serves on the editorial board or as a reviewer for over a dozen journals including the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Orthopaedics, the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Cancer and the Annals of Oncology.
Dr. Aboulafia participates in local, national and international clinical trials as an investigator or local principal investigator. He also trains residents from several orthopaedic programs including those at MedStar, the University of Maryland, Sinai Hospital and the York residency program.
Dr. Aboulafia has served as a member or chair of various national, international and local committees and organizations, including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), the American-European Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and the Maryland Orthopedic Association, and he is a past president of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and the Baltimore City Medical Society.
The numerous prestigious accolades that Dr. Aboulafia has received throughout his career include recognition by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and TIME for his contribution to cancer care, and in Baltimore magazine’s Top Doctors issue every year since 2014. He has also been recognized for his commitment to volunteer work, and he received a certificate of appreciation and medal from the Maryland Board of Physicians, the governor of Maryland and the secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for his work in New Orleans’ Jefferson Parish after Hurricane Katrina. The Institute for Global Health and Development applauded Dr. Aboulafia’s leadership role in Haiti with Project Medishare following the 2010 earthquake there. He also received distinguished service recognition for his work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Aboulafia was the inaugural recipient of the AAOS Achievement Award, and he was a fellow and mentor for the AAOS Leadership Fellows Program. The Boy Scouts of America’s Baltimore Area Council honored him with a Health Care Leadership Award in 2022.
Patient Ratings & Comments
The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to physician related questions on the national CG-CAHPS Medical Practice patient experience survey through Press Ganey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Comments are also gathered from our CG-CAHPS Medical Practice Survey through Press Ganey and displayed in their entirety. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.