Dr. David Altchek, Renowned Orthopedic Surgeon and Former Medical Director of the Mets, Passes Away
New York – The world of baseball and sports medicine mourns the loss of Dr. David Altchek, a renowned orthopedic surgeon and former medical director of the New York Mets. Dr. Altchek, who performed more than 2,000 Tommy John surgeries, passed away on Thursday at the age of 68. The news of his passing was communicated by the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he served as co-emeritus chief. Last year, Dr. Altchek informed his colleagues about his brain tumor diagnosis. Dr. Altchek was the Mets’ head physician from 1991 to 2001 and medical director from 2005 to 2024. In addition, he was the team doctor for the United States Davis Cup from 1999 to 2003 and medical director for North America of the ATP Tour. He also served as co-chief of the sports medicine and shoulder service at HSS from 2005 to 2014.Son of orthopedic surgeon Martin Altchek, David studied at Middletown High School in New York, earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia, and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1982. He completed his internship at New York Hospital and became a resident at HSS, where he completed a fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Russell Warren, surgeon-in-chief of HSS from 1993 to 2003 and long-time team physician for the New York Giants. In a 2024 interview, Dr. Altchek recalled his beginnings in Tommy John surgery. “My first Tommy John surgery was in 1993, and I performed the procedure that Dr. Jobe, Dr. Frank Jobe, prescribed. It took 2 and a half hours and I was exhausted. And I realized then that we had to do something about Tommy John surgery. We had to make it a little easier.” Working with residents and fellows, Dr. Altchek developed what was called a “docking” procedure and tested it on about 100 elbows. “It worked and it worked incredibly well,” said Dr. Altchek. “We really didn’t change it at all for more than 20 years.” Dr. Altchek estimated last year that he had performed more than 2,400 Tommy John surgeries. He was a preferred surgeon for the Tommy John procedure in recent years, along with Dr. Keith Meister, physician for the Texas Rangers, and Dr. Neal ElAttrache, head physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Part of Dr. Altchek’s job was to reassure players that their baseball career was not over. “You tell them this is unfortunate, but this is your MRI. This is probably the reason why it happened, which means you threw outside the quality limit of your tissue,” he explained. “But we have a procedure that can repair your ligament and reconstruct it in a way that, once it heals, the probability of you throwing at the same level or higher is 95%.” Dr. Altchek received the John Jay Award from Columbia for Distinguished Professional Achievement in 2003. He is survived by his wife, the former Anne Salmson, whom he married in 1981, his sons Charles and Christopher, and his daughters Chloe and Sophie. Charles is president of the MLS Next Pro minor league of the third division of Major League Soccer and was the Ivy League men’s soccer player of the year while at Harvard in 2005 and 2006.While Dr. Altchek’s intelligence and innovations certainly benefited his patients, and sports medicine in general, his greatest impact was his warm, friendly, and caring personality. Colleagues, friends, and patients loved David and are grateful for the time we had with him.
Glenn S. Fleisig, director of research in biomechanics at the American Sports Medicine Institute
