Celebrating 25 years in orthopedics…how Dr. Maish discovered his calling:
On August 20, 1996, I was starting a new rotation in Orthopaedics in my first clinical work as a medical student. My teacher did a procedure which took a toddlers deformed foot and made it look perfectly normal at the end of the case. As I wheeled the child in his stretcher down the hall, I thought to myself, “WOW! We just changed every step of that kid’s life”. It was so AMAZING!
I felt like THIS FIELD was something that I could dedicate my life to; THIS was my calling.
25 years later, it is still exhilarating and fulfilling to help people walk again and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to pursue a career in hip and knee replacement surgery.
Dr. Maish…outside of work:
Dr. Maish and his wife Ashley live just west of Frederick. Their two year old son was born by emergency C section at the beginning of the pandemic when they both had covid. It was a great reminder of how much doctors and nurses can make such a difference in patient’s lives, for better or for worse.
Dr. Maish grew up swimming and played water polo for Penn State. After having spine surgery in January 2022, Dr. Maish returned to swimming to not only recover from surgery, but return to levels of exercise he hadn’t been able to do for decades.
Dr. Maish is looking forward to raising his son, James, in this community and becoming part of a church. While Dr. Maish is Christian, it’s important to him that all of his patients feel their beliefs are respected and incorporated into their recovery. I will pray with you if you ask me to but I will never push anything on you on my teammates.
Dr. Maish’s training and clinical experience:
David Maish, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in adult reconstruction, specifically, hip and knee replacements. He has clinical expertise in joint preservation, minimally invasive techniques, treatment of painful hip and knee replacements, and osteonecrosis. His advanced training in minimally invasive surgery (fellowship) was done at Duke University Medical Center.
Having cared for Pennsylvania communities for more than 20 years. Dr. Maish is focused on providing expert-level care in the operating room and the clinic. From the start of his career, he made it his routine to spend an hour with each person before their surgery to make sure that they were prepared for surgery by learning about the risks of surgery and how to prevent them – a concept not widely practiced at the time. Although this step is often performed by nurses or online education modules today, Dr. Maish still chooses to meet with his patients and their families to reassure patients and build a solid doctor-patient relationship. By making his patients and their experience his first priority, Dr. Maish has attracted outstanding teammates throughout his career.
A lifelong learner and teacher, Dr. Maish was named Chief of Adult Reconstruction (hip and knee orthopedics) and Fellowship Director in his previous job. He implemented care pathways that allowed patients to have their hip and knee replacements performed safely as an outpatient.
After performing over 5,000 hip and knee replacement procedures in 3 different health systems, he is able to provide expert level of care both in the operating room and in the office. This expertise has been acknowledged when many of his fellow orthopaedic surgeons, physicians, and co-workers have honored him by choosing him as a surgeon for themselves or their family members.
