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Biography

Dr. Joel C. Williams brings seven years of training and passion for complex fracture care, post-traumatic deformity, pelvis and acetabular surgery, and complex hip surgery to Rush University Medical Center. 

Dr. Williams is a native of Michigan and graduated from the Michigan State University Honors Program. He then attended medical school at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. There, he was awarded a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship and spent a year doing basic science research. 

Dr. Williams' surgical training began at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, where he completed his residency in orthopedic surgery. While a resident, he did a research fellowship and was awarded a grant from the Orthopaedic Trauma Association to investigate fracture healing. Additionally, he was awarded a traveling fellowship from the AO Trauma Foundation to study orthopedic traumatology in Chur, Switzerland with Dr. Cristoph Sommer. 

After residency, Dr. Williams stayed at UC Davis for his trauma fellowship and learned how to care for acute fractures, multiply-injured patients (polytrauma), fractures that do not heal (nonunions) or heal incorrectly (malunion) from a world-class team. 

After completing his trauma fellowship, he went to Seattle, WA to learn from Keith Mayo, M.D. and Tania Ferguson, M.D. There, he continued to expand his trauma, nonunion and malunion skill sets, and developed his complex hip surgery techniques. 

Along with being a member of the Emerging Leaders Program with the American Orthopaedic Association, Dr. Williams continues to be a proactive member within the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and AO Trauma North America. He has given numerous lectures and presentations across the United States, and has written for many publications such as Orthopedics, Injury (International Journal of the Care of the Injured), and The Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma

In his spare time, Dr. Williams enjoys skiing and running.

Curriculum Vitae

Practice Emphasis

  • Periacetabular Osteotomy
  • Hip Dysplasia
  • Hip Impingement (FAI)
  • Pelvis and Acetabular Trauma 
  • Post-traumatic Deformity
  • Orthopedic Trauma

Special Procedures

  • Periacetabular Osteotomy
  • Surgical Dislocation of the Hip
  • Pelvis and Acetabulum Fractures
  • Nonunion Repair
  • Malunion Repair
  • Periarticular Fractures
  • Hip Replacement

Research Interests

  • Hip Dysplasia
  • Hip Impingement
  • Hip Biomechanics
  • Fracture Healing

Second Language

Spanish (conversational)

Disclosures 

AAOS Record of Disclosure 

Clinical Support Staff

  • Jessica Pezzo (PA)
  • Xiomara Isaac (SEC)

Education / Certifications

  • Medical School
    Medical Degree with Distinction in Research Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
  • Residency
    University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA Orthopedic Surgery
  • Fellowship
    University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA Orthopedic Trauma; Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA Complex Hip Surgery
  • Certification
    Orthopaedic Surgery

Patient responses are scored and represented on a 1-to-5 star scale, where 5 stars is a perfect score.

Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR) is committed to better understanding what patients think of our care, to help us continually improve the quality of our care.

MOR patients receive surveys via email to complete after certain types of office visits. Our survey is administered by an independent third party, Universal Research Solutions, LLC. This data encompasses patient feedback for physicians from the past year (where available).

The response options for the questions, except where otherwise indicated, are:
Yes, Definitely
Yes, Somewhat
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Hospital / Surgical Locations

Rush University Medical Center

1653 W. Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60612

Physician Office Locations

Chicago

1611 West Harrison Street
Chicago, Illinois 60612