Dr. Hayk Stepanyan, MD

About me.

Orthopedics has been part of my life since I was five. My grandfather was a well-known orthopedic surgeon in Armenia, and I spent my afternoons watching him take care of his patients. He was my hero, and I wanted to be a doctor just like him.

My family moved to the United States when I was a teenager. My father is an anesthesiologist, so between him and my grandfather, medicine was the family business. I went to UCLA for my undergraduate degree and Penn State for medical school, then completed my residency at UC Irvine, a Level I trauma center. During residency my mentor, Dr. William McMaster, left a journal article on my desk every morning, and we would talk it through later that day. The habit stuck. I believe education never stops, and I work to keep up with the newest advances in both joint preservation and joint replacement.

After residency I completed two fellowships, one in sports medicine at Congress Orthopaedics in Pasadena (now part of Cedars-Sinai) and one in joint replacement at the University of Pennsylvania. Training in both means I'm not limited to one answer. I can repair and preserve a joint, or replace it, and recommend whichever truly fits you. Today I'm a board-certified, dual fellowship-trained surgeon caring for hips, knees and shoulders.

When we meet, I'll ask what you're trying to get back to before we talk about an MRI or an operation. It might be hiking, tennis, the gym or picking up your grandchild. My job is to get you moving, keep you going, and fight to get you back to the life you want. The best part of my work is the long relationship: seeing a patient months later, back on the trail or the court, or just running into them at the grocery store walking without a limp.

I think a lot about healthspan: not just how many years you live, but how good those years are. Exercise, sleep, mental health and diet are the foundation, and I hold myself to the same advice I give my patients.

Surgery is not always the first answer. Many people with knee arthritis can live a full, active life without it if they strengthen the leg. When surgery is the right choice, I use muscle-sparing techniques, a direct anterior approach for the hip, and knee implants positioned to match your own natural alignment.

I still read the journals most nights, and lately I've gone deep on the science of longevity, supplements and peptides. Outside the OR, I enjoy traveling to new places with my wife and daughter, photography, exercising and walking my dog.

I practice with Los Angeles Orthopaedic Surgery Specialists (LAOSS), a multispecialty group, in Glendale, East LA and Santa Fe Springs. You can also find my profile on the LAOSS website.

Board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. I operate at Adventist Health Glendale, Glendale Memorial Hospital, Adventist Health White Memorial and White Memorial Montebello, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center and Avalon Surgery Center.

Research and teaching

I've co-authored 15 peer-reviewed papers, including work on shoulder stability after biceps surgery (Arthroscopy, 2025), recovery after total knee replacement (Life, 2022), imaging of ACL-injured knees (Journal of Knee Surgery), arthroscopic treatment of patellar tendinopathy (2021) and genetic factors in tendon injury (Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2017).

Before joining LAOSS, I was a team physician for Occidental College and for the Pasadena City College, Citrus College and Eagle Rock High School football teams. I'm a member of the AAOS, AAHKS and ASES.