Dr. Namdari is a board certified shoulder and elbow surgeon and a Professor of orthopedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University. He is the Fellowship Director and Co-Director of Research for the Shoulder and Elbow Division.  He also serves as the Vice Chair of Orthopedics and Chief at Methodist Hospital.

Dr. Namdari completed medical school at Brown University and orthopedic residency at the University of Pennsylvania. He was then awarded a fellowship in Shoulder and Elbow Surgery at Washington University in St Louis.

He specializes in the arthroscopic and open treatment of all conditions of the shoulder and elbow, including arthritis, tendon disorders, fractures, and instability.  He is particularly interested in complex problems, involving bone loss, irreparable tendon tears, or failed previous surgery.

Dr. Namdari is especially committed to the practice of evidence-based medicine and is actively involved in advancing the field of orthopedics through research.  He has an extensive bibliography of original papers and abstracts and presents both nationally and internationally.  He is also actively involved in the innovation and design of new medical devices and implants aimed at improving patient outcomes.

Dr. Higgins serves as the fourth chief in the 70+ year history of the Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore, Maryland.  Dr Higgins completed his undergraduate work at Williams College in Massachusetts, his medical school training at the University of Rochester, and his plastic surgical training at the University of Rochester. He then completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Curtis National Hand Center in 2002 and became a faculty member.   In 2011 he began his tenure as Chief of the Hand Center.  

His clinical and research interests include vascularized bone/cartilage reconstruction of extremity nonunions, functioning muscle reconstruction of the upper limb, toe transfer digital reconstruction, complex reconstruction of upper extremity trauma and vaso-occlusive disease of the hand.

Dr Higgins is an active member of multiple professional societies, serving on executive council and administrative committees for the ASSH, AAHS, ASRM, & ABPS.  He has served as program chairman of the national meetings of the ASRM (2013) and ASSH (2019). He is the current President-Elect of the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery.

Dr Higgins dedicated much of his clinical and research efforts to the advancement of microsurgical reconstructive of upper extremity traumatic injuries with a focus on vascularized bone and cartilage transfer.   His work was recognized when he was the selected recipient of the 2024 Weiland Award by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.  This award is granted to a single surgeon for a lifetime contribution of clinical and scientific research for the advancement of hand surgery.   

As Chief, Dr Higgins directs the Curtis National Hand Center’s civilian hand fellowship, but also serves as the site director of the joint Walter Reed/Curtis Hand military fellowship that has provided hand surgery training for the US Army hand surgeons since the 1960’s.  He also serves as a team leader for the collaborative hand transplantation program with the Department of Plastic Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.