Darren de SA
Assistant Professor, Surgery

Dr. de SA is an Orthopaedic Surgeon from Hamilton, Ontario and an Assistant Professor at McMaster University whose clinical scope includes adult and pediatric sports medicine, arthroscopic surgery, and musculoskeletal trauma. He has a special interest in complex knee reconstruction and knee joint preservation. Additionally, Dr. de SA is the Director of the Surgical Foundations Program at McMaster University – a program that administers the educational curriculum of first- and second-year post-graduate surgical trainees across all disciplines. He is in his final semester of MBA post-graduate studies at the Goodman School of Business (Brock University) as well. Currently, Dr. de SA serves as both an Elite Reviewer for the Journal of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Orthopaedic Medicine, and as the Associate Editor for KSSTA - the official Journal of the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy.

Dr. de SA completed both his medical and orthopaedic surgery residency training at McMaster University under the mentorship of current Division Chair, Dr. Femi Ayeni, Dr. Mohit Bhandari, and others. He then pursued Fellowship training in Sports Medicine and Arthroscopic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. Volker Musahl and the late Dr. Freddie H. Fu. In this latter role, he acquired extensive experience as Assistant Team Physician for the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) and worked collaboratively with the medical teams for the Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) and the University of Pittsburgh collegiate athletics. He is currently the Associate Head Orthopaedic Surgeon for both the Hamilton Forge FC (Canadian Premier League) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Canadian Football League). Moreover, Dr. deSA has completed additional Fellowship training in adolescent and paediatric trauma (Western University) and adult musculoskeletal trauma (McMaster University).

Dr. de SA has contributed to a productive MacSports research program focused on outcomes research in adult/paediatric trauma and athletic injuries/non-arthritic conditions of the knee. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts (H-index 33), numerous book chapters, and has delivered several podium and poster presentations on the national and international stage. He is currently the Principal Investigator of the SQuASH Study – the first randomized control trial in pediatric ACL reconstruction outcomes comparing hamstring to all-soft-tissue quadriceps tendon autograft. This has received substantial funding from both the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation and the Physician Services’ Incorporated Foundation.