Dr. O’Brien is a Professor of Clinical Orthopaedics and the Program Director for the Orthopaedic Residency Program at Tulane University. He sees patients at the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine on the Tulane campus uptown, Sports Medicine Plus in lakeview, and at Tulane Lakeside Hospital in Metairie. He joined the Tulane Department of Orthopaedics in 2009, after completing his Orthopaedic Surgery residency at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD, and Shoulder & Elbow fellowship at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. O’Brien is one of only three Louisiana surgeons recognized as an Active Member of the American Shoulder & Elbow Surgeons (ASES), a society of leading national and international Orthopaedic Surgeons who specialize in surgery of the shoulder and elbow. He has been selected annually by his peers as a Top Doctor in Orthopaedics in the Greater New Orleans area and in the State of Louisiana. He regularly lectures and teaches courses internationally and throughout the United States, and has published hundreds of articles on topics such as shoulder and elbow reconstructive surgery, arthroscopy of the shoulder and elbow, rotator cuff surgery, shoulder instability, total shoulder replacement, reverse shoulder replacement, total elbow replacement, and fracture care in both adults and children.

 Dr. O’Brien has an active clinical practice and is involved in many ongoing research projects designed to advance the field of orthopaedics. In 2016, the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) selected Dr. O’Brien to join their Traveling Fellowship, a focused and select opportunity to train with some of AANA’s greatest surgeons.  In 2018, Dr. O’Brien was the first orthopaedic surgeon in Louisiana invited to join the Association of Clinical Elbow and Shoulder Surgeons, an exclusive invite-only organization of fellowship-trained elbow and shoulder surgeons dedicated to improving the quality of care provided to patients with complex elbow and shoulder disorders.

Dr. O’Brien is on the Board of Directors of the Southern Orthopaedic Association; serves as Chair of the Education Committee for AANA; is Co-Chair of the Resident Course and a member of the Neer Circle for ASES; and is past President of the Greater New Orleans Orthopaedic Society. He is a Team Physician for Tulane Athletics, NOLA Gold Rugby and Brother Martin High School.