Photograph by Matthew Worden.

This doctor's profile is from the April 2008 Washingtonian Top Doctors issue. To access the full Top Doctors database, click here. 

After young Philip Bobrow limped through the MCAT exam required for entry into medical school, he crossed the Atlantic and enrolled in med school in Rome. There was one problem: He didn’t speak Italian.

To learn the language, he followed his host family’s advice: He found a pretty girl and struck up conversation. At night, he translated his Italian textbooks into English.

Three years later Bobrow got into several medical schools in the US, including George Washington University and the State University of New York at Buffalo. When his father, who had funded the Italian adventure, heard the tuition price at GW, he told his son, “Pick any winter coat you want.”

Bobrow survived Buffalo’s winters and came to Georgetown for his residency in orthopedic surgery. He’s been in Washington ever since. This year, he was among the biggest vote-getters in our survey of physicians to identify Washington’s top doctors.

Orthopedists are in demand today, Bobrow says: “People are much more active. Years ago, they were happy just to walk down the block without pain after surgery. Now they want to know when they can ride their bikes again.”

See a profile of breast-cancer specialist Colette Magnant here.

See a profile of pain-management specialist Lee Ann Rhodes here.

See a profile of neurology specialist Kalpana Hari Hall here.