Brian J. Cole, MD, MBA

Dr. Brian Cole is an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush and a Professor of Orthopaedics, Anatomy, and Cell Biology at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Cole is Managing Partner of Midwest Orthopaedics and is the Department’s Acting Chair and the Section Head of the Cartilage Research and Restoration Center.

He is the Chair of Surgery at Rush Oak Park Hospital and leads the Rush Orthopedic Master’s Program. Dr. Cole was the 2020 President of the Arthroscopy Association of North America. Dr. Cole also holds several other leadership positions in national and international orthopedic societies.

Honors awarded to Dr. Cole range from being listed in “Best Doctors in America” since 2004 and “Top Doctor” in Chicagoland since 2003. In 2006, he was featured on the cover of Chicago Magazine as “Chicago’s Top Doctor.” In 2009, he was selected as NBA Team Physician of the Year and Orthopedics This Week has named Dr. Cole as one of the top 20 sports medicine, knee, and shoulder specialists repeatedly over the last 5 years, as selected by his peers. He is listed as America’s Best Physician every year since 2017. More recently, Dr. Cole was awarded one of the most prestigious awards in orthopedics, the 2025 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) Clinical Research Award for his research on joint preservation and cartilage transplantation and was subsequently included in Newsweek’s 2025 America’s Leading Doctors in Sports Medicine issue. In late 2025, Dr. Cole was awarded the Golden GOAT award for a lifetime of research and clinical care in sports medicine. Most importantly, Dr. Cole’s patients describe his practice as compassionate, empathetic, always available, and willing to offer novel solutions to avoid surgery whenever possible. Testimonials to the surgical care that Dr. Cole’s team provides are frequently featured and shared with more than 5,000 online reviews.

Dr. Cole’s research interests include Cartilage Restoration, OrthoBiologics, and minimally invasive surgical techniques for the treatment of the knee, elbow, and shoulder. He has published more than 1,000 articles and 20 textbooks on orthopedic surgery and sports medicine, has lectured nationally and internationally on more than 2,000 occasions, and has appeared as an expert on several TV documentaries. Dr. Cole’s published research is recognized as one of the most frequently referenced articles in the world, falling in the top 5% of the most read articles on Doximity.