Who is Dr. Neal ElAttrache? Surgeon prescribed therapeutic PEDs for Conor McGregor

MLB is planning to investigate Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache after a New York Times report that he prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to UFC star Conor McGregor.

With more than 30 years of medical experience and having worked with some of the most prominent athletes in sports, questions have arisen: “Who is Dr. Neal ElAttrache?”

ElAttrache has been associated with many Southern California sports franchises. He works as the head team physician for the Dodgers and Rams. He also serves as an orthopedic consultant for the Kings, Lakers and Ducks.

After receiving his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985, ElAttrache worked as an intern at the Hospitals of the University Health Center of Pittsburgh from July 1985 through June 1986. In July 1986, he did a four-year orthopedic residency program at the University of Pittsburgh.

In July 1990, ElAttrache began a fellowship program in sports medicine at Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Inglewood.

Shortly after the fellowship concluded, he began working as an orthopedic consultant for the Dodgers, Kings and Lakers while also serving as the head team physician of the Rams, until the team relocated to St. Louis after the 1995 NFL season.

In 2008, ElAttrache began working as the Dodgers’ head team physician and eventually resumed his head team physician role with the Rams when they moved back to Los Angeles in 2016.

After McGregor suffered a gruesome tibia and fibula fracture in July 2021 that nearly ended his UFC career, ElAttrache was the surgeon who operated on his fracture.

The Times reported that McGregor “took powerful, banned drugs” that ElAttrache prescribed to help him with the healing. The Times also reported that ElAttrache “wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s application for a special exemption that would have allowed him to use performance-enhancing drugs without facing a penalty.”

ElAttrache has been a household name in sports medicine over the last 30-plus years and has operated on some of the top athletes in sports, including Clayton Kershaw and Kobe Bryant, for whom he performed shoulder surgery; he worked on Aaron Rodgers’ torn Achilles, he performed Tommy John surgery on Shohei Ohtani in 2023 when he was a member of the Angels; and also performed knee surgery on Tom Brady.

Besides performing surgeries on professional athletes, he’s also worked with famous celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Charlize Theron, who both had knee surgery.