Dr J-P du Plessis is a specialist Shoulder and Elbow Orthopaedic surgeon. His private practice is based in Cape Town at Life Orthopaedic hospital, Vincent Pallotti. He is also involved in teaching orthopaedic registrars and medical officers and in a training fellowship for shoulder and elbow surgeons.
He has published numerous articles in local and international orthopaedic journals and presents at local and international courses and congresses. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery and the South African Orthopaedic Journal and is a member of the joint staff at the Department of Orthopaedic surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital.
Dr J-P du Plessis completed his undergraduate training at the University of Cape Town and received an MBChB in 1999. He did his internship at Edendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal and community service at the East Griqualand Usher Memorial Hospital in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal. During this time he completed a diploma in primary emergency care through the College of medicine of South Africa.
In 2002 he moved to the United Kingdom to gain work experience in various fields including emergency medicine, internal medicine and orthopaedic surgery.
In 2004 he returned to Cape Town and worked as a medical officer in orthopaedic and emergency surgery initially at the GF Jooste Hospital and then at the New Somerset Hospital in Cape Town.
He was accepted to the postgraduate Orthopaedic training programme at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town and graduated in 2010 with an FCS (SA) Orth and MMed Orthopaedics.
Following his postgraduate training he completed the Princess Alice Orthopaedic unit Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship in 2012 and then joined Prof Basil Vrettos and Stephen Roche as part of the Cape Shoulder and Elbow Unit.
In 2019 he was selected for the prestigious South African, Australian and New Zealand traveling fellowship to Europe by the South African Shoulder and Elbow Society.
He is a past member of the ExCo of the South African Shoulder and Elbow Society where he served as secretary for the society from 2023-2025. He is a founding member of the Global Elbow Network (GEN). He was also recently elected to the International Board for Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (IBSES).
Orthopaedic interests include:
- Arthroscopic shoulder surgery for shoulder dislocations and rotator cuff tears.
- Shoulder and elbow surgery for sports injuries
- Arthroscopic elbow surgery
- Shoulder replacement surgery
- Elbow replacement surgery
When he is not practicing shoulder and elbow surgery you may find him fly-fishing, hiking or trying not to fall off his mountain bike.