COA Board

2017-2018 Officers

President: Basil R. Besh, M.D.

Basil R. Besh, M.D. is a Board Certified Orthopaedic surgeon specializing in hand, wrist & elbow conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, arthritis and tendonitis.

Dr. Besh is one of the few hand surgeons in Silicon Valley that has the Subspecialty Certificate in Surgery of the Hand. The examination for the Subspecialty Certificate in Surgery of the Hand is developed and administered by the Joint Committee on Surgery of the Hand of the American Boards of Orthopaedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Surgery.

The Subspecialty Certificate in Surgery of the Hand is for those board certified orthopaedic surgeons who have demonstrated qualifications in hand surgery beyond those expected of other orthopaedic surgeons as exhibited by additional training, contributions to the field and a practice focused on hand, wrist and elbow surgery.

First Vice President: Alexandra (Alexe) Page, M.D.

Dr. Alexandra (Alexe) Page has 18 years of experience as an orthopaedic surgeon in San Diego. She chairs the AAOS Health Care Systems Committee and is vice-chair of the BOS Communications Committee. Dr. Page addresses health disparities locally through direct patient care and leadership with Project Access San Diego and nationally with Movement is Life and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society.

Dr. Alexandra (Alexe) Page works on topics related to healthcare systems, high value care, Cross-specialty national involvement includes serving as the AAOS delegate to the AMA, the USBI Chronic Osteoarthritis Management Initiative, Dr. Page is a delegate to the California Medical Association (CMA) and is in the presidential line of the California Orthopaedic Association.

After an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from M.I.T., Dr Page graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School. Orthopaedic residency and Foot & Ankle fellowship were completed at the Hospital for Special Surgery. After 16 years in full-time clinical practice with Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Page now combines private practice with health services research and consulting, including the Harvard Medical School Health Policy Advisory Committee.

Second Vice President: Ronald A. Navarro, M.D.

I was raised in the Los Angeles harbor area of Wilmington and attended the Los Angeles public school system. As a child, it was my dream to become an orthopedist/sports medicine specialist (I even wrote about it in my high school autobiography). Today, I work in the same community where I was raised. A board certified orthopedic surgeon, I have more than 23 years of surgical experience in the operating room. My primary surgical and orthopedic training was at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. I completed a post-residency fellowship program in sports medicine, arthroscopy, and specialized shoulder surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, and I now have more than 17 years of specialization in shoulder surgery, orthopedic sports medicine, and arthroscopy. I enjoy research especially in my subspecialty areas of interest: shoulder surgery, cartilage restoration, and orthopedic sports medicine.

My role at Kaiser Permanente is that of Regional Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Southern California region, which means I help manage orthopaedic services from San Diego to Santa Barbara. I also help manage all of the perioperative services at the Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center.

Secretary-Treasurer: Lesley Anderson, M.D.

Dr. Lesley Anderson has been a specialist in complex knee and shoulder problems since 1986. She was born and raised in Pennsylvania where she actively participated in sports throughout college, specifically lacrosse and field hockey. She developed her interest in treating injuries of the knee and shoulder through her own personal surgeries as a teenager, when orthopedic surgery was primitive compared with current techniques.

She received her BS at Penn State and completed her MD at Hershey Medical School at Penn State in 1976. At UCLA, Dr. Anderson was their first female orthopedic resident. She completed a fellowship in Knee Surgery and Sportsmedicine at the Blazina Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles. Since moving to San Francisco in 1985, Dr. Anderson has specialized in treating only knee and shoulder problems. She has been listed in Castle-Connelly’s “America’s Top Doctors” yearly from 2000-present. Doctors in this list are nominated and selected by their orthopedic peers. She treats the gamut of teenage knee injuries up through total joint replacement.

Immediate Past Presidents

Jan E. Henstorf, M.D.
William W. Brien, M.D.
Robert O’Hollaren, M.D.

Board of Directors

California AAOS Councilors also serve on COA’s Board of Directors