Accepting new patients

Lara C. Atwater, M.D.

Accepting new patients

  • Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine

Specialty

  • Orthopaedics and rehabilitation

Clinical focus

  • Foot and Ankle
  • Foot and Ankle Rehabilitation
  • Foot and Ankle Sports Injuries

Locations and contact

I see patients at
Tall building with the ariel tram to its left
Center for Health & Healing, Building 1
503-494-8311
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About me

Dr. Lara Atwater is a fellowship-trained Foot and Ankle Surgeon. She offers advanced treatment options and specialized care for a wide variety of foot and ankle injuries, conditions and disorders. Clinical interests include total ankle arthroplasty, minimally invasive surgical techniques, deformity correction and sports injuries. She treats fractures, arthritic conditions, and soft tissue injuries including ankle sprains and Achilles ruptures. During both residency and fellowship training, Dr. Atwater was mentored by Dr. Lew Schon, a top inventor and thought leader in the field of Foot and Ankle Surgery.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Dr. Atwater graduated with a degree in American History at Princeton University. She attended Georgetown University Medical School where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the medical honor society. Dr. Atwater completed her orthopaedic surgery residency at Johns Hopkins University, where as a Chief Resident she received the prestigious Miller Coulson Award for Clinical Excellence. She also was honored with the Byank Servant Leadership Award in Orthopaedics, an honor voted on by junior residents to recognize teaching and mentoring by a senior resident.

Following residency, Dr. Atwater completed a fellowship at the prestigious Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She has authored and published multiple peer-reviewed studies and book chapters, in addition to speaking at national conferences.  She is a reviewer of scientific articles for Foot and Ankle International, the flagship publication of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.

Dr. Atwater chose to pursue her medical training at Georgetown University because the program was grounded in the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, or care for the whole person. She chose a career in orthopaedics because it helps maximize patients’ quality of life.

When she is not working Dr. Atwater enjoys spending time with her young family, hiking, spin classes, outrigger canoe paddling, cooking/farmers markets and watching water polo games.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.A., 2007, Princeton University
    • M.D., 2012, Georgetown University School of Medicine

  • Residency

    • Orthopaedic Surgery, Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2018

  • Fellowship

    • Foot and Ankle Reconstruction, Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, 2019

Memberships and associations:

  • American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, Diplomate
  • American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Fellow
  • American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Association, Active Member
Read faculty profile

Insurance

Before scheduling an appointment

  1. Check your network. If you have health insurance,  call your company to find out if the OHSU Health location or provider you plan to visit is part of your network.
  2. Ask what you will pay. Your insurance company can tell you what your costs are likely to be.

If you schedule an appointment and your health insurance does not include OHSU Health, you may have to pay more than if you go to a provider in your insurance network. 

Visit our billing and insurance page for more information.

Ratings and reviews

Overall: 4.8 out of 5 (120 Ratings, 38 Reviews)

The patient ratings score is an average of all responses to the question "How likely would you be to recommend this provider to your family and friends (on a scale of 0 to 10)" on our nationally-recognized NRC patient surveys.

  1. Dr. Lara was incredible - from initial welcome to deeply understanding my medical situation, to offering viable - and effective - options to ease my chronic pain. To now wake up and move through my day without pain has given me more reason to smile! The area of concern remains tender, although the decrease in pain has now enabled me to move freely across the stage when delivering high engaging presentations. I am forever grateful. I look forward to my check up appointment to share what her personalized care has made in my life - a POSITIVE difference!!

  2. Easy fast and they seem to be concerned with my needs and care

  3. Very friendly

  4. Excellent doctor/surgeon who listens to my needs and concerns, with an excellent support team

  5. Highly skilled and thorough in addressing my problems. Great surgery results.

  6. We had a very good conversation. I felt like a member of the family.

  7. Very knowledgeable. Communicated well. Very informative. Good listener. Conveyed sense of calm and assurance of procedures to be applied.

  8. She was forthright, articulate, clear and answered all my questions and had a great personality, too. Great visit.

  9. Yet again, the physicians and staff at OHSU have not failed me. Two other physicians outside of the area failed to properly diagnose and treat my condition. Dr. Atwater and her associate were able to diagnose and come up with a plan of treatment within 30 minutes of my visit

  10. Dr. Atwater is kind, compassionate, listens and explains things well. She did a great job on my surgery and continues to show care and concern for my complete recovery.

  11. Everything was simple and smooth

  12. Friendly, open and honest

  13. Dr Atwater and her support staff are top notch. My surgery was successful and all post op care has been handled with sincere concern and respect for my well being

  14. She listened well and answered my questions well providing the positives and negatives of various options. And she took my goals into account. I am very happy with the results of the operation even despite the unforeseen hiccup, which she explained well.

  15. Lara Atwater was amazing and I really appreciated her.

  16. Thorough, professional, personable, knowledgeable

  17. Very good

  18. She's on the ball. Highly knowledgeable, gets 2 the problem right away. Very nice n personal able.

  19. Extremely informative, answered all my questions, reviewed my scans, explained my options. Rescheduled my follow up.

  20. Dr Atwater is brilliant, went above and beyond. Much appreciated

  21. She's the first person that didn't write me off and tell me to just deal with whatever was hurting, she made me feel heard and seen.

  22. Dr. Atwater really listens and cares about my priorities.

  23. Clear, straightforward answers to my list of questions

  24. She was prompt, listened to my concerns, explained options well and discussed possibilities of a surgical plan. She reviewed imaging with me and discussed options and why or why not certain ones would be best.

  25. Dr. Atwater has gotten me walking again and is handling my nerve pain in a professional manner. She provided a clear path forward for dealing with my residual nerve pain.

  26. Dr Atwater is the best. She spends time and solicits my opinion on my condition then we discuss the viable options for treatment

  27. Dr Atwater is amazing. Kind, smart, and an intentional listener and I am deeply grateful for her.

  28. I am very satisfied with my Dr

  29. Overall excellent service, met my needs

  30. Excellent; very friendly.