The Carpenter of Medicine

By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor

KEYSER — A Hardy County native who graduated from the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University in Huntington and performed his residency at West Virginia University Hospitals has extended his orthopedic surgery practice to include Keyser’s Potomac Valley Hospital.
Dr. Joseph Hahn opened his practice in the building located at the intersection of U.S. Route 220 and Pin Oak Lane and will be maintaining office hours there on Tuesdays. Fridays will be his day to schedule surgeries in the new hospital. He will also be available from time to time to help cover emergencies at the hospital.
The son of a dermatologist who also graduated from Marshall, Hahn grew up on the family farm in Hardy County.
“We moved to Huntington while my dad was in medical school, but then moved back,” he explained. “I graduated from East Hardy High School,  then went two years to Potomac state College, where I played baseball.
“I was on the national championship team in 1995.”
Hahn went from Potomac State to Marshall, where he earned a biology degree before entering medical school . He concluded his residency at WVU last year.
“I started my practice in Grant and Hampshire counties in July, and came here in December,” he said.
Hahn feels his background led him straight to orthopedics. “It comes from a combination of growing up on a farm and being an athlete; you see a lot of injuries,” he said.
Calling an orthopedic surgeon “the carpenter of medicine,” he explains that it is his job to repair problems with his patients’ bones and joints due to those injuries. “I put in the plates and screws … almost like nailing a board,” he said, smiling.
Hahn continues to practice in Romney and Petersburg, as well, and hopes soon to be joined in his Keyser office by a general surgeon.
Although many of his patients come through referrals, he also says he will “take all comers,” and anyone wishing to make an appointment may do so by calling (304) 822-3838, (304) 538-2331, or (304) 597-2028.