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brings together dedicated specialists in surgery, neurology, physiatry, rehabilitation, pain management, anesthesia, radiology and integrative complementary medicine to provide seamless care. “Navigating through the many treatment options is challenging,” explains Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, Chief of the Spine Service at Hospital for Special Surgery. “Our goal is to help patients who don’t need surgery to have as limited a disability as possible and for those who do need surgery, to make it as safe and efficacious as possible.” Advances in diagnostic imaging combined with vast orthopedic patient experience have enabled Special Surgery to earn a reputation for excellence in accurate diagnosis. Explains Helene Pavlov, MD, Radiologist-in-Chief at HSS, “The technical expertise combined with years of experience in spine and musculoskeletal image interpretation by our radiologists enables us to make clinical decisions for surgical planning.” Special Surgery has long been recognized as a world leader in spine disorder treatment. Institute physicians have subspecialty training in pediatric and adult spine conditions – both acute and chronic. They have the expertise to address the most routine as well as the most complex spine disorders using minimally invasive techniques whenever possible. l Comparative Effectiveness Expert Joins HSS I n support of the Hospital’s commitment to comparative effectiveness research, HSS welcomes Art Sedrakyan, MD, PhD, to its Research Division. Comparative effectiveness examines the different outcomes between drugs, devices and/or interventions. The federal government recently established this kind of research as a priority by awarding the field $1.1 billion in grants. While HSS had previously established clinical registries to track patient outcomes, the appointment of Dr. Sedrakyan will further our efforts in patient-oriented comparative effectiveness. In a joint appointment with Weill Cornell Department of Public Health and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Sedrakyan will design studies and perform patient-oriented comparative effectiveness research at HSS, focusing on orthopedics. Trained as a cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Sedrakyan will perform cardiothoracic research at Weill Cornell, providing opportunities for the two institutions to collaborate. Formerly a Medical Officer at the Federal Drug Administration and a Senior Advisor at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Washington, DC, Dr. Sedrakyan has designed comparative effectiveness studies for the federal government and collaborated with Weill Cornell and HSS on their Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERT). l P hilip D. Wilson, Jr., MD, welcomed his 90th birthday with a poignant tribute at the HSS Alumni Association Meeting held November 12 – 14, 2009. In the opinion of those who have had the pleasure to know and learn from him, Dr. Wilson is a person of great character and dedication who has touched the lives of many in his roles as a healer, teacher, innovator, colleague and friend. A highly respected educator and surgeon for over 50 years, Dr. Wilson has helped transform Hospital for Special Surgery from one of local recognition to a national center of excellence. Following in the footsteps of his renowned father, Philip Wilson, Sr., MD, who initiated the Hospital’s rise to international acclaim, Dr. Wilson completed his orthopedic surgery residency at HSS in 1950, and was officially appointed to the staff in 1951. Among his many academic and professional accomplishments, including as past president of the AAOS, Art Sedrakyan, MD, PhD Philip D. Wilson, Jr., MD Focused Diagnostic Treatment Centers for Hip and Spine Therese Caffrey is examined at the new Center for Hip Pain and Preservation (bottom) and running again (top). A Dr. Wilson Celebrates 90 Years Scientists will then look for a connection between inflammation and other biologic processes occurring in the joints early on and the development and severity of OA later in life. “We’re getting closer to predicting the progression of OA, and to relating those clinical outcomes to a biologic process that we can understand,” Dr. Crow says. “The goal is to develop approaches to interrupting disease progression.” “It’s likely that there are many contributing factors to who goes on to develop severe OA. Some of those contributors will be the severity of the injury, and some contributors will be genetic. Some people respond to the same injury with more inflammation than others,” Dr. Crow explains. “So what determines the difference between different people? And what can that teach us about therapies that might prevent serious progression of this disease?” These are just some of the questions being asked at HSS. Cartilage Tissue Research Senior Scientist Mary Goldring, PhD, the Ira W. DeCamp Fellow in Musculoskeletal Genetics and Director of the Laboratory for Cartilage Biology in the Tissue Engineering Repair & Regeneration Program at HSS, specializes in the study of cartilage tissue research, specifically chondrocytes, the cells within the cartilage tissue. Dr. Goldring and her laboratory collaborators also work with Thomas Sculco, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief and Korein-Wilson Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, and members of the Arthroplasty Service, to obtain tissue samples from patients undergoing joint replacement, from
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