Department of Orthopaedics Update | Winter 2020

Announcing new facilities, staff and scientific discoveries

Innovations in Orthopaedics | Winter 2020

This is a time of additions in University Hospitals Department of Orthopaedics: new facilities, new staff and new scientific discoveries.

Our largest new addition takes place at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center. Its $200 million expansion, which broke ground in early 2020, includes a two-floor sports medicine complex among its new facilities. The new complex marks the largest expansion of the orthopaedic service line in more than 10 years. When it’s complete, University Hospitals will have the largest sports medicine complex in Northeast Ohio.

“We’ve experienced dramatic growth in our sports medicine services,” says James E. Voos, MD, Chair of UH Department of Orthopaedics. “The expansion will allow us to better serve youth and professional athletes, as well as our entire patient population, from Cleveland down to Akron.”

University Hospitals Broadview Heights Health Center is also growing. Expanding on its existing medical services and 24/7 emergency room, the center recently opened an othopaedic injury clinic, the 4th in the UH hospital system.

“This is another way we’re bringing orthopaedic specialty care closer to home,” says Dr. Voos. “With our injury clinics, we can serve the immediate Broadview Heights area as well as patients throughout Northeast Ohio.”

UH Broadview Heights Health Center’s specialty care includes trauma care, sports medicine and spine, as well as neurology, women’s health, cardiology and plastic surgery. The injury clinics add urgent care to the mix, serving youth athletes with musculoskeletal injuries and others with immediate needs. The Broadview Heights clinic joins injury clinics at University Hospitals Ahuja medical center and University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center, a campus of UH Regional Hospitals, and University Hospitals Sheffield Health Center.

NEW TEAMMATES

Mark Harrington, DO

Michael Schaefer, MD

Antimo Gazzillo, MD

Zachary Gordon, MD

Gabriel Smith, MD

Access to advanced nonoperative musculoskeletal care expands dramatically with new additions to the UH Department of Orthopaedics medical team. Mark Harrington, DO, brings experience in fracture management, athlete medical issues and nonoperative injury care. He also provides valuable expertise in ultrasound-guided injections and percutaneous needle tenotomy.

Michael Schaefer, MD, and Antimo Gazzillo, MD, strengthen not only physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) but orthopaedics overall. As University Hospitals Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Division Chief, Dr. Schaefer will focus on expanding UH’s rehabilitation services, as well as helping patients with painful musculoskeletal conditions get back in the game. “Dr. Schaefer has the academic, clinical and leadership experience that will allow him to manage both inpatient and outpatient PM&R,” says Dr. Voos.

Dr. Gazzillo focuses much of his practice on nonsurgical treatment of spinal disorders, including ultrasound and fluoroscopic-guided injections. He and the rest of the PMR team will work closely with University Hospitals Sports Medicine, University Hospitals Neurological Institute, University Hospitals Spine Institute, and Trauma departments to coordinate musculoskeletal care from A to Z. “With the growth of our Level I Trauma Center, as well as the Spine and Sports Medicine institutes, it made sense to bring all these services closer together,” says Dr. Voos.

The UH Spine Institute has also experienced leadership transitions during the past few months. Zachary Gordon, MD, and Gabriel Smith, MD, were recently named co-directors of UH Spine Institute. A skilled surgeon with spinal expertise, Dr. Smith works primarily at University Hospitals St. John Medical Center, a Catholic hospital, in Westlake and Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights. Dr. Gordon, an orthopaedic spine surgeon at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, treats a wide range of spinal conditions, including cervical and lumbar degenerative conditions and spinal tumors or infections.

NEW DISCOVERIES

As a research center, UH Department of Orthopaedics has dozens of clinical trials and scientific research projects in the works at any given time. Its physicians also spend time on and off the field treating Cleveland Browns players, staff and their families. A recent study brings together these two strengths.

University Hospitals physicians and the Cleveland Browns football team recently collaborated on a study published in the January/February 2020 issue of American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Sports Health.¹ The study examines the relationship between training load and injury in American football players.

GPS tracking and triaxial accelerometry helped UH physicians measure training volume and workload over a two-year period to predict injury. By partnering in this study, our research team was the first to present wearable technology injury prevention data in pro football. The study results and conclusions not only provide valuable information for players and coaches, but also show how both UH and the Browns lead the way when it comes to player safety.

To find out more about UH Department of Orthopaedics or to refer a patient for musculoskeletal care, call 216-553-1783

References

¹. Li RT, Salata MJ, Rambhia S, Sheehan J, Voos JE. Does Overexertion Correlate With Increased Injury? The Relationship Between Player Workload and Soft Tissue Injury in Professional American Football Players Using Wearable Technology. Sports Health. 2020;12(1):66–73. doi:10.1177/1941738119868477. Accessed at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31469616