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Zimmer Holdings Inc. announced Tuesday that it is partnering with one of the world's most prestigious medical teaching institutions - Johns Hopkins University - to advance Minimally Invasive Solutionsª Procedures and Technologies.
Under terms of the agreement, Johns Hopkins University, under the direction of Frank J. Frassica, M.D., chairman, department of orthopedics, and Robert A. Robinson, professor of orthopedic surgery, at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will train orthopedic surgeons to use Zimmer's minimally invasive technologies and participate in MIS product refinement. The university will function as a Zimmer Institute teaching facility and will become a Center of Excellence for MIS patient care.
The Johns Hopkins team has performed less invasive techniques for joint replacement surgery for years. The Johns Hopkins facility has technologically advanced surgical training stations enabling surgeons to learn and practice these advanced techniques prior to bringing them to the operating room.
Ray Elliott, Zimmer chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "We are honored to be collaborating with Johns Hopkins University to expand the patient benefits of MIS joint replacement and to demonstrate the economic benefits for our entire health care system. This important multi-year relationship is new for us, and we are excited about combining these two great names in orthopedics. We will be working together to advance promising concepts with potential clinical benefit for patients and economic advantage for the health care system."
The alliance between Zimmer and Hopkins promises to make the patient benefit of Zimmer's MIS joint replacement more widely available than it is today.
Johns Hopkins is the Zimmer Institute's first new major United States site. The Zimmer Institute is an educational system focused on expanding the availability of MIS joint replacement by transferring the required skills and knowledge to surgeons and other health care professionals. Zimmer opened the hub location of the Zimmer Institute in 2003 at Zimmer headquarters in Warsaw. Zimmer said its network of Zimmer Institute satellite locations will contribute to a common pool of data and best practices, enabling each partner to benefit from the experience and developments of the others. The company expects to provide training for more than 1,400 surgeons during 2004 at all Institute locations.
The company has indicated that it expects to affiliate with approximately 10 to 12 North American and 10 international institutions that will provide Zimmer Institute surgeon education.
Johns Hopkins University was founded in 1876 and is one of the world's pre-eminent universities. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was founded in 1893 and is considered an international leader in many fields. Often cited as the innovator of research-based medicine, the school has for more than nine years ranked first among the nation's medical schools in research money awarded through the peer-reviewed mechanism of the National Institutes of Health. Surveys by U.S. News & World Report rank the School of Medicine one of the top two medical schools in the nation, and the biomedical engineering program has been ranked first in the nation. The Johns Hopkins Hospital has been ranked as the No. 1 hospital nationally for 13 consecutive years.
