Host Jack Ford of PBS “MetroFocus” interviews HSS president, surgeon-in-chief and medical director Bryan T. Kelly, MD, MBA, and surgeon-in-chief emeritus Thomas P. Sculco, MD, about HSS’s 160th Anniversary, the opening of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Complex Joint Reconstruction Center (CJRC) and the future of orthopedic care. 

Dr. Kelly noted, “What is unique about HSS and one of the reasons why we have been fortunate enough to be able to continue to provide extraordinary care for our patients is because of the singular focus. The ability for us, regardless of the subspecialty area, or different departments, we’re all focused on the same thing. It is maximizing mobility for patients to allow them to have as active of a lifestyle as they can and enjoy movement. I think aside from the specialty nature of it, the other thing that sets us apart is really the culture and the people. It is an environment that is focused on patient care first, and the highest quality care possible. It’s focused on making sure it is the best environment for clinicians to provide care – making sure everyone has the resources they need, and you really feel that culture of excellence and pride about the organization at every level of the organization.” 

Dr. Sculco said, “This center [CJRC] is unique in the world and as part of our mission here at the hospital, we want to take care of the most complex problems which other centers are probably not as equipped to do. We created a center that was supported to a large extent by the Niarchos Foundation and is the only one in the world. The center is devoted to caring for patients who oftentimes cannot get access to care. These are people who have bad infections after a joint replacement. We use 3D modeling a great deal, because many of them have bone loss problems which are unique to the individual patient. We do a mock operation on the model, then in the operating room. That technology has enabled us to tackle the most difficult problems.” 

Dr. Kelly stated, “We have seen tremendous amount of progress in all aspects of orthopedics with much better outcomes. At the end of the day, the reason why we are focused on research is to improve outcomes so we can improve not just how we can help patients in the immediate present, but to make sure it is sustainable improvement in their lives over time, and that requires a lot of research. I think the future of orthopedics is going to be molded by technology and innovation. We have seen this dramatically increase over the last 10 years with the implementation of robotics surgery and other surgical enabling technology. I think one of the reasons HSS is such an exciting place is a lot of that innovation occurs here.” 

The segment aired on broadcast via PBS’ public media stations (WLIW21, NJ PBS and THIRTEEN) on July 17, 2023. It is also available online at Thirteen.org.