UPDATE
|
[ H E A LT H ]
Strong Comeback Orthopedics residency returns to USF with impressive alliance of community physicians and hospitals R. ODION BINITIE AND DR. ERIC HENDERSON really want to be orthopedic surgeons. If you ask them why, they speak passionately about the careful blend of precision and strength needed to fix broken bones, replace worn joints, repair torn tendons or muscles, and save diseased or injured limbs. They describe the highly-competitive musculoskeletal specialty as the perfect mesh of medicine, physics and biomechanics. But, most of all, they talk enthusiastically about their mentor Dr. Douglas Letson, director of USF Health’s new residency in orthopedic surgery. Henderson and Binitie are members of the charter group of six physicians admitted to the program— which returns orthopedic residency training to Tampa Bay after 15 years. After graduating from the USF College of Medicine in 2004, the medical school roommates pursued research and training at other universities and then completed a year-long orthopedic surgery internship at USF while awaiting approval of the orthopedics residency. “We took a leap of faith because we knew Dr. Letson was putting together a strong educational curriculum with outstanding faculty and a wide range of orthopedic subspecialties,” Binitie says. “He sold us on the program and the wait was worth it.” USF had been without an orthopedic residency since the early 1990s, after faculty left over a dispute with a prior dean and formed Florida Orthopedics Institute (FOI), the area’s largest private group of orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Stephen Klasko, vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, knew USF Health couldn’t achieve national prominence without an orthopedic surgery residency and made attaining it a priority. In fall 2006, Klasko recruited Dr. Robert Pedowitz, a renowned orthopedic surgeon from San Diego, to chair USF’s new Department of
D
6
USF MAGAZINE | FALL 2007
Drs. Odion Binitie and Eric Henderson are charter members of USF Health’s new orthopedics residency program.
Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Pedowitz worked with Letson to forge an alliance of 40 community physicians and seven hospitals focused on making the residency a reality. “Much more than just another program, this residency represents the decision by the community and the university to create a remarkable collaboration and become a national leader in health care,” Klasko said after the program was approved by the national accrediting body in June. “It required an unprecedented level of support.” For Letson and program coordinator Ann Joyce, who persevered tirelessly behind the scenes for more than two years, the new training program has special meaning. “We never gave up pushing for the program,” says Letson, who heads one of the nation’s largest orthopedic oncology practices at Moffitt Cancer Center. “Everything we’ve done is with the goal of creating the best educational program possible, because that will drive knowledge and research and raise the level of orthopedic care in the community.” With USF as their primary training site, the residents will rotate through All Children’s Hospital, James A. Haley Veterans’