Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

that specializes in

orthopedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions. Founded in 1863 by James Knight, HSS is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the United States and is consistently ranked as the top orthopedic hospital in the United States. Currently, HSS is ranked #1 in orthopedics, #3 in rheumatology and #22 in pediatric orthopedics by U.S. News & World Report. Bryan Kelly serves as the medical director and surgeon-in-chief, and Louis Shapiro serves as its president and chief executive officer. Areas of expertise at HSS include joint replacement, orthopedic trauma, hand and upper extremity surgery, limb lengthening, foot and ankle surgery, pediatric orthopedics, spine surgery and sports medicine. The hospital performs the most knee replacement surgeries of any hospital in the United States. Trauma surgeons treat fractures and other acute injuries at HSS and work within an Orthopedic Trauma Service that also provides coverage at

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

Weill Cornell Medical Center. HSS physicians with a subspecialty training in the field of spine surgery focus on patients who suffer from congenital or acute spinal disorders as well as from chronic back pain. The

sports medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the ...

services at HSS treat athletic injuries of the

musculoskeletal The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system prov ...

system with a special focus on shoulder, elbow, and knee injuries. In addition, orthopedic surgeons at HSS perform limb lengthening, a procedure that uses the body's capacity to create new bone as well as the

soft tissues Soft tissue is all the tissue in the body that is not hardened by the processes of ossification or calcification such as bones and teeth. Soft tissue connects, surrounds or supports internal organs and bones, and includes muscle, tendons, ligam ...

ligaments A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal l ...

, blood vessels, and nerves that surround and support it. HSS also offers professional medical education programs, including continuing medical education lecture series, conferences and symposia. Services are available in person at the New York facility and remotely worldwide through the

Grand Rounds Grand rounds are a methodology of medical education and inpatient care, consisting of presenting the medical problems and treatment of a particular patient to an audience consisting of doctors, pharmacists, residents, and medical students. It w ...

partnership "eConsult" platform. The hospital has 327 active medical staff.

History

HSS was incorporated March 27, 1863, as the Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled. Dr. James Knight, one of the founders, was appointed Resident Physician and Surgeon. He leased his home, at 97 Second Avenue, just south of Sixth Street, to the society for three years, after which the society purchased it. The hospital opened its doors to the first patient, a four-year-old boy with paralysis, on May 1, 1863. There were 28 beds available, all for children. Adults were treated as outpatients. The poor were treated for free, and the rest at moderate charge. A 200-bed hospital was built on the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and

42nd Street (Manhattan) 42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, spanning the entire breadth of Midtown Manhattan, from Turtle Bay at the East River, to Hell's Kitchen at the Hudson River on the West Side. The stree ...

, opening May 1, 1870. The building had a fire-proof staircase and an elevator run by a steam-engine. There was no operating room until 1888 after a hospital fire. At the turn of the century, it became the target for efforts to expand Grand Central Terminal and negotiations were led by Cornelius Vanderbilt, II, a member of the Board of Managers of the hospital. In 1912, the hospital moved to a six-story building on 42nd Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, a site that is now the home of the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. The hospital moved to its present location in 1955. Levine, David B. (2013). ''Anatomy of a Hospital. Hospital for Special Surgery 1863–2013''. New York, NY: Print Matters, Inc. , .

About

Research

Current clinical trials focus on issues related to lupus and arthritis. In addition to clinical trials, HSS has several research programs that center on the prevention of

diseases. Basic and applied research conducted at the hospital addresses specific problems such as arthritis, injury, osteoporosis, scoliosis, autoimmune diseases such as lupus, and related musculoskeletal diseases as they affect children and adults.

Affiliations

The Hospital for Special Surgery is affiliated with the

NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is a network of independent, cooperating, acute-care and community hospitals, continuum-of-care facilities, home-health agencies, ambulatory sites, and specialty institutes in the New York metropolitan ...

through the hospital's affiliation with

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with N ...

. The hospital is also affiliated with

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute� ...

, and Rockefeller University.

Facilities

Located on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, HSS is built over the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) drive and partially located in the Belaire building at 535 East 70th Street. Currently HSS has 205 beds and 29 operating rooms. HSS recently completed the construction of a new, ninth floor that adds of new space and of re-engineered and re-designed space. HSS has several specialized centers that focus on specific patients and joint problems, including: * Institute for Cartilage Repair * Children and Adolescent Hand and Arm (CHArm) Center * Foster Center for Clinical Outcome Research * Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS) Center * Center for Hip Pain and Preservation * Gosden Robinson

Inflammatory Arthritis Inflammatory arthritis is a group of diseases which includes: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthropathy, inflammatory bowel disease, adult-onset Still's disease, scleroderma, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ...

Center * Integrative Care Center - Combining traditional medicine (

Physiatry Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments or disabilities. This can include conditions su ...

, with inter alia

Chiropractic Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...

and

Acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...

) * Institute for Limb Lengthening and Complex Reconstruction * Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Care * Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research * Musculoskeletal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center * The Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound and Nuclear Medicine * Orthopedic Trauma Service * Osteoporosis Prevention Center * The Kathryn O. and Alan C. Greenberg Center for

Skeletal Dysplasias A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

* Spine Care Institute * Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Disease * Women's Sports Medicine Center William Coley 1892

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include: * Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, M.D., attending orthopaedic surgeon, HSS *

John Robert Cobb John Robert Cobb (1903–1967), was an American orthopedic surgeon, best known for inventing the Cobb angle, the preferred method of measuring the degree of scoliosis and post-traumatic kyphosis. Education Born and raised in Brooklyn, New Yor ...

, known for the

Cobb angle The Cobb angle is a measurement of bending disorders of the vertebral column such as scoliosis and traumatic deformities. Definition and method It is defined as the greatest angle at a particular region of the vertebral column, when measured from ...

, head of the Margaret Caspary scoliosis clinic, HSS *

John Insall John Nevil Insall (1930–2000) was a pioneering English orthopaedic surgeon who contributed extensively to the advancement of orthopedic surgery and total knee replacement surgery. Dr. Insall designed four models of widely used systems inclu ...

, M.D., attending orthopedic surgeon, HSS * David B. Levine, M.D., director of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, HSS * Paula J. Olsiewski, founder and director, Technology Development Office, HSS * Leon Root, M.D., chief of pediatric orthopedics, HSS *

Francisco Valero-Cuevas Francisco Javier Valero-Cuevas (born 1964) is an engineer of Mexican origin, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering at t ...

, assistant scientist (biomechanical engineer), HSS * Philip D. Wilson Jr., M.D., surgeon-in-chief 1972-1989

Surgeons-in-chief

*1863
James A. Knight
*1887
Virgil P. Gibney
*1925 - William Bradley Coley *1933
Eugene H. Pool
*1935
Philip D. Wilson
*1955
T. Campbell Thompson
*1963
Robert Lee Patterson, Jr.
*1972 - Philip D. Wilson Jr. *1990
Andrew J. Weiland
*1993
Russell F. Warren
*2003
Thomas P. Sculco
*2014
Todd J. Albert
*2019
Bryan T. Kelly

Physicians-in-chief

*1924 - R. Garfield Snyder *1944

*1970
Charles L. Christian
*1995
Stephen A. Paget
*2010
Mary K. Crow
*2020
S. Louis Bridges, Jr.

References

External links

* * * * * {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1870 Hospitals in Manhattan Teaching hospitals in New York City NewYork–Presbyterian Healthcare System Hospitals established in 1883