Research Division

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The Research Division of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation has undergone a period of significant growth recently. One key to this expansion was the appointment of MaryBeth Horodyski, EdD, ATC to the position of Research Program Director. As Director, she coordinates the departmental research and is part of the research leadership team. The other members of the team are Thomas Wright, MD (Director, Interdisciplinary Center for Musculoskeletal Training and Research) and Mark Scarborough, MD (Division Chairman, Orthopaedic Oncology). Our Department Chairman, Peter Gearen, MD, also provides direction and input to our research efforts.

In her role, Dr. Horodyski assists other faculty members in planning and carrying out their research, negotiates with sponsors and prepares contracts, runs statistical analyses of research data, helps write grant proposals and manuscripts and oversees the paperwork and submissions to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for research with human subjects. She also serves as the Resident Research Coordinator, facilitating the research projects of our residents, and is actively pursuing her own research interests.

Dr. Horodyski has over twenty years of experience in clinical research ranging from exercise physiology, athletic training and sports injury epidemiology and is currently active as Co-Principal Investigator on several projects and has a number of other grants pending.

We have been working hard to strengthen our existing clinical research as well as to extend into two additional areas: basic science and motion analysis. To this end, we have added five new research faculty members to the department.

Parker Gibbs, MD, is an orthopaedic oncologist who joined the faculty in 2002. Part of his week is spent with patients in the clinic, part in the operating room, and one or two days a week are reserved for his research. Currently, he is studying osteosarcoma in children under a grant from Stop! Children’s Cancer. This project seeks to identify tumor stem cells, which often allow the reemergence of a tumor after a majority of the necrotic cells have been destroyed.

Recently, the Department has added several basic scientists. Steve Ghivizzani, PhD came to the University of Florida with two multi-year grants supported by the National Institutes of Health. His research centers on the use of gene therapy, for the treatment of arthritis and musculoskeletal disease, and the use of genetically modified stem cells in tissue repair. Since arriving, Dr. Ghivizzani has been awarded another grant to evaluate a treatment for osteoarthritis in horses that, if successful, may lead to a similar treatment for human joint disease. Dr. Ghivizzani is a co-recipient of the 2004 Nicolas Andry Award and the 2005 Kappa Delta Award, two of the most prestigious honors in orthopaedic research.