USF Health, Florida Orthopaedic Institute sign affiliation agreement

University of South Florida Health and Florida Orthopaedic Institute recently announced the signing of a new academic affiliation between the two entities.

The agreement is designed to enhance the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF) during the next decade. The new partnership also includes the appointment of Florida Orthopaedic Institute (FOI) president Roy W. Sanders, MD, as chair of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Sanders will take over for David Leffers, MD, who has been department chair since 2009. Leffers will remain as a full-time associate professor of orthopedics and sports medicine in the Morsani College of Medicine and team physician for the USF Bulls.

“This new affiliation creates a perfect opportunity to build a nationally prominent USF Department of Orthopaedics with a partner already strongly associated with our primary teaching hospital, Tampa General Hospital, and our increasingly important academic and clinical partner, Florida Hospital,” Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, stated in a press release.

While serving as department chair, Sanders will continue his responsibilities as director of FOI Orthopaedic Trauma Service.

Roy W. Sanders

“I am tremendously proud to be part of this visionary new collaboration with USF,” Sanders stated in the release. “It is a bridge to the future. FOI has clinical and research expertise but with the help of the university, we can do more. Together, we can capitalize on our combined strengths and advance academic orthopedics to the next level for the benefit of our community, patients, residents, students and faculty.”

According to the release, the new alliance expands the number of outpatient sites available to aspiring orthopedic surgeons for subspecialty training experiences. It also offers USF medical and other health science students more opportunities for clinical experiences in orthopedics and sports medicine.

The agreement also allows FOI physicians obtaining USF voluntary or part-time faculty appointments to oversee and provide the clinical education and training of all USF orthopedic residents and postgraduate fellows at Tampa General, Florida Hospital Tampa and Florida Hospital Carrollwood, as well as FOI’s ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient offices.

The agreement does not affect residency programs at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, Shriner’s Hospital and All Children’s Hospital, where USF full-time faculty members or hospital medical staff will continue to supervise and train residents and fellows.

The USF Health-FOI partnership is also expected to yield opportunities for collaboration in clinical, biomechanical and basic science research that could lead to federally funded grant awards for the department.

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