Forefront of Shoulder Research
In August 2020, the Pittsburgh Shoulder Institute (PSI) was established at UPMC under co-directors Dr. Mark Rodosky and Dr. Albert Lin as a new initiative and institutional extension of the UPMC Shoulder Service. The fundamental goal of the PSI is to establish a shoulder institute under the umbrella of the UPMC Sports Medicine Division with a mission of promoting excellence in shoulder research, education, clinical care, and diversity at UPMC. Our mission will be accomplished through the following:
- Shoulder Registry
- Collaboration
- Mentorship
- Administrative Collaboration
- Diversity
History of the UPMC Shoulder Service
The history of shoulder at UPMC is steeped in rich tradition. The UPMC Shoulder Service was founded under Dr. Freddie Fu in 1986.
Notable Timeline and Innovations:
- In 1987, the first sports fellow was Dr. William Gomez who trained at Columbia under legendary shoulder surgeons Dr. Charles Neer and Dr. Louis Bigliani.
- The G1 Mitek anchor was tested at UPMC by Dr. Fu in collaboration with Dr. John Richmond at Tufts University in 1991 which was the first of its kind and would launch a new era of suture anchor technology, now commonplace in arthroscopic surgery.
- Dr. Mark Rodosky, under the direction of Dr. Freddie Fu, introduced a dynamic shoulder model in 1988 which allowed novel cadaveric modeling to mimic neuromuscular forces transmitted across the glenohumeral joint.
- In 1990, UPMC Chief of the Shoulder Service, Dr. Jon JP Warner, now Chief of Shoulder Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, introduced the concepts of beach chair position, interscalene blocks, and arthroscopic Bankart repair to UPMC.
- The hydraulic model was the predecessor to novel robotics technology now used in the Orthopaedics Robotics Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Rich Debski who joined the University in the late 1990s.
- In 1998, Dr. Mark Rodosky was named the Chief of the Shoulder Service following residency training at UPMC, fellowship training at Columbia, and several years on staff at the University of Minnesota. Under his direction and those before him, tremendous research efforts at UPMC resulted in landmark papers on topics ranging from SLAP tears and the role of the long head biceps to shoulder instability to the acromioclavicular joint.
Team
