PHYSICIAN || SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY
Craig Mintzer, MD: Looking Forward A new orthopedic center breaking ground is groundbreaking Talk to most doctors about their specialties and they will often tell you of a new medicine or new device or diagnostic technique. And if they do, groundbreaking is an adjective that’s likely to emerge.
soccer organizing body. But it is actually for the average person that the institute holds the most promise. “There aren’t that many elite athletes quite frankly,” said Dr. Mintzer. “Orthopedic practices are based on normal people. Everybody gets up in the morning, they go to work, they exercise, they do some sports as weekend recreation and they get injured. Elite athletes go through
Talk to Craig Mintzer, MD, MBA and he wants you to
a Darwinian pyramid. You don’t get to be at that level
know that the groundbreaking news in the field of ortho-
without being different from everybody else. So even
pedics in Central Florida is that ground has literally been
though they do get injured, they tend to have fewer inju-
broken for the new Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic
ries, or they would never make it.
Institute and that when it opens in 2023, it has the poten-
“Most ordinary people try to stay active and to be the best
tial to be transformative not only in the Orlando area but
they can. And those are the people who come to see us.”
for the Southeastern United States.
Besides treating the average person, Dr. Mintzer hopes
“The field of orthopedics is fairly advanced,” said
the new center will serve as a way to organize orthopedic
Dr. Mintzer. “We already have minimally invasive proce-
surgeons to better serve high school athletes.
dures and we have progressed to the point where a lot of
“High school athletes get injured frequently and
procedures can be done on an outpatient basis.” This new orthopedic institute will be “transformative because it will become a center of excellence in a place that
most don’t have the access to the best doctors and health
but it was hard work and intelligence that fueled
care,” he said. “I would like to see that change.”
Dr. Mintzer’s success. A product of New York City’s
Dr. Mintzer’s inspiration to go into medicine was
doesn’t have one.”
his own family’s physician.
“If you’re a city of seven to 12 million, you expect that city to have a massive center of medical knowledge and practitioners,” said Dr. Mintzer, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive medicine. “But there is nothing like this in the Southeast. So, when we open the doors, we will be transforming the delivery of orthopedic health care, and for the average person that is much more significant than some new invention.”
“I grew up in New York in the Bronx and became
ed, scholarships and financial aid helped him gain entry to
interested in becoming a doctor by the third or fourth
Princeton University. And from there he went to Harvard
grade. We went to this old General Practitioner, Sam Wa-
for medical school. kid who was a smart guy” wasn’t easy. But it did pro-
you when you were sick. My parents deferred to him on
vide some early life lessons. “In the Bronx you learn fast
almost every important family decision. He practiced
that if you don’t work hard, you don’t get anywhere. You
until he was in his nineties and the amount of respect
just get left behind.”
wanted to be like him.”
ties under one roof in a 370,000 square foot complex. The access to orthopedic specialists, imaging services, radiologists and physical therapists, who are all within steps of each other. It will not only be more convenient for patients, but the complex is designed to foster research, education and collaboration among the healthcare teams and for visiting professionals. “We are trying to elevate the bar of orthopedic healthcare in the city in an organized manner,” said Dr. Mintzer. “Even if you are not affiliated with a certain health care institution, you benefit just by being around it. A rising tide lifts all boats.” It would be easy to imagine that such an advanced complex will be focused on high performing athletes. After all, Dr. Mintzer and his colleagues care for many professional and amateur athletes in the Orlando area, including the Orlando Magic basketball team, the Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer teams, teams from the University of Central Florida and Rollins College, the Orlando Ballet and more than a dozen high school teams. And, Dr. Mintzer is unabashed in saying that one of his goals for the new institute is for it to be designated a Center of Excellence by FIFA, the world
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ORLANDOMEDICALNEWS.COM
Dr. Mintzer is determined that when it comes to top tier orthopedics, Orlando will not be left behind.
result will be a collaborative center in which patients have
5
Growing up in the Bronx for a self-described “little
doctor who delivered you, took out your tonsils, and saw
my family and others had for him made me think that I
The new institute will put all of the orthopedic special-
public schools, Dr. Mintzer went to the highly selective Bronx High School of Science. When he graduat-
greich. GPs don’t exist anymore, but back then he was the
arthroscopic surgery of the knee and shoulder and sports
Dr. Wagreich might have provided the inspiration,
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APRIL 2021
