Zimmer Holdings Inc. Presents Orthopaedic Career Development Awards
WARSAW, Ind., March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zimmer Holdings, Inc. , a worldwide leader in the orthopaedics industry, announced today that it has funded a total of approximately $350,000 in unrestricted grants to seven orthopaedic surgeons who are early in their careers and are pursuing further training or investigation. The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) administered the selection process. Two of the awards were targeted for minority and female applicants, with recommendations made by the J. Robert Gladden and Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Societies.
The Zimmer Orthopaedic Career Development Awards are designed to help develop the next generation of orthopaedic leaders by supporting surgeons who have a clinical or scientific interest in total joint surgery and trauma- related fracture treatment. Grants have been made in each of the past six years and the amount awarded by Zimmer now totals approximately $2,000,000. The winners were recognized at the recently concluded annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Winners of the 2006 awards are: Mohit Bhandari, M.D., McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario); A. Bobby Chhabra, M.D., University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia); Susan Bakata, M.D., University of Rochester (Rochester, New York); Richard J. de Asia, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts); Ashraf Ragab, M.D., University of Mississippi (Jackson, Mississippi); Francis H. Shen, M.D., University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia); and Aham E. Onyike, M.D., Howard University (Washington, D.C.)
"Zimmer is pleased to support the orthopaedic profession through unrestricted grants that enable the best and brightest to pursue their research and clinical interests," said Ray Elliott, Zimmer Chairman, President and CEO. "This is another expression of our overall commitment to work collaboratively with orthopaedic surgeons to improve outcomes for their patients and expand diversity within the practice."
During the AAOS meeting, Kristy Weber, M.D., a 2002 winner of the Zimmer Orthopaedic Career Development Awards, received the prestigious Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for Orthopaedic Research from Kappa Delta. Dr. Weber, now chief of the division of orthopaedic oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was awarded a 2002 Zimmer Career Development grant based on her work in identifying bone cancer therapies.
Since 1988, Zimmer has donated more than $4 million in unrestricted funding for orthopaedic research.
The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation is responsible for administering the Career Development Award program. Zimmer does not take part in selecting the awardees. Panels of orthopaedic surgeons review all award proposals and make funding recommendations. Individuals may apply for up to a one-year career development award by submitting a proposal for support for research or surgical training. Individual awards cannot exceed $50,000.
Complete information about the program, criteria and the application process can be found on OREF's website at http://www.oref.org .
About the Company
Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Zimmer is the worldwide #1 pure-play orthopaedic leader in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing reconstructive and spinal implants, trauma and related orthopaedic surgical products. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries around the world and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer's 2005 sales were approximately $3.3 billion. The Company is supported by the efforts of more than 6,700 employees worldwide.
Visit Zimmer on the worldwide web at http://www.zimmer.com
Zimmer Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the orthopaedics industry, management's beliefs and assumptions made by management. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "assumes," "guides," "targets," "forecasts," and "seeks" or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to successfully integrate Centerpulse AG and Implex Corp., the outcome of the Department of Justice investigation announced in March 2005, price and product competition, rapid technological development, demographic changes, dependence on new product development, the mix of our products and services, supply and prices of raw materials and products, customer demand for our products and services, control of costs and expenses, our ability to form and implement alliances, international growth, governmental laws and regulations affecting our U.S. and international businesses, including tax obligations and risks, product liability and intellectual property litigation losses, reimbursement levels from third-party payors, general industry and market conditions and growth rates and general domestic and international economic conditions including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the disclosure materials filed by Zimmer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Zimmer disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers of this document are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, since, while we believe the assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this document.
Zimmer Holdings, Inc.CONTACT: Media: Brad Bishop, +1-574-372-4291, bradley.bishop@zimmer.com ,Investors: Marc Ostermann, +1-574-371-8515, marc.ostermann@zimmer.com , SamLeno, +1-574-372-4790, sam.leno@zimmer.com , Zimmer Holdings, Inc.