WARSAW, Ind., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zimmer Holdings, Inc. , a worldwide leader in the orthopaedics industry, announced today that it has funded a total of approximately $300,000 in unrestricted grants to six 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 those selections being assisted 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 five years and the amount awarded by Zimmer now totals approximately $1,600,000.
Winners of the 2005 awards are: Carl Deirmengian, M.D., University of Pennsylvania Hospital (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Reuben Gobezie, M.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts); Robert Meneghini, M.D., The Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota); Carol Morris, M.D., Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center (New York, New York); Andrew Pearle, M.D., The Hospital for Special Surgery (New York, New York); and Heather Vallier, M.D., MetroHealth Medical Center (Cleveland, Ohio).
“Zimmer is proud to continue this tradition of providing the means for surgeons to help frame their own orthopaedic careers while pursuing interests that may generate new insights or findings for use by all orthopaedic surgeons,” said Ray Elliott, Zimmer Chairman, President and CEO. “We believe in collaborative relationships with the orthopaedic profession that create advances in patient care, and our funding of these awards through OREF is a major expression of that belief.”
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. A panel of orthopaedic surgeons reviews all award proposals and makes funding recommendations. Zimmer has no role in the selection process. 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. In October 2003, the Company finalized its acquisition of Centerpulse AG, a Switzerland-based orthopaedics company and the leader in the European reconstructive market. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries around the world and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer’s 2004 sales were approximately $3 billion. The Company is supported by the efforts of more than 6,500 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,” “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 pending informal SEC investigation of Centerpulse accounting, 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 , or Sam Leno, +1-574-372-4790,sam.leno@zimmer.com , all of Zimmer Holdings, Inc.