October 2, 2006

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Paul E. Di Cesare, the former director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center and chief of the adult reconstructive services at the New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, has been named as the new chair of the UC Davis Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Di Cesare focuses his clinical practice on adult reconstructive surgery on the hip and knee, and has earned an international reputation for complex primary and revision surgery, as well as the treatment of periprosthetic infections.

In addition to his appointment at the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, Di Cesare also was a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Cell Biology at New York University Medical Center.

“Dr. Di Cesare is a nationally renowned expert on hip and knee replacement surgery,” said Claire Pomeroy, Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences and dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “His research into biological markers of arthritis has great promise for developing future, innovative treatments for bone diseases. His clinical expertise will be a tremendous resource for patients in the Sacramento area and beyond, and his academic contributions will help people around the world.”

Di Cesare is one of only 40 U.S. surgeons training to perform the new, FDA-approved total hip resurfacing, a surgical technique for treating advanced hip disease, such as osteoarthritis. Resurfacing differs from traditional hip replacement in that it does not require removing the head of the femur (the bone in the upper leg) to replace it with a metal ball. Instead, resurfacing reshapes the head and caps it with a ball-shaped prosthesis which, as in hip replacement surgery, fits into a man-made lining in the socket. Resurfacing uses a bigger ball, making dislocation rare and allowing patients a more active lifestyle.

Di Cesare's clinical research interests include outcomes of total joint surgery, registries to track orthopaedic surgery outcomes, surgical navigation and alternative bearing surfaces for joint replacement. His basic research interests include arthritis biomarkers, mechanisms for chondrocyte and bone differentiation from stem cells, infection biomarkers and mechanisms of cartilage breakdown in arthritis.

Di Cesare completed his undergraduate education at the University of Southern California and received his medical degree from the USC School of Medicine in 1986. He completed his residency in 1991 at the USC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and then completed a fellowship in hip surgery in 1992 at the M.E. Muller Foundation in Berne, Switzerland.

Professor Di Cesare will earn an annual base salary of $141,700. Additional compensation information is available upon request to the media contact named above.