Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is an academic medical center and research institution headquartered in New York City that specializes in the treatment of orthopedic and rheumatologic conditions. Its main campus is located at 535 East 70th Street in Manhattan and there are locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Florida. The hospital was founded in 1863 by James Knight. HSS is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the United States and is consistently ranked as the world's top orthopedic hospital. Bryan T Kelly served as the former surgeon-in-chief and currently serves as president and chief executive officer. Douglas E. Padgett serves as the current surgeon-in-chief.
Areas of expertise at HSS include joint replacement, orthopedic trauma, hand and upper extremity surgery, limb lengthening, osseointegration, foot and ankle surgery, pediatric orthopedics, spine surgery, sports medicine, physiatry, rheumatology, and physical therapy. HSS Education Institute offers residency programs, fellowship programs, and professional medical education programs. The hospital has 453 active medical staff.
HSS is ranked #1 in orthopedics worldwide by Newsweek (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and in the United States by U.S. News & World Report (2010-2024). Currently, HSS is also ranked #2 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report.
History
The Hospital for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled built in 1870, shown that yearThe 1912 building, at 321 East 42nd Street, between First and Second Avenues, shown the year it opened.
1863-1899
Hospital for Special Surgery was incorporated in New York City on March 27, 1863, as The Hospital of the New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled,[1] by a group that included Dr. James Knight, a general practicing physician, and Robert M. Hartley, a secretary of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.[2]: 32 The hospital was founded as a philanthropic effort to provide medical care to injured Civil War soldiers and needy city residents.[3][2]: 3 Dr. Knight was appointed Resident Physician and Surgeon. The hospital was located in the Manhattan home of Dr. Knight at 97 Second Avenue. There were 28 inpatient beds available for children and a conservatory to make braces. Adults were treated as outpatients. The poor were treated for free, and others were charged a moderate fee. The hospital opened its doors to the first patient, a four-year-old boy with paralysis, on May 1, 1863.[1][4]
In 1870, the hospital moved to a 200-bed, four-story hospital built on the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street (Manhattan).[5][2]: 39 In 1871, Virgil P. Gibney joined the hospital as an assistant physician and surgeon. Gibney was appointed as the second surgeon-in-chief after Dr. James Knight’s passing in 1887.[2]
In 1887, the hospital founded the first orthopedic residency program in the country. Young doctors in training would apply for a one-year position as house surgeon, senior assistant, or junior assistant.[2]: 54 They became known as residents, a term now universally recognized in this country as a doctor in training.
The first dedicated operating room opened in 1898.[1] In 1899, the hospital opened a pathology laboratory and installed the first X-ray machine four years after Wilhelm Röntgen invented the device.[6]
1900-1939
In 1903, the hospital opened its first adult ward for female inpatients only. HSS became known as a national center for treating people affected by the polio epidemics.[2]: 86 In 1901, Whitman developed an operation to stabilize polio survivors’ paralyzed feet. The procedure afforded him and the hospital worldwide recognition. The hospital treated many polio patients during the 1907 and 1916 New York City polio epidemics.[7][2]: 118 The State Charities Aid Association requested HSS to aid paraplegic patients throughout New York State. In 1912, the hospital moved to a six-story building on 42nd Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, a site that is now the home of the Ford Foundation.[8]
During World War I, the hospital opened its first male inpatient ward to treat injured sailors, marines, and soldiers.[9][2]: 118 In 1924, Dr. R. Garfield Snyder was appointed as the first Physician-in-Chief and was handpicked by Gibney to lead the HSS rheumatology program, which he did from 1924 to 1944. Snyder published early therapeutic studies on Vitamin D, cinchophen, and gold compounds’ effects on arthritis.[10]
In the same year, the hospital established its first Department of Physiotherapy (later known as Physical Therapy).[2]: 149 In 1925, the hospital opened its Occupational Therapy Department.[2]: 149 In the same year, the hospital's Board of Managers appointed Dr. William B. Coley as the third Surgeon-in-Chief.[11] It was the first time a general surgeon held the position at the hospital.[12] With his mentor, Dr. William Bull, Coley advanced the surgical treatment of hernias at the hospital. Before the advent of surgical intervention, many adults and children became incapacitated by abdominal hernias, which could only be treated by braces and trusses.[12] Bull and Coley’s introduction of modern surgery eventually made the hospital the foremost hernia center in the country. Philip D. Wilson became Surgeon-in-Chief in 1935.[13] Coley, as surgeon-in-chief emeritus, helped Wilson reorganize the Surgical Department. Under Wilson’s leadership, the hospital became increasingly focused on musculoskeletal conditions.[14]
1940-1979
In 1940, the hospital renamed the organization to the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS).[15] World War II significantly affected the staff, but patient care went uninterrupted. Many staff surgeons and doctors served overseas during the war. Residencies programs were temporarily reduced from two years to one year. The war effort demanded a greater number of orthopedic doctors and surgeons. Significant orthopedic advancements in fracture care, wound management, amputation surgery, and rehabilitation resulted from the battlefield experiences of HSS surgeons.[2]: 184–207
Dr. Richard Freyberg formalized the establishment of a rheumatic disease service at HSS and created fellowships in rheumatology.[16] The hospital established one of the first bone banks in the United States in 1946.[2]: 206
In 1949, HSS became affiliated with New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical College.[17] Under the agreement, HSS would provide orthopedic and rheumatological services for both organizations and subsequently eliminated the Department of General Surgery and other non-orthopedic surgical specialties.[17]
The hospital moved to its present location of 535 East 70th Street in 1955.[18] In the same year, Dr. Wilson stepped down as surgeon-in-chief and assumed the new title of Director of Research and Emeritus Surgeon-in-Chief. The hospital added the Alfred H. Caspary Research Building to its facilities in 1956.[19]
Dr. T. Campbell Thompson became Surgeon-in-Chief in 1955. He is known for developing the Fracture Service at New York Hospital. The Margaret Caspary Research Building opened in 1960 and increased the hospital's capacity to 196.[20]
In 1972, Dr. Philip D. Wilson Jr., MD, was appointed the eighth Surgeon-in-Chief of the Hospital, the same position held by his father thirty-seven years earlier. In 1974, Dr. Peter Walker, Dr. John Insall, Dr. Chitranjan Ranawat, and Dr. Alan Inglis performed the first successful total condylar knee replacement.[2]: 295 The hospital also established its first sports medicine clinic and a biomechanics laboratory so surgeons and engineers could collaborate on improving prosthesis design. The clinic was established the same year that Congress passed the first Medical Device Regulation Act to collaborate with surgeons on device design, development, and the regulatory pathway for medical devices through the FDA.[13]
1980-Present
In 1980, a major hospital expansion doubled the number of operating rooms from four to eight, with designated areas for performing total joint procedures. The expansion added the Belaire Building to its main campus.[2]: 275 In 1987, the hospital added the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology. In 1988, HSS was designated a Multipurpose Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center by the National Institutes of Health.[20] Five years later, the NIH designated HSS as a Specialized Center of Research for the Study of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.[13][21] In 1989, the hospital opened a new facility on 73rd Street in Manhattan funded by the Dana Foundation, to house the biomechanics laboratory and to provide custom-made prosthetic limb and orthotics services.
In 1990, Dr. Andrew J. Weiland was appointed the ninth Surgeon-in-Chief.[20] In 1991, HSS added two new ambulatory operating rooms and a 10-bed postoperative care unit. In the same year, the Department of Physiatry was established. The Barbara Volker Center for Women with Rheumatic Diseases was founded in 1997.[22][23]
In 2015, the AIM Laboratory for Foot and Ankle Research was established. The laboratory is centered around a six-degrees-of-freedom robotic platform.[25]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, HSS served as an emergency room for all of NYC for people with injuries in order to prevent them from having to go to the usual emergency rooms, which were overwhelmed with COVID patients.[26] HSS shut down all nonessential care during the pandemic and proactively volunteered to temporarily convert two ORs into Covid wards for a period of time, while also taking on non-COVID medical-surgical patients from neighboring Weill Cornell.[27]
In 2021, HSS broke ground on a new 12-story building over FDR Drive at 71st Street, funded by a gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.[28] HSS received Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence in 2002, 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2021.[29]
HSS has nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics for 14 consecutive years and ranked No. 2 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report in 2023.[30][31]
Bryan T. Kelly, MD was appointed President and CEO of HSS in 2023.[32] Kelly is the hospital’s first surgeon-in-chief to become CEO.[33]
About
Research
Current clinical trials focus on issues related to lupus and arthritis. In addition to clinical trials, HSS has several research programs that center on the prevention of musculoskeletal diseases. Basic and applied research conducted at the hospital addresses specific problems such as arthritis, injury, osteoporosis, scoliosis, autoimmune diseases such as lupus, and related musculoskeletal diseases as they affect children and adults.
Located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, HSS is built over the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) drive and partially located in the Belaire building at 535 East 70th Street. Currently HSS has 205 beds and 29 operating rooms. HSS recently completed the construction of a new, ninth floor that adds 85,000 square feet (7,900 m2) of new space and 100,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of re-engineered and re-designed space.
HSS has several specialized centers that focus on specific patients and joint problems, including:
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