Cleveland Clinic Florida gets $6M gift

Endowment focuses on orthopedics

A Charlottesville, Va., couple has committed $6 million to Cleveland Clinic Florida to help fund research and improvements in orthopedic surgery.

Amy and David Krohn, owners of The Plaxx Cos., manufacturers of memorial and commemorative plaques, were recently recognized at Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Weston campus for establishing a $2 million “Amy and David Krohn Family Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Outcomes.”

In a news release, the hospital said the couple’s initial $2 million gift will enable researchers at its Orthopaedic & Rheumatologic Center “to pursue new methods and technologies for improving orthopedic surgical outcomes, including the evaluation of longterm, quality-of-life issues in joint replacement.”

Orthopedics — which hospitals often spell in its original 18th-century style as “orthopaedics” — refers to surgery and treatment of the musculoskeletal system, and can encompass degenerative conditions, sports injuries, congenital issues, tumors and trauma.

The hospital’s new director of its Orthopaedic & Rheumatologic Center, Dr. Carlos Higuera-Rueda, is the first researcher appointed to the endowed chair, the release said. He is also chairman of the hospital’s Levitetz Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

The endowment will support Higuera-Rueda’s research in orthopedics, specifically, preventing post-surgical infection and figuring out how to eradicate infections without having to remove implants, said Jennifer McGreevy, the hospital’s executive director of philanthropy.

“Ultimately, David and Amy Krohn’s philanthropic efforts will allow Cleveland Clinic Florida’s orthopedic surgeons to enhance and preserve the quality life for patients who have joint replacement surgery,” said Dr. Wael Barsoum, the hospital’s president and CEO, in a statement. “The initial phase of this gift will allow Dr. Higuera-Rueda to continue research in infection prevention and advance the burgeoning field of precision medicine in orthopedics.”

The Krohns have made an initial $400,000 payment on the $2 million endowment and will contribute $200,000 annually until the $2 million is amassed, McGreevy said.

Endowments are gifts that are invested, but the principal is never touched. The annual income from the investment, or the yield, helps fund equipment or stipends needed for the research.

The hospital will receive the balance of the Krohns’ investment after their deaths, McGreevy said. That gift also will be used to support research and innovation in orthopedics, hospital spokeswoman Arlene Allen-Mitchell said.

In statements relayed through a hospital spokeswoman, David Krohn said the couple has a history of treatment at Cleveland Clinic’s campuses in Ohio and Florida.

“We began our care at the main campus in Ohio and transferred it to Florida when Dr. Wael Barsoum took over as CEO,” he said. “Over the years, we have developed great relationships with many of the doctors in Florida — they are a fantastic group of people.”

He said they chose to give to Cleveland Clinic Florida and Higuera-Rueda “because we feel it is a good investment of our hardearned money. In our mind, it’s worthless unless you do something good with it.”

In creating endowed chairs, Cleveland Clinic Florida seeks a minimum commitment of $2 million, McGreevy said. Current endowed chairs span a variety of specialties. “We are a teaching hospital. That’s part of our mission,” she said.