$5 million Smith & Nephew investment to fund new CoEE
Pastides said that with all of the funding in place for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Sciences Center, the university will move forward with recruiting a world-class researcher to lead the center and become the holder of the CoEE Endowed Chair in Reconstructive Methodologies and Materials.
Dr. Richard Hawkins, ORFC chairman and founder of the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas and a leading orthopaedic surgeon, educator and researcher, said, “This venture offers a great deal of potential for research discovery, enhanced patient care and economic development.”
“A center of this magnitude will place South Carolina in a pivotal position to become a training center for physicians and other healthcare professionals who work with patients who have orthopaedic and sports medicine health problems,” said Hawkins, a former professional quarterback and current team physician for the Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies.
Dr. Mike Matthews, the principal investigator for the center and chair of the department of chemical engineering in the university’s College of Engineering and Computing, said the collaboration creates the entire infrastructure necessary to translate scientific discoveries into solutions that will improve the lives of patients worldwide.