By Vanessa Orr

Anthony Miniaci, MD, FRCSC, orthopedic surgeon and deputy chief medical executive of Baptist Health Orthopedic Care, has been nicknamed ‘MacGyver’ by his operating room staff for being able to come up with innovative solutions to work around problems and get the job done. This skill especially will come in handy as he leads Baptist Health’s initiative to bring the highest quality of orthopedic care to patients across South Florida.

“I’ve always been an out-of-the-box thinker; I have a very inquisitive mind,” said Dr. Miniaci, who joined Baptist Health 1-1/2 years ago. The doctor was recruited to join Baptist Health after its acquisition of Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital to help bring together the whole of the system as one.

“My goal is to build up the orthopedic program in the Palm Beach County area so that it matches what’s happening in the rest of the system,” he added. “Then we will integrate the program across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.”

Dr. Miniaci came to Baptist Health from the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Sports Health, and has practiced in Toronto, Ontario, Calgary, Alberta and Bern, Switzerland. Ranked in the top 1 percent of orthopedic surgeons in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report, he was most recently appointed to the presidential line for the Society of American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons.

“This is exciting for Baptist Health and a great honor for me,” he said.

Dr. Miniaci came by his interest in orthopedics at an early age. As a high school soccer player in Canada, he injured his back, which curtailed his soccer career. “I took a real interest in what the doctors were doing and how they treated me,” he said. “I thought it was cool.”

After meeting Dr. JC Kennedy, a well-known sports medicine orthopedist, Dr. Miniaci was encouraged by the doctor to go to medical school. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario and pursued a career working with athletes, spending the last two decades treating professional hockey, football, and baseball players as well as Olympic athletes. He currently serves as the medical director for Florida Atlantic University’s athletics program, and has also served as the head team physician for the Cleveland Browns and as an orthopedic consultant to the Toronto Blue Jays.

While working with these athletes, Dr. Miniaci realized that despite recovering from their injuries, a number were not able to return to their sports functioning at the same level as before.

“I did a lot of research on the anatomy of the shoulder and recognized that the shapes we were using were not quite right; they needed to be more anatomically correct than they were,” he explained of his now-patented shoulder surgery technology. “After many years of work and research, I created a shoulder replacement which is a bit of a paradigm shift in how we’ve been doing shoulder replacements, and it’s starting to catch on.”

Dr. Miniaci will be taking the same innovative approach to patient care while expanding Baptist’s orthopedic program. “Quality of care is the first and most important thing,” he said, “and patients should also be able to walk into any Baptist Health hospital and get the same standard of care.”

To this end, Baptist Health is creating multiple hubs and spokes across South Florida including one in Miami and Palm Beach County. In addition to standardizing care, Dr. Miniaci is also recruiting high-quality individuals to add to the current staff to round out the service line.

“One of the most important things in generating high-quality care is having surgeons and individuals who are interested in evaluating outcomes and doing research,” he explained, adding that Baptist Health will be working with universities in South Florida to do outcomes-based research and establishing academic programs including residencies, fellowships and research programs.

“My goal is for Baptist Health to be recognized for the work that we are doing to bring the highest quality of orthopedic care to South Florida,” said Dr. Miniaci.