Dr. Augustus (Gus) D. Mazzocca has been named chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and director of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute, following a national search. He has served in these leadership roles on an interim basis for the last year.
“Dr. Mazzocca has shown he has the determination and skills to move our signature program in musculoskeletal health forward in the years ahead,” says Dr. Frank Torti, executive vice president for health affairs and medical school dean.
Patient Story: Barbara Howard
When Barbara Howard injured her shoulder playing tennis, she knew she needed surgery but she wanted the repair when it was best for her. Dr. Augustus (Gus) D. Mazzocca, chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the UConn Health Center, worked with Barbara and kept her competitive until she was ready for the procedure. She accomplished her goals and is now back playing the sports she loves even better than before.
An integral part of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery since 2002, Mazzocca is an internationally recognized expert in shoulder and elbow surgery. He has presented in more than 12 countries and five continents, speaking on the cell biology, biomechanics and outcomes of shoulder and elbow surgery.
Mazzocca is a graduate of the UConn School of Medicine and the UConn orthopaedic surgery residency program, and completed fellowship training in sports medicine at Rush Medical College in Chicago. He is a team physician for the UConn Huskies and also holds a joint appointment with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Hartford.
He is a member of the prestigious American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Society, as well as being a member of the European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow. He is a co-founder of the New England Shoulder and Elbow Society, which is a regional society dedicated to educating and researching problems related to the shoulder and elbow.
Mazzocca has three patents on devices and processes to improve healing of rotator cuff repairs and has designed three products used to reconstruct shoulder injuries.
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