Experts from the URMC Sports Concussion Center, a collaboration between URMC Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and the Department of Neurosurgery, will offer a free community event in May to share information about concussion and traumatic brain injury... Read More

The founder of the Department of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center has died.

Robert J. Joynt, M.D., Ph.D., was an important figure in the international circle of neurology and headed both leading societies in neurology -- the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association. He also served as president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Joynt was the first individual to oversee both the academic enterprise of the School of Medicine and Dentistry as well as the patient-focused clinical enterprise that includes Strong Memorial Hospital. Under this integrated leadership model, the Medical Center has flourished and has undergone unprecedented growth.

A former Rochester Americans hockey player is the first person to receive the first totally artificial heart in upstate New York.

The life-saving operation was performed at the University of Rochester Medical Center last week. On Wednesday, a team of doctors met reporters to talk about the history making operation.

The patient is Gates Orlando, who skated for both the Amerks and the Buffalo Sabres. He’s 49-years-old. He was critically ill with end stage heart failure, but now he has a new lease on life. 

Dr. Todd Massey is the surgical director of the UR Medical Center's artificial heart program - and led the surgery. 

Dr. Todd Massey, URMC Artificial Heart Surgical Director, said: “It's a device that you take out the native heart completely and replace it with a mechanical system.”

The team of doctors said the artificial heart called a SynCardia device is working well.