Chances are you know someone who has broken a bone, or who’s dealt with a joint condition at some point in their lives.
In fact, musculoskeletal diseases affect more than one out of every two people over the age of 18, and nearly three out of four people aged 65 and older.*
Given that we have a growing population of people entering into their 60s, these conditions have the potential to place a greater burden on our healthcare system each year. At the same time, healthcare continues to change at a rapid pace, focusing more on providing comprehensive, high-quality care, while also keeping overall costs low.
For all of these reasons, it’s an interesting time to be working in orthopaedics.
This week, I’m at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon (AAOS) meeting. It’s my first time attending the event as President of the DePuy Synthes Companies in the United States. And while there are challenges today, there is also a significant opportunity to address unmet clinical needs in orthopaedics.
As part of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices group, we are in a unique position to help shape the future of the medical device industry for the benefit of patients, while also delivering greater value to our customers around the world.
The true impact of our efforts, however, is measured in our ability to restore more patient lives. Just last month, a patient visited our company and shared how knee replacement surgery has enabled her to return to the stage and sing opera. Before surgery, this patient said she couldn’t walk without pain, much less move around on a stage. It is success stories like these that we seek to replicate again and again around the world.
In addition, as a leader in orthopaedics, DePuy Synthes has to innovate beyond products if we are going to make a difference in today’s healthcare environment.
For example, we announced a new exclusive strategic alliance aimed at helping hospitals and physicians implement strategies to address new government programs that reward quality care.
We’re focused on offering our customers comprehensive solutions like these because they are essential to drive improvements in satisfaction, outcomes, and the costs of care for healthcare providers and the people they treat. We have a strong commitment to these goals, and we’re proud to do our part to provide value-based innovations that can help improve the quality of care and quality of life for patients around the world.
* Musculoskeletal Diseases and the Burden They Cause in the United States http://www.boneandjointburden.org/Accessed February 2016
Juan Jose Gonzalez serves as President, US for DePuy Synthes. In this role, he leads the $5B orthopedic business and is responsible for all strategic & commercial activities of DPS.
His broad background and breadth and depth of understanding of Johnson & Johnson portfolio and the company’s diverse business models as well as the segments and markets in which we compete adds a strong dimension to the DePuy Synthes team, encouraging collaboration across our businesses and sectors and sharpening our focus on the best growth opportunities for the future. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Lima, Peru, and an MBA in marketing and corporate finance from the University of Notre Dame.