IMG and Hospital for Special Surgery Team Up on Multi-Faceted Collaboration

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IMG, the global sports, fashion, and media company, announced today a new relationship with Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), the No. 1 hospital in orthopedics, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report (2013-14) and a leader in rehabilitation. Together the two industry leaders will provide a robust athlete rehabilitation program focused on diagnosis, treatment, accelerated injury recovery, and injury prevention, while collaborating to take the area of sports rehabilitation research and innovation to the next level.

As part of the relationship, HSS will operate a sports therapy facility at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which will tend to the Academy's student-athletes, while also providing services to the thousands of youth, collegiate, professional and adult athletes who travel to the campus annually to train or compete.

"In continuing to align with global leading brands in sports performance, HSS will bring unmatched expertise to our diverse athlete population," said Sam Zussman, Senior Vice President, IMG and Managing Director, IMG Performance. "Athletes will receive the best rehabilitative care from HSS specialists who will work with IMG coaches and trainers to help athletes return to the field or court as quickly, healthy and strong as possible, while guarding against future injury."

In addition to its activation on the campus of IMG Academy, HSS will extend services to the elite athletes, coaches, and sports organizations represented by IMG, as well as its employees.

Said Mike Dolan, Chairman and Chief Executive of IMG, "HSS's extensive knowledge and practical application in working with some of the world's most elite athletes will significantly enhance our ability to provide our global sport clientele with a truly best-in-class option for their rehabilitative needs."

IMG Performance will assist HSS in determining protocols for injury prevention, and in designing collaborative research initiatives that will lead to new insights into injury prevention and recovery among high-performing athletes. In addition, the two leaders will create comprehensive education and training programs, including a series of professional education conferences at IMG Academy for physical therapists, trainers and other specialists to share timely information in this emerging sports performance field.

HSS physicians are official team doctors for the New York Giants, Mets, Knicks, Liberty, and Red Bulls. HSS is also the official hospital for The PGA of America and New York Road Runners for the ING New York City Marathon. The hospital was recently designated the first National Medical Center of the United States Olympic Committee, serving as an official hospital for U.S. athletes.

Remarked Louis A. Shapiro, President and CEO of HSS, "Like IMG, we have long specialized in working with high-performing athletes and enabling them to maintain long and healthy careers. Our doctors and performance specialists are the most highly respected in the sports medicine and athletic rehabilitation fields today, and we are looking forward to providing our expertise to IMG's global network of athletes, while continuing to advance research and innovation in athletic rehabilitation on the campus of IMG Academy."

"As a longtime trainee of IMG Academy and an athlete who has relied on the sports medicine expertise of Hospital for Special Surgery to help me maintain a long and successful career, I am happy to see these two leaders in their respective fields come together to assist athletes at all levels reach their goals and maximize their performance over the course of their career," said tennis professional Tommy Haas who has collected fifteen titles on the ATP tour.

HSS joins a growing list of industry-leading IMG Performance colleagues, like Gatorade and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Under Armour, Motus Global, ALINE, and Prince Sports. A physical presence at IMG Academy affords these innovative companies the opportunity to analyze the habits of elite athletes of all levels, with a focus on the serious athlete aged 13-18, a segment of the athlete population for whom little performance data exists.

About IMG

IMG Worldwide is a global sports, fashion and media business, with 3,500 employees operating in more than 30 countries around the globe. IMG's areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging. IMG College is the leader in collegiate marketing, licensing and media rights. IMG's Joint Ventures, IMG Reliance, IMX, IMG-CCTV and IMG Dogus in the emerging markets of India, Brazil, China and Turkey, offer the company significant long-term growth opportunities. IMG Media is the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming. IMG Events and Federations own and manage some of the most sought-after events and include long-standing associations with the world's most important sports organizations, leagues and federations. IMG Fashion owns and operates fashion events around the world and IMG Models represents the world's top models and leading designers. IMG Art+Commerce represents the most influential photographers, art directors and stylists.

For the past 50 years IMG Clients has been the global leader in talent representation, including over 1,000 elite athletes, coaches, industry executives and prestigious sports organizations across the sports, entertainment, fashion and media industries. IMG Tennis and IMG Golf manage the careers of the biggest stars on the court and the green. IMG Performance is aimed at developing sports performance research, products and services that have grown out of the division's world-leading integrated academic and athletic training institution, IMG Academy. IMG Consulting connects many of the world's leading brands with consumers through access to unique sports and entertainment properties. IMG Licensing is considered one of the premier independent licensing companies in the sports, entertainment and media world. More information is available at www.imgworld.com. Follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/IMG_Worldwide) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/IMGWorldwide).

About Hospital for Special Surgery

Founded in 1863, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a world leader in orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation. HSS is nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics and No. 4 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report (2013-14), and is the first hospital in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center three consecutive times. HSS has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. From 2008 to 2012, HSS has been a recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award. HSS is a member of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System and an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and as such all Hospital for Special Surgery medical staff are faculty of Weill Cornell. The hospital's research division is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. Hospital for Special Surgery is located in New York City and online at www.hss.edu.

SOURCE Hospital for Special Surgery