Osteonecrosis of the femoral head
Dr. Wiznia’s goal is to prevent the need for his patients with avascular necrosis, or osteonecrosis of the femoral head, to undergo hip replacement surgery. To achieve this goal, Dr. Wiznia co-established the Avascular Necrosis Program, where he works with co-Director Dr. Aslam on developing new therapies and surgical techniques. Dr. Wiznia’s avascular necrosis research focuses on advancing core decompression surgical techniques by developing 3D computer navigated technology, custom 3D printed instrumentation, as well as expanding new hyperbaric oxygen therapy protocols. Dr. Wiznia is developing novel stem cell treatments for avascular necrosis / osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
Joint Reconstruction, Engineering, Technology & Innovation
Dr. Wiznia’s arthroplasty research program focuses on improving the postoperative treatment of patients by reducing surgical site infections, improving pain management techniques, refining DVT prophylaxis and examining the treatment of periprosthetic infections. He has published multiple case reports focusing on solutions to complex arthroplasty. With the use of 3D technology, he is developing patient specific surgical approaches, 3D printed instruments and implants. Through Dr. Wiznia’s position as the Director of Technology & Innovation for the Department of Orthopaedics, he has developed the total joint replacement robotic center at our Yale New Haven Hospital Milford campus and computer-navigated total joint replacement surgery techniques.
Musculoskeletal Healthcare Policy
Dr. Wiznia examines patient disparities in access to care. Specifically, he examines disparities in arthroplasty care, and the Affordable Care Act has influenced Medicaid patient access to care. His team uses appointment accessibility audit studies, what some people term “secret shopper” studies, as an instrument to measure patient access to care. His team has demonstrated that Medicaid patients face a disparity in access to care, which has worsened since the Affordable Care Act. He has found that significantly fewer physicians accept Medicaid, there are more barriers to care placed on Medicaid patients, wait times are significantly longer, and safety net institutions (such as academic medical centers, federally funded community health centers, nonprofit and government hospitals) have higher Medicaid acceptance rates. His team has a long history of mentoring Yale undergraduate students, medical students and residents, and we have collaborated with multiple departments within the School of Medicine. He is a member of the Steering Committee for Movement is Life, a multi-stakeholder coalition dedicated to promoting health equity and eliminating musculoskeletal health disparities. He has been interviewed for the Health Disparities Podcast and regularly gives Grand Rounds about disparities in arthroplasty care. He is currently publishing with JAAOS and Movement is Life a special article series focused on optimizing patients for total joint replacement as well as a series with the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses.
Orthopaedic Trauma, Injury Prevention and Motorcycle Collisions
Dr. Wiznia’s research focuses on motorcycle and motor vehicle trauma patients. He examines motorcycle trauma patients’ risk factors with the ultimate goal of reducing the number and severity of motorcycle accidents. In addition, he is examining the costs of treating these patients and identifying motorcycle trauma injury patterns and associated mechanisms of injury. He is also examining methods of how to prevent hip fractures in the geriatric patient population.
View my collection, “Daniel Wiznia’s publications” from NCBI