HSS to Honor Distinguished Spine Surgeon Frank Cammisa, MD, and Brooklyn Nets and NY Liberty Owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai
Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), the world’s leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health, will honor Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, chief emeritus of HSS Spine, and Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, business leaders, philanthropists, and owners of the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty, at its 38th Tribute Dinner on Monday, June 5. The event will be held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Dr. Cammisa will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Mr. and Mrs. Tsai with the 2023 Tribute Dinner Award.
The evening will be hosted by Bruce Beck, lead sports anchor at NBC 4 New York, and guests will be treated to a musical performance by nine-time Grammy Award-winner Sheryl Crow, who was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“We are privileged to recognize Dr. Cammisa for his outstanding contributions to HSS and to the field of spine surgery,” said Bryan T. Kelly, MD, MBA, HSS president, surgeon-in-chief and medical director. “Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Cammisa has been an international leader in clinical care, education and research. His pioneering efforts have advanced minimally invasive spine surgery and motion preservation techniques, bringing innovations to patients worldwide.”
“It is an honor to present Joe and Clara Wu Tsai with the 2023 Tribute Dinner Award. As owners of two iconic professional basketball teams, they understand the importance of high-level musculoskeletal care to ensure peak performance in athletes,” said Louis A. Shapiro CEO at HSS. “As philanthropists, the Tsai’s are having a profound impact on the health and well-being of people globally through their investments in neuroscience and the science of human performance.”
Funds raised at the Tribute Dinner will advance the HSS mission to provide the highest quality care to help people everywhere return to what they need and love to do. Guests will include leaders and luminaries in business, health care, sports, philanthropy, finance, and entertainment.
The cocktail reception will begin at 6:15 p.m. Dinner, the award ceremony and Sheryl Crow’s performance will start at 7:15 p.m.
FRANK P. CAMMISA, JR., MD
Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, is Chief Emeritus of HSS Spine and a Professor of Clinical Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He specializes in the surgical treatment of spinal disorders. His areas of expertise include spinal reconstructive surgery, minimally invasive surgery, athletic spinal injuries, and motion preservation techniques. He served as Chief of the HSS Spine Service for 22 years. Under his leadership, the service grew into a multidisciplinary spine program inspiring significant advances in patient care and substantial growth of our world-class spinal surgical educational program. During Dr. Cammisa’s leadership, the Spine Fellowship Program trained over 120 clinical fellows that are represented around the globe. In addition, he founded the Integrated Spine Research Program at HSS to bring research from concept to clinical driving innovation in spine care and providing opportunities for research fellows and students.
In addition to Dr. Cammisa’s active clinical practice, he conducts research to advance the treatment of complex spine conditions. He has received numerous prestigious research grants from various funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. He has been recognized by New York Magazine as one of “12 doctors who are reinventing medicine,” based on his research of artificial disc replacement to relieve debilitating back and neck pain. He is on the medical staff of the New York Giants and is a spinal surgery consultant to the National Hockey League Players Association.
Dr. Cammisa has published over 250 original scientific papers in prestigious medical journals and has made more than 500 scientific presentations at national and international meetings. He has co-authored more than 30 chapters in medical textbooks and edited a textbook titled “Dynamic Reconstruction of the Spine.” His numerous awards include the Lewis Clark Wagner Award, the AOA North American Traveling Fellowship, the Nancy Kane Bischoff Award for Teaching, EOA Spine Research Award and Founder’s Award, the NASS Outstanding Paper Award, the LSRS Best Paper Award, the ISSLS Best Paper Award, Best Paper and the Best Clinical Paper Awards at IMAST and the Outstanding Publication Award from the Austrian Society for Spine Surgery.
Dr. Cammisa graduated from Tufts University, summa cum laude with election to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society. He completed his general surgery residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and his orthopedic surgery residency at Hospital for Special Surgery. His fellowship in spinal surgery was completed in the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Medical Center and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
JOSEPH C. TSAI
Joe Tsai is a co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group. He is a member of the board of directors of Alibaba Group and its financial services affiliate, Ant Group.
Mr. Tsai is governor of the Brooklyn Nets, alternate governor of the New York Liberty, and chairman of the teams’ home arena, Barclays Center. He played Division 1 lacrosse at Yale and owns two professional indoor lacrosse teams in the National Lacrosse League: the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Mr. Tsai is an investor in the Premier Lacrosse League and the Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer.
Through the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, Mr. Tsai and his wife, Clara, are active philanthropists supporting initiatives in education, research, social justice, economic mobility, the arts and humanitarian relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a founding board member of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), a non-profit that provides resources to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to combat hate and discrimination and support AAPI advocacy, prosperity and representation.
Mr. Tsai is a member of the J.P. Morgan International Council, EXOR Partners Council, and International Advisory Council of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is a trustee of The Lawrenceville School.
Prior to Alibaba Group, Mr. Tsai was a private equity investor in Asia for Investor AB of Sweden’s Wallenberg family. He practiced tax law as an associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York. He is a graduate of Yale College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986, and Yale Law School, where he received his JD degree in 1990.
CLARA WU TSAI
Clara Wu Tsai is a businesswoman, investor, and philanthropist. Ms. Wu Tsai is the governor of the WNBA's New York Liberty and, along with her husband, is an owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the NLL's San Diego Seals. As vice chair of BSE Global, she oversees all matters relating to civic and community engagement, fan development and the role Barclays Center plays within Brooklyn.
As founder of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, Ms. Wu Tsai pursues philanthropic investments across the arts, sciences and social justice spaces. She established the Social Justice Fund in 2020 to work toward economic mobility and racial justice in Brooklyn, New York. She is a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance, which seeks to reform the criminal justice system.
In science and technology, the Foundation supports the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University and the Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University for understanding human cognition. In 2020, Ms. Wu Tsai founded the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, which works across six universities to bring together world-class talent to advance the science of human performance.
Ms. Wu Tsai serves on the boards of trustees for Stanford University, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington. She was an executive producer of Into the Okavango, a 2018 conservation documentary; Blue Bayou, a 2021 drama; and Unfinished Business, a 2022 documentary about the WNBA.
Previously, Ms. Wu Tsai was general manager of the Hong Kong operations of Taobao, China’s
largest online shopping website, and a vice president at American Express in New York and Hong Kong. Ms. Wu Tsai holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and a Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, as well as an MBA degree from Harvard University.
About HSS
HSS is the world’s leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health. At its core is Hospital for Special Surgery, nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics (for the 13th consecutive year), No. 3 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report (2022-2023), and the best pediatric orthopedic hospital in NY, NJ and CT by U.S. News & World Report “Best Children’s Hospitals” list (2022-2023). In a survey of medical professionals in more than 20 countries by Newsweek, HSS is ranked world #1 in orthopedics for a third consecutive year (2023). Founded in 1863, the Hospital has the lowest readmission rates in the nation for orthopedics, and among the lowest infection and complication rates. HSS was the first in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center five consecutive times. An affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College, HSS has a main campus in New York City and facilities in New Jersey, Connecticut and in the Long Island and Westchester County regions of New York State, as well as in Florida. In addition to patient care, HSS leads the field in research, innovation and education. The HSS Research Institute comprises 20 laboratories and 300 staff members focused on leading the advancement of musculoskeletal health through prevention of degeneration, tissue repair and tissue regeneration. The HSS Innovation Institute works to realize the potential of new drugs, therapeutics and devices. The HSS Education Institute is a trusted leader in advancing musculoskeletal knowledge and research for physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, academic trainees, and consumers in more than 165 countries. The institution is collaborating with medical centers and other organizations to advance the quality and value of musculoskeletal care and to make world-class HSS care more widely accessible nationally and internationally. www.hss.edu.
