Zimmer Presents Orthopaedic Career Development Awards

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zimmer Holdings, Inc. , a worldwide leader in the orthopaedics industry, announced today that it has funded a total of more than $300,000 in unrestricted grants to seven orthopaedic surgeons who are early in their careers and are pursuing further training or investigation. The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) administered the selection process. Two of the awards were targeted for minority and female applicants, with recommendations made by the J. Robert Gladden and Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Societies.

The Zimmer Orthopaedic Career Development Awards are designed to help develop the next generation of orthopaedic leaders by supporting surgeons who have a clinical or scientific interest in total joint surgery and trauma- related fracture treatment. Grants have been made in each of the past seven years and the amount awarded by Zimmer now totals approximately $2.5 million. The winners were recognized at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) being held in San Diego.

Winners of the 2007 awards are: April Armstrong, M.D., Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (Hershey, Pennsylvania); Quanjun Cui, M.D., University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia); Frank Liporace, M.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark, New Jersey); Amanda Marshall, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio, Texas); Simon Mears, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland); Daria B. Terrell, M.D., Washington Cancer Institute (Washington, D.C.); and Lori Tosi, M.D., Children's National Medical Center (Washington, D.C.).

"This tradition of support for promising young orthopaedic surgeons is one we are proud to continue," said Ray Elliott, Zimmer Chairman, President and CEO. "We share a commitment with those in the profession to advance the treatment of orthopaedic patients and we recognize a responsibility to support research and education that can help stimulate those advances."

The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation is responsible for administering the Career Development Award program. Zimmer does not take part in selecting the award recipients. Panels of orthopaedic surgeons review all award proposals and make funding recommendations. Individuals may apply for up to a one-year career development award by submitting a proposal for support for research or surgical training. Individual awards cannot exceed $50,000.

Complete information about the program, criteria and the application process can be found on OREF's website at http://www.oref.org/.

About the Company

Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Zimmer is the worldwide #1 pure-play orthopaedic leader in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing reconstructive and spinal implants, trauma and related orthopaedic surgical products. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries around the world and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer's 2006 sales were approximately $3.5 billion. The Company is supported by the efforts of nearly 7,000 employees worldwide.

Visit Zimmer on the worldwide web at http://www.zimmer.com/ Zimmer Safe Harbor Statement

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