Fall 2011 inSIGHTS publication - UF Orthopaedics and ...

Dr. WILLIAM E. AnSPACH Jr. AnD HIS WIFE, KEnnA
Hospital and began his orthopaedics residency at the Mayo Clinic.
Nine months after starting his residency, he was drafted into the
U.S. Air Force. It was during the Vietnam War, but he was not sent
overseas. Instead he was stationed for two years at Strategic Air
Command Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.
He didn’t want to return to his Mayo residency and luckily was
accepted into UF’s orthopaedic residency program.
“I was so lucky that Dr. Enneking took me,” Anspach said. “And I
was scared to death of him—he doesn’t suffer fools lightly.”
During his three years at UF, Anspach said he was thrilled to be
able to spend one year doing research, which involved studying
ways to accelerate bone healing.
After residency, Anspach went into private practice in West Palm
Beach and continued to do research, focusing on the prevention of
postoperative wound infection. These studies led to his appointment
as an instructional course lecturer for the American Academy
of Orthopedic Surgery and the founding of Laminaire Corporation,
a company which manufactured air filtration systems and negatively
pressurized surgical suits.
8
His second company started by happenstance. Anspach needed a
power tool to remove a broken total hip implant that cost about
$10,000 and decided to create his own for $100 instead. It worked
so well that other surgeons asked him to make one for them.
When he was overwhelmed with requests, he started his own
company, The Anspach Effort Inc., in 1977. This company
eventually grew to be one of the largest manufacturers of
neurosurgical and robotic power tools in the world. He sold the
company to Synthes in 2010. Synthes is currently being acquired
by Johnson & Johnson.
His son, William E. Anspach, III, M.D., who is an orthopaedic surgeon
in private practice in Stuart, started another company, TMJ
Concepts. Located in California, the company makes custom temporomandibular
joints.
Now retired, Anspach lives with his wife Kenna in North Carolina,
outside of Asheville. He has three grown children with his late
wife Judy.
Dr. WILLIAM F. EnnEKIng
AnSPACH DrILL